Welcome to the site!

Hello, and welcome to the site!

If you’re here, it’s because you’re a stressed-out service provider, physician, lawyer, clinician/therapist/social worker, care manager or front-line-in-the-trenches-with-people provider who is here because you are feeling burnt-out and you want to get back to happy: you want to feel connected to your work again, and why you went into this in the first place, or you’re ready to transition your career completely!

My current clients are lawyers, doctors, and healthcare professionals who were there, and are recovering, launching into new ventures and aspects of their work that light them up.

In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll, over “85% of employees worldwide are not engaged or actively disengaged with their work.”

With the rise in technology, we are more connected than ever, and yet 85% of people are feeling ‘disengaged’ at work.

Why?

We’re not connecting to purposeful connection and work. We’re connecting to productivity and tasks.

In order to get out of burnout and recover completely, you have to start by reconnecting back to WHY you chose the work you did and look at these questions:

1. Do I want to keep being a [lawyer, doctor, social worker, therapist] and if so, why?
2. If not, what would I rather be doing?
3. What am I basing this decision in?
4. How do I want to feel?
5. What does ‘burnt-out’ feel like to me? How did I use to feel?

I’ve been in clinical work for almost a decade now, and I haven’t met one person immune to feeling burnout in some form in some way in their career.

In my most recent ‘burnout’ episode in 2017, I remember waking-up one morning barely able to lift my feet over the side of my bed. My hands were swollen, I hadn’t slept well, and the panic started to rise in my body. I had another nine-hour clinical day ahead in a very understaffed clinic, a large patient load, walk-ins, clinical notes, meetings, multiple coverage issues, and a long commute. Our staffing had been down substantially for a few months, and coupled with a spouse home one day a week and a special needs son, I felt defeated that morning.

I gingerly lifted my feet over the bed and trudged into the kitchen, popped in a Keurig cup into the coffee maker, and cried.

I didn’t think I could manage another clinical day like the ones before it. I had no more capacity that day. My body was flaring (I have Cerebral Palsy), I was exhausted, and to top it all my muscles were tensing so badly they wouldn’t release without the normal dose of muscle relaxants. I wanted to give my best to the people I served, but I wasn’t able to give the best to me….to recover.

We aren’t endless, and we do have a cup that needs refilling. I love the thought: Glass half-empty or half-full!

How do you see it?

I’ve usually been a half-full, but in that moment last year prior to the launch of this work, I felt like a glass that looked more like a clear colander, the water pouring out of the bottom and the tiny holes dotting it.

Maybe you’ve been in that place where you feel mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. Where your cup doesn’t ‘run over,’ but is slowly leaking out the bottom.

Systemically, training in healthcare fields does not touch often on self-care and burnout, and tends to follow a “be aware of the signs and take care of yourself approach.” This doesn’t always work if the system is broken in itself, that you’re working in, or the practice setting does not feel supportive.

So, what do you do to move past burnout and stay more balanced moving forward once and for all, so you can fully serve the people you were called to serve?

It starts with asking yourself FIVE CORE QUESTIONS, and getting back to the heart of your connection to your work, setting better boundaries, learning to say ‘no’ at the right times and ‘yes’ at the others, and caring for yourself as much as you care for your clients, patients and staff!

Grab a piece of paper, and take some time tonight to answer these:

1. What do you truly want in your life?
2. How do you want to FEEL?
3. What is your ideal practice?
4. What is your ideal life look like?
5. What is the main thing holding you back from this?

Let me know in the comments below your thoughts on these questions! What are your takeaways?

References

Time (2017). Retrieved from: http://time.com/4871720/how-happy-are-americans/

About the Author

Carly Palady, LICSW is an in-demand Clinician, Performance & Burnout Coach & Consultant in Seattle, WA with experience giving corporate presentations, working with 1:1 and group clients, and known for helping busy service-based professionals, leaders and executives who are ready to leave burnout behind while stressing less and living more to perform at their best, build a resilient mindset, activated career, and holistically balanced life!