Surviving To Thriving - A New Way To Manage Burnout
I read and research a lot about burnout. What causes it, how we can recover from it individually and collectively, how we are experiencing burnout differently now than 6 months ago...and 6 months before that.
I've also been leading trainings and keynotes on wellness and managing burnout for almost two years.
Then, last month, I created a customized keynote for International Women's Day that combined the idea of going from surviving to thriving with breaking the bias that's been handed to women.
And I realized a very important piece that had to be added to the keynote on burnout immediately!
The importance of following aliveness. I mentioned this in my blog the week before last -- and I wanted to come back to it again today.
Because recovering from burnout isn't just about getting through so that you can keep drudging along. No!
You don't want to just plod along, managing to get from one day to the next.
You want to thrive.
That's where following aliveness comes in.
The other pieces about how to recover from burnout, like how to release stress, treat yourself with compassion, set boundaries, and tackle burnout as a team so that you aren't doing it all on your own -- these are equally important (and they're all in my keynote as well). But the cherry on top of that sundae is aliveness.
In my updated keynote, Surviving To Thriving - A New Way To Manage Burnout, I guide people through creating their aliveness agenda. I wanted to give you ideas on how to do the same!
Your aliveness agenda is the people, places, and activities that make you feel ALIVE. Connected. In the flow. You might lose track of time. Your mind, body, heart, and soul all feel engaged.
Here are some reflection questions to help you create your own personalized aliveness agenda:
People: Who do you feel alive around? Who accepts you and encourages you to be exactly who you are - no proving, pleasing, or perfecting needed?
Activities: What activities bring you joy and flow? What reconnects you to yourself?
Places: What environments do you feel most like you? Where are you most at home?
My aliveness agenda includes hiking, sitting on my patio in the sun doing nothing, writing my next book, speaking and leading webinars, and real, authentic conversations.
Your aliveness agenda may be completely different. No matter what is on it, create a bit of space to lean in the direction of what makes you come alive (this is where the boundaries part of the keynote comes in! You need boundaries to create that space.)
I recently spoke on managing burnout for the Minnesota Alliance For Volunteer Advancement (MAVA). One of the participants said: "There has been a lot about burnout recently and I was worried that I wouldn't learn and/or hear anything new today. The opposite was true; I learned so much that will help me recover from pandemic-related burnout and prevent burnout in the future."
If you want to learn more about this session and how to bring Surviving To Thriving to your organization, go to my website here: https://www.heatherwhelpley.com/speaking. Scroll down to find a description of the keynote and link to schedule a discovery call with me.
In the meantime, play with that aliveness agenda. Enjoy!