If You’re Burnt Out Here’s The Lifeline You’ve Been Waiting For
Aug 10, 2023Season 1Episode 114
Chelsea Turgeon
When you are feeling burnt out, at some point you have to make a decision.
What's more important to you… taking care of yourself or trying to prove yourself?
The moment you can let go of trying to show people you are good enough, maintaining appearances, and hustling for your worthiness your burnout recovery. can actually begin.
So, if you are struggling with burnout I've created a free gift that is going to help you kickstart your burnout recovery. It’s the lifeline. The opening. That can be the catalyst to change everything. To get you out of that deep dark hole.
In this solo podcast episode, I introduce #ByeBurnout my free audio series to help you kickstart your burnout recovery.
REACH OUT TO CHELSEA: FREE downloads for if you are feeling lost or burnt out in your career: https://coachchelsmd.com/free/
Ready to create a joyful life and career? Here’s how I can support you through my online courses and coaching programs. http://coachchelsmd.com/offers/
When you are feeling burnt out, at some point you have to make a decision.
What's more important to you… taking care of yourself or trying to prove yourself?
The moment you can let go of trying to show people you are good enough, maintaining appearances, and hustling for your worthiness your burnout recovery. can actually begin.
So, if you are struggling with burnout I've created a free gift that is going to help you kickstart your burnout recovery. It’s the lifeline. The opening. That can be the catalyst to change everything. To get you out of that deep dark hole.
In this solo podcast episode, I introduce #ByeBurnout my free audio series to help you kickstart your burnout recovery.
REACH OUT TO CHELSEA: FREE downloads for if you are feeling lost or burnt out in your career: https://coachchelsmd.com/free/
Ready to create a joyful life and career? Here’s how I can support you through my online courses and coaching programs. http://coachchelsmd.com/offers/
Hello, my love. Today I am so excited to introduce you to a brand new free audio series that I have recorded for you. And so in this podcast episode, I'm gonna talk through sort of the intention behind this audio series, and then we're gonna place some clips so you can get a sneak preview of what it's like. But the coolest part about this free audio series, I think there's so many cool things, but one of the cool parts is the delivery. So essentially you're gonna sign up for it and then it is like a private podcast feed, so you can listen to it basically on the same platforms that you listen to podcasts. Besides Spotify, because Spotify does not allow me to keep it private, so anyone could come upon the podcast feed, and I really do want it to be, that is like a protected thing that you have to sign up for. You cannot get it from Spotify, however, you can get it from any other podcast app. And so if you are an Apple user, you can use Apple Podcasts obviously. And then if you don't have an iPhone, then you can get, you can download Google Podcasts and use it there. So even if you don't normally listen to podcasts there, that would be your alternative if you're not an iPhone user. And so that's a really cool piece of it, is that you can basically, Listen to it on the go just like you would this podcast. And that's something I'm really excited for.'cause I know that you guys are busy. I know that you have so much going on and I wanted to create something that meets you exactly where you are. That is the whole purpose of this audio. So this audio is a by burnout audio series, and the idea is when you're burnt out, usually the big irony and the big catch 22 of the whole thing is that. You are too burnt out to do anything about your burnout, and so you just tend to cycle around in this deep rutt. And I've been messaging with people on Facebook and just talking with clients and some of the language they've used, just it feels like I'm crawling myself out or I have to crawl out of this deep, dark hole. And there's just this sense of being really stuck in this vicious. Cycle of burnout. And what I want to do with this audio is to throw you a lifeline. It's to be the thing that breaks that cycle. For you to be that little ray of hope, that opening that light at the end of the tunnel, it's not going to fully cure your, your burnout. Burnout is such a complex topic and there's so much that goes into recovery, so I'm not gonna pretend like here's an audio series that. It is gonna magically cure your burnout. That's just not true. But what it I think it's gonna do is crack it open and get you out of that vicious cycle of burnout where you're just exhausted and stuck and you're too exhausted to do anything about it, and so then you keep having to dig deeper. To power through to override all of your natural instincts, and you're just going deeper and deeper into the whole as you try to just maintain the responsibilities of your day-to-day life. And so through this, um, free audio series, My goal is to throw you a lifeline because when I was deep in my burnout, someone threw me a lifeline. And so I've told my story before, but I wanna just go into some of the details here as well. When I was in my second