We’re diving deep into the depths of burnout; a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion often caused by chronic stress and relentless pressure, and a misalignment in our values. As we navigate our daily lives, juggling responsibilities and pursuing our dreams, it’s crucial to recognize the signs of burnout before it takes its toll on our mental well-being.

I am excited to welcome my guest, Tawny Bertolozzi, to this episode. Tawny is an intuitive healer and a medium. She was a help to me in my own healing through my burnout journey, making sure that my values were aligned with what I was doing, and who I was showing up to be in the world. Let’s get into the conversation.

Embracing Authenticity

Tawny shares her own journey of shedding her people-pleasing tendencies and how she is working on showing up authentically in her own life. That struggle with external perceptions, trust issues, and pushing limits to test one’s true self resonates with many. Unveiling authentic selves can be both triggering and essential, highlighting the importance of listening to intuition and navigating beyond societal expectations.

Identity and Vulnerability

Too many women are stuck in places where what they’re doing or how they are showing up in the world isn’t who they truly are at their core, but rather who the world thinks they’re supposed to be. In Tawny’s sessions, she focuses on peeling back the layers that don’t fit, facing vulnerability, and releasing identities tied to jobs and expectations. Untying identity from professional roles becomes a vital step in the healing journey, acknowledging that true self remains constant amid shifting identities.

Reflection and Healing

Navigating through various identities requires anchoring into a steady state of self. Identity can shift, but that sense of self remains constant. We can’t align with our true selves if we keep accumulating things that we are not. Misalignments often trace back to childhood, conditioned by external expectations. Awareness becomes the key to release. Tawny likes to use the visualization of a tree; we can only be as anchored into ourselves as we can anchor into our feet. We need that strong foundation of who we are so we can grow and expand upward without toppling over.

Embracing Emotions and Releasing Shame

A lot of people are afraid of sitting with their emotions, but this fear often impedes personal growth. People experiencing burnout often feel an intense sense of shame, and shame is such a personal thing; not everyone views the same things as shameful. To release it, we need to bring awareness to why we think it’s shameful. Emotional exploration becomes a powerful tool for personal development.

Conclusion

My ultimate hypothesis, if you boiled burnout down to one problem, would be that who you are and how you’re showing up in the world is not in alignment. I think ultimately at the root of all we would unpeel and pull back you would find that those two things are misaligned and if you stay there for too long you absolutely are going to burn out.

Live a life where you feel you can be authentically yourself. Let’s live our lives lit from the inside out! 🔥

We’re exploring all the depths and the realms of burnout. The facts, the fictions, and all of the goodness that comes from leveraging this platform to ensure that if you are experience burnout, think you are experience burnout, or are recovering from it, you are not alone.

Today I am excited to host my dear, dear friend Karissa Schlaht. Karissa is an incredible storyteller and a brilliant light in this world. She is going to touch on her story of burnout, and we’ll just see where the conversation takes us and share some of our insights that we’ve learned along the way.

Signs of Burnout

One of the initial signs of burnout for Karissa was struggling to sleep, and having wild dreams if she did sleep. She knew she should book an appointment with her doctor, but she was scared to admit it, worrying her career would be on the line if she wasn’t strong enough to stay. Eventually, she made the appointment and found the help she needed, but it required being vulnerable.

Identity and Vulnerability

The hope is that people listening can find at least one nugget to relate to; that’s what helps people not feel alone in this. During my own experience with burnout, I felt like I was known for being resilient, and because of that I no longer like this word. We can’t always bounce back quickly, and that’s ok.

As Karissa so aptly put it, maybe a better definition for resilience is shedding skin. When that old skin no longer fits, we don’t need to cling to that false sense of security and predictability, but rather to trust and let go, and wriggle out of that old skin in order to grow and make new skin.

Wisdom Through Reflection

Knowledge is one thing, but when you combine knowledge and experience together, you come out of it with wisdom. The value lies in that wisdom and how it changes you as a person. Age or work experience isn’t indicative of how much wisdom you have, but how much time you’ve spent reflecting on your own experiences, on your own learnings, on your own darkness, and even on the good times. After Karissa hit the stop button and found courage to sit in the quiet and reflect, she began to feel things turning around.

Community and Courage

Building a community of supportive women becomes an essential aspect of navigating burnout. The hope is that having courageous people like Karissa sharing their stories, people will find a small sense of community, understanding, and the assurance that they are not alone. If you are on the cusp of burnout right now, let us as a community encourage you with some wisdom – being yourself is a radical act, and if the position you are in doesn’t allow you to be your authentic self, then leaving is also a courageous act that honours oneself.

