Physical Signs You Are Burnt Out From Over Giving or Over Doing

If you've clicked on this article, it's likely that you're currently experiencing some form of physical discomfort. Perhaps that's a tight chest, foggy head, pure exhaustion, and you're thinking to yourself "am I broken?" 

Let's zoom out a little. 

Firstly, I want you to review how you typically spend a day. What time do you wake up? How many hours quality sleep did you get? How does the day ahead look for you? How does your day make you feel? Who are you interacting with? When do you get a moment for yourself? 

Aha! There we have it... When do you get a moment to yourself? 

When do you finally pause in the go, go, go and the give, give, give and take a minute to recharge your energy levels? 

Here's the thing, we all have a battery pack full of fuel and when we "do" and "give", this starts to deplete. In order to refill our battery pack up again, we must pause - you can't be speeding down the motorway AND fuelling your vehicle simultaneously. It takes a moment to park, use the pump and pay, and you're no different. 

And when we are constantly on the go and giving to others, that can manifest physically or impact our mental health. 

Now you've got this far into the article, I know I'm speaking to someone who gets it - so I want you to use this moment here to breathe. Soften your shoulders, close your eyes and take one really deep inhale for 5 seconds, then blow out for 8 seconds. See? I bet you already feel a bit calmer having taken just those 13 seconds. 

In the wellness space it's very easy to slip and slide into the culture of 5am wake ups, running a 10k, taking 3486950 supplements, however true wellbeing is simple and you don't necessarily need these things or do any more that what you've already got on your plate.

Often for over givers and over doers who are also over achievers, you need less and actually to remove what's currently getting in your way of feeling truly fulfilled and at peace. 

Now go back to the review of your day we started a couple of paragraphs up from here. What's in your day that you could remove? What's in your day that you could delegate? What's in your day that is no longer giving back to you in anyway? How could you make space for activities that refill your fuel? 

What would you perfect day look like if you could rip up the script and build from the ground up, fresh?

This is an exercise I regularly undertake with my coaching clients for wellbeing who have gone through burn out or losing their spark due to over giving and over doing. It can be incredibly restorative to pause and ask these questions, journal through them perhaps.

Start here and you'll find immediate benefits.