year of residency, it was these final two rotations. That really broke me in a sense because I was already planning to, I was already talking about leaving. I already was talking with my chief residents about how I'm not happy, and this is not, I don't think this is what I wanna do long term, but I was still going through, I had these two rotations. I had OB nights, I. And I had gyn onc as a second year, like I had those back to back in a row. And those were really hours intensive, stressful, like very intense rotations. And so by the end of GYN onc, I was very much done like I was, I was in such a low. Place at that point. There's, we had a really tough roster of patients. We had a really big service. It was like really full, and so we were so busy. We had a lot of like patient deaths, so there was a lot of things happening from I. Just the service perspective where like other people were having a hard time too, not just me and then I was already just questioning my whole motivation and just not feeling like this is what I wanted to be doing long term and I was just struggling. I remember getting phone calls.'cause as during the gyno rotation, you still do your continuity clinic. So you have an afternoon a week where you're still going to clinic. And I remember. Like I would go to clinic, like I would physically be present in my resident clinic, but I was not finishing any notes. I had like stockpiles of notes that I hadn't completed and I remember getting calls from attendings being like, are you okay? Like, you haven't signed the notes yet, what's going on? And they were like concerned. And I was, yeah, just not able to, I don't have the capacity to finish any of those. I was so tired when I would go into work that I wouldn't even go to as a second year. I was supposed to shadow these attendings at their, uh, clinic. And I remember there were several times where I just didn't go, like they were expecting me to be there and like they, they could still carry on with the patients. And it's not like anyone wasn't cared for, but I was supposed to go and be there and, and help out a little bit and just do some things and be present and I just didn't go. I just skipped and I would. Literally go to the residence lounge and just sleep at and take a nap. And I remember just feeling so exhausted and it was just this sense of I don't think I can keep it together. Like I was very much at my capacity and I. Was barely functioning, was barely doing the day-to-day operations. And then I remember also having, I had to give like tumor board presentations and I just was giving everyone a hard time about having to do that. I was like, you know what? I don't wanna, I don't wanna be doing this. I don't want any extra work. I don't want anything. I was just really not in a good space during. That got on rotation and then it was like the final Friday of that rotation that I remember getting a message from a text from my program director and she already like, knew that I wasn't, that I was considering leaving, like she already knew that things were evolving for me. And I got a message from my program director and like I, I talked about this with one of my clients. It like felt like I was being called into the principal's office'cause he had a similar situation. And it's this sense of. Yeah, being called into the principal's office. And so she sent me this message being like, Hey, why don't you come to my office sometime today and we can talk. And so we go, I go to her office and she essentially suggests me taking a five week leave of absence. And I think the way she was framing it is, but people have been noticing that you're not really at your best. I don't know exactly what, if she was like getting some complaints or what it was that was happening, but she's been having some conversations and. People are noticing that you're having a hard time, that you're struggling, that you're not at your best, and I don't want you to shoot yourself in the foot if you decide you wanna stay. If you really want to continue in this program, I want you to be able to do so successfully. So I think it's best if you take some time, if you take a break. To get your head together and decide if this is what you wanna do, decide if you do wanna stay here.'cause it's like being in this half, in, half out state where you're showing up and not, but not fully where you're showing up and phoning it in. When they knew that I was capable of a lot more, when I was at my best like that, that wasn't gonna work for anyone and I totally got that. And so she framed it in this way that was very like supportive and. Really framing it for me as she had my best interest at heart. And I really do think she did as well. And I remember hearing it and hearing the sense of, I think you should take the next rotation off and have these five weeks to, to take a break. And I heard it and the first thing that happened when I heard her say that was my body relaxed. It was like this huge exhale. I felt this sense of, whew, a huge weight was lifted. Oh my gosh. It's a relief. Wow. This is the thing. I can just take five weeks off. Like it just felt like everything I could have ever wanted. That's how my body reacted. And then within just a few minutes, I had all the shame