My Manifesto for the Exhausted
Posted on February 10, 2017 by Lynne McLean Brown, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
This is all about my journey to become a life coach and why I feel passionate about taking care of yourself and having a good work-life balance.
If you told me five years ago that I would become a life coach, I don’t think I would have believed you. I used to try to be superwoman. I was always busy, rushing around doing two or three things at once. I had a permanently massive to-do list. I constantly feared things falling off that list, forgetting appointments, bills or deadlines. I motivated myself to just get past the next challenge, then I could relax, but there always seemed to be another challenge meeting me at the other side of the last. I was completely exhausted and so sick of “adulting” but what choice did I have? Being busy all the time is just life, right? I had little time to consider my needs because I was so busy ensuring my family were achieving everything they wanted. I focused on ensuring those around me were happy and supported. I didn’t realise that I had accidentally given up on my own happiness and was prioritising other people’s needs before my own.
A few years back I became pretty low, I was diagnosed with depression. At first, I remember thinking that I didn’t have time to be depressed. My husband worked abroad, I had two young children, I had to get my sh*t together! It took me a long time to realise that the pressure I was putting on myself was making me miserable. It sounds weird to say it now but I am so so grateful that I became depressed. Don’t get me wrong, depression sucks and I have no desire to feel so horrible and empty ever again, but becoming depressed forced me to change things.
I am so proud of the journey I have made since it’s made me happier and stronger. I still have days when I am rushed off my feet, I still have a long to-do list. That list, however, has more of the fun things that I need thrown in alongside the “adulting”. During my recovery, I worked with a life coach, it was a lot of hard work but it really helped me to think of things in a different way. It helped me to feel ok about taking time out for myself. I realised that I prefer to pacing myself when I tackle the to-do list. (everything does not need to be done yesterday!)
So here I am with my own coaching business, specialising in helping people who find themselves overloaded, endlessly tired and overwhelmed. I want to work with my clients to create a sense of freedom and calm. I also hope that my work supports people to create time and space for themselves within their daily lives.
My coaching practice is inspired by the lessons I learned over the last few years. These lessons make up something I am going to call my manifesto for the exhausted.
You do not just have to get on with things when life is hard. It is ok to take time off, to put things on hold. Carrying on like you are unstoppable when things are tough isn’t fun or worthwhile.
Working harder and harder does not get more done, in fact, I believe it makes you less effective. If you have ever felt like you are giving 50% to everything and achieving nothing then you know what I mean.
Prioritising yourself is essential, and it’s more than essential when you care for others. You are important! I can not preach this enough, time to relax and have fun gives you energy for the busy days. A huge to-do list and schedule is way easier to work through when you are rested and replenished!
You can start over whenever you want, more than once if you need to, and it’s ok. Change is hard, making mistakes is inevitable. In fact, mistakes can be awesome! Mistakes are how we learn what works and what doesn’t. Make the mistake, learn from it and start fresh.