Conclusion

Let this conversation be a source of comfort, community, and courage for those navigating the complexities of burnout. As we mentioned before, you are not alone in your struggles. Together, we can be courageous, and live our lives lit! 🔥

What I have learned since launching this podcast is that burnout does not discriminate. It can happen to anyone at any time. The more we can talk about it, the more that we share our stories, the more we expose ourselves and our vulnerabilities, the more we can prevent it and look after our mental wellbeing.

On this episode we have my amazing sister-in-law, Kristen Craig, who is the interim dean of the School of Business at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Moose Jaw. She has three wonderful kids, a master’s degree in business administration, a CPA, not to mention her husband and two dogs – and somehow, she manages it all.

Passion

“Everything that I do in life is because I am passionate about something. I’m passionate about higher education, and I’m also passionate about leadership.” - Kristen

If you can boil burnout down to the root of what is causing it, it’s often a misalignment between what a person is passionate about and what their values are, versus what they’re actually doing in life. People start to burn out when they spend too much time doing things that aren’t lined up with their values.

Decision Fatigue

A common misconception about working moms is this idea that working moms can do it all. They still carry the traditional familial roles of cooking, cleaning, paying the bills, etc., without acknowledging the many new expectations that have been placed on us in this current culture. Among those many expectations are the micro decisions that we’re constantly thinking about that often lead to decision fatigue.

Being in a leadership role, these micro-decisions are magnified. One of the ways we can avoid decision fatigue is to delegate, but don’t think of it as delegating, rather think of it as empowering others, and building relationships with our teams. When we empower others to work on what they want to do, that supports us in accomplishing what we are working toward too.

Imposter Syndrome

Women will apply for roles when they know they have 9 out of ten of the requirements, whereas men will apply when they have only 5 out of ten of the requirements because they have the confidence in themselves that they can learn or do the other five. We need to create environments where women can thrive in these roles, as their self-esteem is built differently than men's.

We subscribe to grandiose visions for work and for our families, and those take our focus, but we shouldn’t skip over the small wins along the way. Everyone is on a unique journey, and the challenges they have are unique, so it’s important to celebrate milestones along each individual journey. Celebrating the small wins will help change the culture and improve employee morale.

This idea of celebrating small wins applies at home as well. Encourage your kids along the way. Always bring out their growth in whatever they are working on. Try to focus on the things they did well. If there is something not quite right, always ask questions and have those conversations. Talking it through and asking questions will help them to learn how to problem solve, which will lead to greater independence and greater confidence. Asking good questions is a helpful skill to have as a mom, but also as a good leader at work.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for joining us today, Kristen, as we continue to navigate burnout and reclaim our well-being. Let’s live our lives lit! 🔥

Today we embark on a journey to understand and address a prevalent issue that effects countless women in our modern society – burnout. We’ll dive deep into how our identity ties in with burnout and how we can untangle it all. We have an amazing guest with us today; her name is Trena Benson.

Trena has a B.A., B.Ed from the University of Lethbridge and a M.A.C.P. (Masters of Counselling Psychology) from Yorkville University. Trena has a small and thriving practice in Lethbridge, Alberta, where she specializes in emotion-focused therapy and works with clients around a range of referral issues, including relationships, emotion regulation, self-worth, life transitions, anxiety, and life-meaning.

She also spends some time teaching high school students how to cook, and she is thrilled to be with us talking about something she is very passionate about. She has a gift, and we are so glad to have her here sharing her expertise with us.

Defining Burnout

Burnout can be a tangly issue. It’s a buzz word that is thrown around a lot and can be kind of hard to decipher. What does the research say? What do the experts say? What does it actually feel like in my life? These are important distinctions to make.

A recent study states, “Women are now 30% more likely to burnout than men.” The reality of our society today is that we all subscribe to this patriarchal society of moving through the world. It’s the culture that the western world has adopted, so there are some pieces here that are out of our control. What does that mean for us as women?

The Role of Hormones

Hormones play a role in burnout, and it’s something that we don’t talk about. Energy levels of women and men are different; women's energy levels tend to peak in the later morning, mid-day, and dinner time, whereas a man’s energy levels ten to stay pretty consistent until just before supper. Women have more ebb and flow, but we exist in a system that’s not set up for that, so it can be very hard to navigate the workday.

Let’s get really honest about what we need, and what we deserve, and what we desire. We can’t go around the issues, we have to embrace that they are happening, accept that there’s a message there for us, and take the time to unravel that. What is the message? What do I need to know about myself?

Reevaluating Success Models

We’ve really only been given one model of success. Work hard, and then work even harder. That’s only one model of success though. Maybe we need to stop asking what we need to do more of and instead ask ourselves what we need to do less of. Who am I if I am just being and not doing? We can’t harvest year-round. Everything needs time, and everything needs space, and everything needs to be nurtured. “A field that has rested gives a beautiful crop.”

