Are You Burned Out on National Meditation Day?
Last Tuesday, the World Health Organization officially classified job-related burnout syndrome as a real disease. Though many senior executives and managers saw this news and recognized the symptoms, it is still a challenge for them to admit they are suffering from burnout.
You may be finding it a struggle to please your staff, your partners, fellow directors, and clients. You may be overwhelmed by your workload, and feeling anxious as if you're losing control over your company or your department's direction. What's worse is the inescapable exhaustion that can come with these symptoms.
Years ago, when I began building my first creative services agency in Dublin, I had to work two jobs to pay the bills. It seemed I had no time to do the things I loved to do, like martial arts training or keeping up my regular meditation practice. I wasn't getting the support I needed from my business partner and found myself managing the studio, pitching new business, and trying to keep clients happy alone. I was exhausted and felt like I couldn't keep the show on the road.
Things came to a head one Friday afternoon in early March, a weekend away from a significant new business pitch. Earlier that week, our team completely lost cohesion, we had absolutely no good ideas, my business partner had a breakdown, and my wife went into labor with our first baby.
As I rushed my wife to the hospital that afternoon, feeling like everything was coming apart at the seams, I suddenly realized how burned out I was, and that all of this stress was not coming from external sources, but from inside of me. I had allowed my discipline of meditation and training to slip and lost touch with the ease and focus that practice brought me, but this momentous occasion snapped me back to reality.
A few short hours later, my beautiful daughter was born into the present moment, bringing me with her. She brought clarity and refocused me on what was important – being with my loving wife and new baby daughter right here and right now.
Between visits to the hospital that weekend, I practiced sitting meditation at the studio and worked alone on Monday's big pitch. Despite many hours without sleep, I was excited and energized by the creative process. As it turned out, the work was pretty good, paying off with a handsome contract from a new client with whom we built a long relationship.
Today is National Meditation Day, use it to begin making a change. Take a moment to sit quietly alone with your spine straight and focus on your breathing. Allow your thoughts to come and go and watch them as if they are clouds gently passing by in the blue sky of your mind. Give yourself the time and space for the universe to show you the way forward.
You can't relieve your burnout at work without changing the way you approach your life.
Be well.
