Stop brushing off burnout and embrace it for personal growth

I was recently invited into a conversation around burnout.

When I was asked about it and my own experience with it, I was at a loss of what to say.

My mind came up empty and the words escaped me.

What was going on? I love to talk. I live to contribute to the conversation. Being lost for words is completely out of character.

But I found myself stumped.

After my years in corporate combined with my work as a coach, surely I have a lot to say on the topic. After all, I’ve written about it at length here and here. And while I’ve supported clients in navigating burnout, in that moment I realized that my own experience was limited. My immediate reaction was to ask: Isn’t burnout old news? Has the narrative been overdone, overused, and is now, well, over?

As the above response risked leaving my lips, a new question came to the forefront:

Is it possible that I had never experienced burnout?

And as a result, was I missing out on a shared experience with the rest of the room?

While burnout and I have never met, I know its cousins overwhelm and meltdown very well - we’ve been close friends for years.

You could say I burn-over rather than burn-out.

Count on me to try and over-achieve at burning. I thrive under pressure, stress, and urgency. I like the burn: doing the work, being in action, making a contribution. Without this resonance of energy, I find myself lost and untethered. I need the burn.

I live for the burn.

Early in my career I was fortunate to find a fast-paced environment and role that met my need for energy and speed: sales. The buildup of stress was my fuel to finish the race, to cross the finish line, to get the deal done. Without being aware of it, a recovery phase would follow as I would regroup, reorganize, and reset for the next opportunity. But every so often the build overflows leading to overwhelm as I take on too much or set unrealistic expectations.

Where I get trapped: doing everything without doing anything at all.

I’m learning to contain the burn, to channel it to move me upwards and not overboard.

The burn is what keeps me riding the wave, keeps me moving forward. It’s no different in entrepreneurship although sometimes the wavelengths are shorter, more frequent, with higher peaks and lower valleys. Over time, you learn to redefine the wins and to acknowledge your losses as learnings. After all, without the valleys there’d be no peaks.

The valleys are where the magic begins:

When we are in the valleys we know we are challenging ourselves, going outside of our comfort zone, moving past what is familiar and into something new. The energy is burning, it is the fuel that will move us upwards and onwards towards the peak.

When you’re overly focused on avoiding burnout, could you be missing the magic in the burn?

What is the burn trying to tell you?

While burnout is no doubt something people are struggling with and suffering from, perhaps there is a new way of approaching it as you see it coming towards you. What if you embraced the burn?

Leaning into the unfamiliar and unknown could be your burnout bypass:

A way of moving through and past burnout. As you feel it approaching, see it as a signal, a wake up call: Is it time for change? Is something out of alignment? Is it time to step into something new?

The burn is good; rubbing shoulders with burnout can offer you a new idea, a new perspective, or a new direction.

Kirsten Schmidtke is a professional coach, speaker, and lover of lake life. She works with leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs to help them up-level their careers, businesses, and lives. Are you ready to explore what’s possible for you? Contact Kirsten to start the conversation!