According to The Annual Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey & Co. 42% of women and 35% of men reported feeling burned out often or almost always in 2021, compared to 32% of women and 28% of men last year.

Just Google - “burnout and wellbeing” and about 30,300,000 results come up!

I share these stats to let you know if you are experiencing burnout right now, you are not alone!

As an ambitious hardworking professional woman or leader with big goals, you may find yourself in a place of angst. We are coming out of 2 of the most challenging years for most of us.

The problem a lot of us face is we ignore the warning signs until it’s too late.  We have that inner struggle and thought that if  I just push through this feeling will go away!   But what if that push isn’t the answer?  What if what you really need is to hit the pause button?  Or possibly an entire reset on life?

I’m guessing you are feeling the same struggles but perhaps you've been ignoring the signs… I was ignoring the signs too last fall and it didn’t end well …

Can I be open and honest and share my story with you?

October 2021  was insane: it was a physically and emotionally exhausting month for my family.

Before I get into that specific October, I want to let you know - October is always an emotionally challenging month for me… my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer Oct 2002 - so this always causes me to feel angst and just emotionally drained - I love the fall colors and sweater season but October can be emotionally charged month on a normal year.

I won’t spend time going into everything, last fall was filled with a roller coaster of emotions…

It was full of highs and lows, every week involved travel of some sort (work, fun, family emergencies, planned and unexpected),  letting go of things and people we loved. Disappointments and changes.  Lots of changes!

I thought I was handling it OK until the day I blew!  Again- I will spare you all of the details but it wasn’t pretty… Suffice to say it was displaced emotions coming out as anger toward my husband for something that wouldn’t have normally bothered me if I was in a healthy state of mind.

Unfortunately, he also felt overwhelmed and instead of being sympathetic had displaced anger as well.  It was a rough day but eventually realized the real issue was we were both emotionally and physically exhausted and just downright burnt out on life.   We talked about our feelings and all was good… thank goodness as after 36 years of marriage fighting isn't our thing! 

Here’s why I am sharing this with you… this scenario might be what’s ahead for you if you don’t look for and acknowledge the caution signs that are telling you to pause!

I don’t want you to have to get to the blowup stage I got to.

Here are 4 signs that you might need the pause more than the push:

1) The first yield sign is just one of feeling overwhelmed- are you taking on more than you need to right now? Do you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders? Did you overcommit? What can you delegate, dump or delay??

2) Another sign is lackluster energy toward a project - is there something you started that you now regret? What once seemed exciting to work on is approached with dread. I was going to do a workshop and decided to cancel as it was just going to be bad timing for me, I had no energy to prepare or promote, and started feeling others needed a pause right now too. Keep reading to find out what happened when I did cancel it!

3) Another sign is physical ailments - are you suffering from more than normal aches & pains, headaches, or illness? This caution sign tends to show up when you ignore the other ones… study after study shows burnout CAN lead to physical illnesses (google it and About 18,400,000 results (0.68 seconds) come up)

Ignore these caution signs and you’ll find a big sign that reads “Road out ahead” I don’t recommend you ignore the sign like something out of the Dukes of Hazard (for those of you under 30 check it out on youtube). This Is where I was when I had the big fight with my husband, I was past emotional overwhelm, lackluster energy towards a work project, frequent headaches, and then the big explosion!

4) The big sign - when you get upset or explode on someone you love over something that normally wouldn’t bother you! What are you getting angry or sad about that under normal times wouldn’t bother you?

(Relationship advice - I hope you don’t get here but if you do Apologize and see it for what it is)

These are 4 BIG Signs telling you to PAUSE!!

Here’s what’s great about the pause!!

Soon after I canceled that event that was stressing me out, 3 clients reached out to me for what I really enjoy doing - Strengths Coaching, a Strengths Workshop, and the Discovering Your Calling program!! Letting go gave me space and energy for what I really am called to do!

Next week I am going to share 10 Easy Steps to Avoid the Crash & Burn!  In the meanwhile, I hope you will keep your well-being in the forefront of your mind and look for the warning signs… It’s important for you and those you love!

One more thing, if you read this and thought, “this is great Sheri but those 4 signs are my life!”. I want to invite you to reach out - let’s chat. It might be time for you to take the path of a whole life reset! That’s what we do in the Discovering Your Calling Journey.

Know someone who might need to read this? Please share this blog with them today. Let them know you are sharing it because you care!

Here’s to your well-being and enjoying this journey we called life! You deserve to be happy, successful, and fulfilled every day!