#burnout-recovery

#burnout-recovery

The first time I recognized I was experiencing burnout, my husband and I left our advertising jobs and traveled without any set plans. This trip got me out of the nonstop grind mindset I'd functioned in for too long. I came back to corporate work refreshed and inspired in October 2016. Our company, Bala, was supposed to be a side hustle, creating cute wrist and ankle weights inspired by our travels.

When we talk about leadership, the focus is almost always on what you do. Communication. Influence. Strategic thinking. Decision-making. Performance.But the foundation that holds all of those things together, and that determines how well you can actually show up for them, is often overlooked: Your energy.We see this every day in our coaching and Women Rising programs. Brilliant, capable women who know what's required of them but are too depleted to consistently deliver at the level they expect of themselves.

A decade ago, I was deep in the corporate grind of brand management in Los Angeles. This meant long hours, endless meetings, and constant stress. I worked 12-hour days, chasing approvals, but I felt unfulfilled. With an autoimmune condition that flares under stress, a vacation to Steamboat Springs, Colorado- where my phone wouldn't stop pinging - was the breaking point.

About a month later, Ben received a call from an old colleague about a work opportunity at a pizza-and-wine bar in Tylösand, a beach town on Sweden's west coast. As a chef, the experience sounded exciting to him, and we also saw this as our opportunity to try somewhere new. That's why, weeks later, we found ourselves vacuum-sealing most of our clothes, giving away what we didn't need, and subletting our apartment - not knowing how long we'd be abroad.

There is no denying that these are dangerous times, and it is all too easy to get sucked into the vortex of despair. From troops overrunning the streets of Washington, D.C., to the antidemocratic strongarm tactics of Governor Abbott in Texas, to Governor DeSantis ordering the Pulse Memorial rainbow walk to be painted over in Florida, to out-of-control ICE agents stealing people off the street, to starvation in Gaza, to whatever the heck is going on with the Ukraine negotiations,