tapes start playing that said, you should need this. Why can't you handle it like everyone else? You see all your other co-residents are doing fine. They're powering through. They're not having to sneak off and take naps. They're not being called to the principal's office. This is a failure. You should be handling this better. You shouldn't have to take this time off. You are failing right now. This is, you're letting everyone down. And then there was a sense, I remember she even told me, we came to the agreement that. So you're like, I was gonna send out an email to all my co-residents to let them know the situation, and I just remembered the idea of you have to type out this email that is gonna be letting everyone know that you're a failure, essentially. You're gonna have to type out this email that says basically, I can't cut it. I can't hang. I, and I always had this sense ever. Even like in college, I had this sense of, I don't belong here. Like, I remember I was in a sorority where I was like, I'm not good enough to be in this sorority. I don't belong here. And then matching in this residency program, it was like a very top tier residency program. And I just had this underlying feeling of, oh, I probably don't even actually deserve to be there. And so then having that uncovered feeling, oh, they're gonna. They're gonna see, I'm gonna send this email and everyone's gonna see I don't deserve to be here. And they're all gonna know. And then it's like gonna be proof. And so it was so scary and painful. But as you can see, I. My mind was saying all of those things when I go back and I remember like as soon as I heard that I could take time off, I felt relief. I felt like a exhale. I felt relaxed, like my body was communicating to me that this is what it needs and this is what I'm supposed to do, and it's my mind. Was trying to override it and it was trying to play all of these shame tapes around the idea that like, I shouldn't have to do this. I shouldn't have to take this time off. So when I look back, I wonder would I ever have taken that time if it wasn't presented to me? Would I have taken the initiative to seek that out, to ask for time off if it wasn't just given to me? And I don't know, because especially with how hard it felt to go through those steps, I don't know if I would've done it if it wasn't. Given to me, and so I feel so, so grateful that I was basically given this lifeline. My program director gave me a lifeline. She said, Hey, you're struggling. You're not doing great here. Take what you need. Take time all. And so that was a lifeline for me. And what I wanna do with this series, this Buy Burnout audio series, is I want this to be your lifeline. I know that I'm not in charge of your payroll and I can't be the one to say, Hey, take some time off. And I know that. I've had episodes before about like why you should take time off, and I get that and I do stand by all of those episodes. And you know when you're in this place of burnout, yeah, taking some time off in one way or another is the best thing you can do. But if you're not totally mentally there yet to be able to let yourself do that, then let this be the next best thing. Let this be your lifeline. Let this be your. Ray of hope when you feel like you're in this deep rutt of darkness, this endless cycle of exhaustion where there's just another thing on your calendar and another thing on your calendar, and you look ahead and you're like, when can I actually sleep? And it's two months from now where you're like, oh, I could take this whole day and just sleep. And so I get it. I have fully been there. I really have, and I understand it on such a deep level, and so I've created this free series to meet you exactly where you are in that state of exhaustion, in that state of depletion, in that state of feeling like I can't add anything else to my to-do list. How am I ever supposed to even recover from this? It's this massive thing you can do. You can download it. And then all you have to do is press play, and it's five days. It's meant to be listened to over five days, and each episode is between like 15 to 20 minutes, I think once, like maybe 23 minutes. So hopefully you can listen to it on your way into work or on a morning walk, or. And if you have time for that whatev, wherever it is, that it can even like laying in bed at night before you go to bed, you can just press play, listen to it. And the idea is that by the end of the five days, you're gonna feel different. You're gonna feel a sense of relief, you're gonna feel understood. Some of that shame is gonna be lifted, and you're gonna feel like there's a way for you to take. And so what I'm gonna do now is play through some of the, like some previews, some clips from some of the days, just so you can get a sense of what it is. And I'm gonna start with the intro clip, which is amazing. I've also like mixed the audio for it, which I, in a really cool way. I had a lot of fun and creativity, just like mixing the audio and playing around with that. So I'm gonna just play some clips in here so that you get a sneak preview of what it's like. And then you can go ahead and download it. You can go to coach chelsea's md.com/buy burnout audio, or you can click the link in the show note. You