Adulting is quite hard these days. Finding your sparkle shouldn’t be!
Remember when we used to think a pandemic was cool sci-fi movie potential and now that we’re actually experiencing one the reality is quite different? These are uncharted waters.
Really uncharted…
Anyone watch Tiger King?
WHY GOD?!
I digress…
Most of us are feeling the positive and negative effects of the pandemic. Yes, there are positive aspects to it, but let’s start with the negative ones.
How many of you have gone through a whole day during this pandemic doing hardly anything productive but you felt absolutely exhausted by the end of the day and like nothing you do matters? This is a tell-tale sign of burnout.
If you were to conduct an fMRI on someone who is experiencing burnout their brain would look similar to someone who is in a state of grief. Why does this matter? When we’re in a state of grief it’s extremely difficult to think clearly and make logical decisions.
Did you know stress and burnout are different? Below are some of the differentiating factors.
If you’re familiar with my story, you know that I experienced pretty severe burnout before I started my own Functional Medicine Practice. Throughout my years of practicing medicine in a conventional setting, I noticed that my love of rural medicine was changing and I felt more like a data entry clerk than a doctor.
It felt like I had to fix a patient in 10 minutes on a conveyer belt. My expectations were not meeting reality. I found that instead of looking at a patient’s eyes, I was looking at a computer screen.
I needed a pattern interrupt and I got one.
About 4 years ago, my sweet nurse came into my office after a long day and put an obituary on my desk of one of my long-time patients whom I loved dearly. Normally that would trigger me to open my desk drawer and write a short note to her family saying it was an honor caring for their grandmother.
Instead, I felt relieved because that was one less person in my 1900 patient panel, one less refill, one less message I had to answer. And I felt ashamed. That is not the kind of physician healer I signed up to be.
That was my turning point and when I realized I needed to practice medicine on my own terms. Since then I have had the honor of serving not only my community through my Functional Medicine Practice, Health Innate, but I also have the joy of helping other professionals eradicate their burnout and fall in love with their personal and professional lives again through my virtual burnout relief program, Right Brain Rescue.
We see burnout not just in healthcare professionals but in almost any industry and walk of life, Police Officers, Teachers, Interior Designers, Parents, Teenagers, etc…
And most of us are feeling burned out now because of the unknown aspects of the pandemic.
Nearly one-in-five Americans say they have had a physical reaction when thinking about the outbreak. Stop and take a moment to think about where you feel physically ill when you’re stressed (i.e. stomach ache, headache, neck and shoulder tension, etc.).
Meaningless, grief, depersonalization, isolation, overeating, stress, all of these feelings are speaking to our cell’s physiology. Unchecked and untreated these things can wreak havoc on our mitochondria and on our health, leaving our bodies in a constant state of inflammation which in turn causes other health issues like IBS, Leaky Gut, Fibromyalgia, and Heart Disease.
Whether you feel a physical reaction to the pandemic or not, the reality is that most of our lives have been adversely affected in one way or another.
So what can we do?!
Well, I think most of us would agree that we needed a pattern interrupt. And we got one!
The world is closed. And if that isn’t the most powerful pattern interrupt I don’t know what is. Right now is a time to become contemplative and to reevaluate what works and in our lives and what doesn’t. And when the time comes, we can introduce things back into our lives on our own terms. That is the biggest gift: Moving forward we can renegotiate our own terms!
Instead of being burned out, we want to be engaged.
All of us are in a creative flow state about 5% of the day, but we can maximize this to be in this state 20% of the day!
Even from birth, we all crave flow state. It is essential for our well-being and ability to thrive as humans. The amount of time spent in a creative task shows a direct correlation to the amount of positive affect and wellbeing long after activity ceased.
As we start creating a new world, we need you to cultivate your own sparkly resiliency and spend time igniting your own creative spirit and share your best divergent thoughts to help make this world a better place!
In order to help you better identify as a creative person and access flow state I created The MIND Method that you can start implementing into your everyday life:
If you’re ready to start healing your burnout and fall in love with your life again, I invite you to admit your right brain to the ICU today.
What would happen if we added a sixth vital sign and asked questions like:
What are you passionate about?
What’s your hobby?
What lights your eyes up?
What do you do to add sparkle to your life and other’s lives?
When is the last time you felt unfettered joy?
We need innovation now more than ever! We’ve been handed an invitation to choose how we want to live our lives. Perhaps if we all practice our 6th vital sign of creativity every day in this new world, we will cultivate our brilliant ideas to find the cure for cancer, the solution for global warming, or the eradication of burnout.
Let’s paint a colorful world we want to live in, starting by rescuing our right brain! If you enjoyed this blog, check out the recording of my Sparkly Resiliency Webinar where I delve deep into creative flow state, burnout, and life after the pandemic.
Click here if you are a burned out professional and want to revitalize your creative brain patterns, open up channels of authenticity and connection like never before, permanently eradicate your burnout, make quicker more meaningful connections, and feel more focused and energized!
Click here if you want me to speak at your next event and make it a smashing success! I offer fresh, engaging, and innovative public speaking services that will leave your audience energized and revatilzed!
Click here if you are a medical professional looking for mentorship on how to make your private practice SOAR!
Click here if you’re ready to color outside the lines of your typical patient-doctor relationship and take your health into your own hands! I have a variety of fun, life-altering Mini-Classes on a variety of topics such as Anxiety, Insomnia, and even Hangovers!
I am a Functional Medicine Physician, Speaker, Author and Mentor located in Monroe, WI.
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This is your permission slip to break free from the monotony of traditional exercise and infuse your fitness routine with joy and playfulness.
