WHO IS AT THE HIGHEST RISK FOR BURNOUT?

WHO IS AT THE HIGHEST RISK FOR BURNOUT? YOU MAY BE SURPRISED

Are you a high performer? Do you strive for excellence or even perfection? Do you love listening, reading, or learning how to go faster, be more productive, and achieve more?

Now I want you to stop and notice: you can say yes to those questions as a doctor, homemaker, entrepreneur, financial analyst, a primary school teacher.

We live in times that demand perfection.

No longer is it enough to have a clean kitchen, no, no, it should be Instagram worthy, magazine-worthy. Before, you could compare yourself with your colleagues, neighbors, friends, family. Now you can compare yourself with the world. Just go online.

And there is no lack of information on how to go faster, experience more, do better, become better, reach higher, achieve more abundance and success. Everyone wants to sell you a way to get to MORE and BETTER.

Meanwhile, there are more free time activities as well. It’s no longer enough to go work, then relax and kickback. You should be optimizing yourself, intensely enjoying yourself, pursuing a passion hobby, or being the-best-parent-on-the-planet.

Answer me honestly, does the same high-achieving, dedicated, and perfectionistic tendencies drive you, not just at work but also during your free time?

You’re not alone.

I swear the people who come to my power yoga class are the ones who could benefit most from some quiet, slow hatha yoga, yin yoga, or restorative. Instead, they flow fast with me for the hour and then go off happy and feeling good.

Yes, you read that right.

They do feel good after power yoga, their POWER-RELAXATION, because staying in the rush of stress hormones and adding some endorphins to the mix is a great after-work cocktail.

The problem is: just like a gin and tonic, the effect wears off. The stress picks up the next day, where it left off.

Yeah, YOGA IS MAGIC, but it is NOT going to prevent burnout how most driven people do it.

And yes- I was right in there doing the high-intensity vinyasa, power, ashtanga yoga for most of my life without adding in yin or restore class, ever.

Takes one to know one, as they say.

Sure, my Power Yoga students smile at me indulgently when I say in class during final rest, ‘hey, you’re ENOUGH, it’s enough, everything is perfect at this moment. Invite in relaxation.’

Which I realize is the wrong thing to say to driven, perfectionistic people. I mean, they don’t want to be enough, they want to better. BEST. If I tell them to relax, well, they are determined to relax FASTER, or better. There’s SO MUCH EFFORTING.

But if I say, ‘you’re perfect, right now, just as you are. There’s nowhere to go, nothing to do, nothing to prove. Let go.’ Well, that doesn’t work, because their minds usually go- “Me? I’m not perfect, that’s not right, at least not yet. How many minutes left of this class is there?

What do I have to get done tonight? Tomorrow?”