can sign up, you can grab your own version of this and. What I also wanna ask of you is you are not the only one who's struggling with burnout. Other people might be hiding it better, but you're, you are not the only one who's struggling with it. And so what I want you to do is if this audio series. Is helpful for you, then please share it. Please share this link with a friend, with a coworker so that you can be their lifeline, so that you can be their ray of hope. Because I can't just get the message out there myself. I'm not like directly in the thick of things anymore, and I just know that if there's something that's helping you, If listening to this audio is helping you, I know that somebody that it could help as well. And so please find that person and share it with them so that this message can grow and so that more and more of us can start to recover from burnout. So without further ado, I'll let you listen to some of these sneak preview clips and I can't wait for you guys to listen to the Vibe Burnout audio. I cannot wait to see how it impacts you and how this creates a shift in the medical community. So I'm sending you so much love and let's get to the clips. I feel so exhausted. At the end of the day, this is what I signed up for. I feel trapped. There's no way I can sustain that. I always take the stress of the job home with me. I've got no personal life left. I don't know how much longer I can do what I'm doing. It's red going into work. I just don't wanna be so stressed all the time. I have nothing that left to give. I just wanna feel peace. I just wanna feel better. I just wanna feel peace. I wanna feel peace. I wanna wake up and look forward to my day. Peace. Welcome to the Buy Burnout audio series because it is time to close the door on your Sad Girl burnout chapter and start feeling like a person again. You've been holding your breath. For way too long, you deserve to exhale. So sit back, relax, and let's say bye to burnout together. Hello, my love. I'm so excited to bring you this free series to help you start your burnout recovery journey. So as you are here with me, what I'm going to assume is. You're exhausted. You are done though. you're too burnt out to do anything about your burnout and it becomes this conundrum, this catch 22. And so I just want to say. I got you. One thing that keeps people from admitting that they're burnt out and from talking about it and really being honest with themselves is this sense of shame around burnout. This sense of, I should be able to handle this. Everyone around me is excelling, or at least they're tolerating it better than me. So why am I the one struggling? And what I need you to know if you literally take nothing else from these audios, It's not a you problem. There is nothing wrong with you. You are reacting essentially the way any human would react in relation to the environment that you're in. It's a system problem. With that in mind, understanding that the system is what it is, then you take responsibility and you say, well, what am I gonna do about it? This is the way it is right now. This is how my body, my nervous system, my human self has reacted to it, and now it's my responsibility to take ownership and figure out where to go from here because no one else is going to save you. Literally, no one else can step up and save you, so it is on you to save yourself. And I am here to help you and support you through that, but I cannot do the pushups for you you can't keep doing the same things. Putting yourself last overworking, not setting boundaries. Like you can't keep doing these things and expect anything to change. You can't even expect to go to a different job to shift the external environment without doing anything to address the internal factors and expect things to change in a sustainable, lasting way. So in order for you to recover from burnout, You have to be willing to shift some patterns, right? You can't keep doing the same things you've been doing because when you think about it, what you've been doing has landed you here. Why is it too painful for you to stay exactly where you are? I want you to take a minute and really think about this. What will happen if you stay the same? If you stay exactly where you are now? A month goes by, you're in this exact place. Two months go by. You still feel just as ever before disconnected, reactive, exhausted. A year goes by and nothing has changed. What will happen if you carry on like this, I really want you to feel into that so that your body can have that experience of you being in this exact same place one year from now. Why is this not acceptable? Why is this something you are not willing to deal with, with this pain, with this set up moment, with this sense of I am done here. Many of us are living a lie, and that sounds dramatic, but there's these things just below the surface that we're not admitting, that we're not saying out loud these things that we know on some level, but we're afraid to know them because if we speak them out loud, if we acknowledge them, what would that mean about our lives? Essentially, it's these truths about who we are, about what we want, about what's working for us or not working for us. That have this potential to unravel life as we know it, and it's