Exploring Identity

It feels good to be good at something. It can feel really lonely when you don’t get the feedback you crave, so you subconsciously chase that cycle of dopamine hits. You prescribe value to yourself based on positive feedback, so you chase the feedback. How do we instead slow down and get clear on our identity based on what we actually value? We won’t be rewarded for spending three hours playing on the floor with our kids; does that make the time less valuable?

As yourself this question; who am I if I am just being and not doing? What does it look like to just be? Everything is solvable; what a gift to recognize where you are at and to get to choose something else.

Conclusion

A big thank you to Trena for joining us on this extremely mindful episode today. We’re grateful for her contribution to this important conversation. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. Let’s get lit! 🔥

We’re diving deep into what it means to be a woman leader, what it means to be a mom, and what it means to try to balance it all - even though I think we all know balance is BS - and how to prevent burnout in our personal and professional lives. This is a very special episode, as we are hosting none other than my mom today, Cheryl Craig. A wealth of knowledge stemming from her long career as a nurse, her years of leadership in healthcare, and as CEO of a health region, we’re thrilled to have her with us. Let’s dive in!

Recognizing Burnout

Burnout can be sneaky. It can be happening to you without you knowing it because one of the first things to go on the road to burnout is your self-awareness. Our guest emphasizes the importance of defining your values and using them as a compass to navigate through conflicts and assess personal behaviors. Knowing that you are not being the person you want to be – whether you’re displaying anger or frustration – and assessing which personal value is being threatened that is causing this display.

Avoiding Burnout

Women in leadership carry the responsibilities of the home in a heavier way. Our guest’s leadership coach challenged her to protect her personal time with her spouse, understanding the importance of separating her work time from her personal time. That’s why you have a team around you to carry the work. It’s not about having a great number of people around you but having the people who bring you the most joy. “Quarters rather than pennies – you're much better off having four quarters – four really close relationships – than 100 pennies.”

Supporting Healthcare Workers

When addressing burnout in healthcare, professionals need to know that they can and should reach out for support. How can we help? It’s never wrong to say, “thank you.” They need to know they are making a difference and that it doesn’t go unnoticed or unseen. The health authority also has the responsibility to ensure they are acknowledging the work that the healthcare professionals are doing and should have supports in place to really show that they care.

Handling Diverse Perspectives

Sometimes you have to agree to disagree. Don’t try to influence others to change their deep-rooted beliefs; it’s not going to work. Find common ground with those around you, as that is what brings us together. There is far more that unites us than divides us. It’s also important to know that you don’t have to entertain every conversation. You can respectfully walk away if that’s what you need to do.

Cultivating Healthy Team Culture

It’s ok to have fun together! Find humour in ways that are healing; it’s ok to laugh. Poking fun at yourself as a leader can be a good place to start. It humanizes you and demonstrates to people that you aren’t perfect, and you aren’t striving to be. You’re going to show up and you’re going to show up with your flaws, and you’re going to laugh about it, and you’re going to do the best you can every day. Learn how to informally inject fun into the workplace, and don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. We’re human, we have feelings, and it’s ok to show those.

Lessons From a Former CEO

Thank you to our special guest for joining us and sharing your valuable insight. Remember to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. Let’s get lit! 🔥

After multiple bouts with burnout, I, Tevi Legge, am here to share my mistakes with you as well as host expert guests who have all experienced burnout, recovery, victory, and displayed resilience and grit as they scraped their knees and got back up again.

The Burnout Lab is a safe community for those experiencing burnout where you can access the wisdom of many experts and learn how burnout can reveal itself differently in each person. There’ll be laughs, there’ll be tears, and there will most definitely be wisdom and guidance for those journeying through burnout.

What Is Burnout?

Burnout is defined as a chronic state of physical and emotional exhaustion, often accompanied by feelings of cynicism and detachment from your work or personal life. It can leave us feeling drained, overwhelmed, and unable to cope with the demands of daily life. Burnout shows up differently for everyone; burnout is an equation and there are many pieces to that equation.

Where Does It Come From?

Research suggests that burnout can stem from a combination of factors, including excessive workload, lack of control or autonomy, insufficient support (at work or at home), and a big one – a mismatch between our values and the demands of our environment. If you’re living or working outside of your values, this misalignment is a major contributor to burnout because you’re not able to live in your authentic self. Burnout makes it harder to see or understand what your purpose is and how you align your purpose and values.

What You Can Expect

Through revealing the science behind burnout and hosting expert guests, we’ll uncover among many topics:

If you’re ready to embark on this journey of self-discovery and empowerment, you’re in the right place! Let’s live our lives lit. 🔥

A brief introduction to the Podcast - The Burnout Lab - Relighting women around the world and welcoming you to live your life lit. Tevi Legge, founder of The Burnout Lab introduces you to the podcast and all of the greatness to come as we navigate many different stories, journeys, and experiences of burnout, burnout recovery, and burnout prevention, all with a little cheekiness and some kick ass guests along the way.