How to get out of the cycle of being Booked, Busy, and Burned Out
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from being fully booked and still feeling empty. We fill our calendars, we produce, we perform excellence. Somewhere in the doing, we lose touch with ourselves.
bell hooks named this pattern with striking honesty in Sisters of the Yam, reflecting on the addiction to being needed, to being in control, to doing something well even when it's costing us:
"It seemed individuals were addicted to being martyrs. They wanted to control everything, to be the person in 'power' but also resented the position... When you do something and do it well, it is hard to take a break, or to confront the reality that I had to face, which was that I really didn't want to be doing the job I was doing even though I did it well."
Her words resonate because so many of us know exactly what she means. Competence can become its own trap. We keep showing up, keep producing, keep saying yes because we've learned to equate our worth with our output.
So what does it look like to interrupt the hyper-independent and hyper-productivity cycle? In this livestream of Moving Beyond Burnout, I share four ways to begin changing a booked, busy, and burnout lifestyle.
Release the pressure to always be "on."
Create room for clarity, reflection, and stillness.
Redefine success beyond productivity.
Honor your capacity instead of constantly exceeding it.
Being busy was never the goal. Being aligned and joyful is. This is a call to release the martyrdom of overwork and step into a rhythm that will sustain you for the long-run.