scary. And so for a lot of us, it's easier to put our head in the sand to not think about it, to go into this avoidant state, but lurking just below the surface within everything. You don't wanna say out loud within that kernel of truth that you're just too afraid to admit there's so much freedom there. For so many of us, there tends to be things that we don't say that we're afraid to know, afraid to feel, afraid to talk about, and we think that speaking them out loud, being honest about them is going to cause all of these problems. And so we're too afraid to deal with it. But the thing is, you are dealing with it. Once you give yourself this gift of honesty, then you can actually do something about it. When you're living in fear and denial and, and not speaking your truth, there's no way to actually address burnout. and it's the fact that when you're burnt out, you are at capacity, meaning you cannot add anything else into your life. You cannot add new habits, you cannot add on trainings. You cannot add on different like skills or self-care thing like you are at capacity. And so even if there is maybe time left over in your day and you feel like, oh, I'm not spending that time wisely, it is because you can't, you are at capacity. You don't need to do more. You don't need to shame yourself. It's not about time management. What we need to do is free up capacity. We wanna think about how we can start to free up some time. How we can start to free up some energy. This doesn't have to be the hardest thing to let go of or say no to. This doesn't have to be the hardest thing to stop doing. We wanna go for the lowest hanging fruit. What is that thing that you could just drop it with not many consequences and it would free up so much capacity. It would free up so much time and energy, and this is about what you are going to stop doing. We cannot add on any self-care rituals. We cannot add on any career searching, figuring out your next steps. We can't do any of that when you're at capacity. You end up saying yes to everything and you end up being burnt out. there's healing around that to be done. Developing a sense of safety, learning how to slowly start setting boundaries, learning how to say no, learning what boundaries you even need. Most of us experiencing burnout have some kind of hyperactive nervous system or going into dorsal vagal shutdown, and there's just a lot on a physiological level. That needs to be healed. Maybe there's some unprocessed trauma from Covid. Maybe there's just years of stress that's lodged in our nervous systems, and we need to learn how to take care of our nervous system, how to thaw out and how to set up our lives and our environment in a way that is highly supportive for our own individual nervous system. And I say all of this, not to overwhelm you, but just to to paint a clear picture of the pieces that really need to fall in place for you to recover from burnout. There's nervous system healing. There's cultivating a sense of meaning and purpose and a career that aligns with their values. There's healing these behavioral patterns so that you can relate to the world in a more adaptive way. Seeking positive connection is really important Learning how to rest all of these pieces. Let this be your burnout. Awakening, while also knowing there's still so much to work through. And again, I don't say that to make you feel overwhelmed or to make you feel discouraged or defeated. This is really just the beginning. This free audio series is perfect for someone like you, who is burnt out because you don't have to do anything. There is no worksheet to fill out there's no video to watch and take notes around. it's not something to complete. It's not something that you have to add to your to-do list. This is meant to just be so supportive for exactly the mental state you're in right now. So all you have to do. It's press play. The way this is going to work. There are five. Different audio tracks. Between 10 to 20 minutes long. And what I envision is that you do them on, as you drive into work or you listened to them. As you like go on a walk. After work or before work. So just finding a 20 minute pocket of the day, every day. Maybe even while you're lying in bed, right? Like. You're about to go to sleep. And there's nothing else that you can do, but you can't quite fall asleep yet. Like just press play on this audio while you're lying in bed. This is meant to be a passive activity for you. To help kickstart your burnout recovery journey. So, all you need to do is show up over the next five days and press play. There are going to be some bite-sized tangible things to do sometimes after some of the videos, but for the most part, it's you just listening? It's you just absorbing it's you just soaking it all in. My recommendation is that you, you start on a Monday. And you listen. On the way to work every day. And at the end of those five days, Things will be. Significantly different. And that's all you have to do. And. By the end of that time. You're going to feel different. This audio. Is going to be. Exactly what you need. Exactly what you've been praying for. Wishing for hoping for. To begin. Your burnout recovery journey to help you start crawling your way out of that hole. That you're in.
