From Burnout to Stamina: How Spring Energy and Purpose Fuel Lasting Joy

A free weekend, spring light and a half-planned garden became an unexpected masterclass in energy, purpose and what it actually feels like to be alive in your own life.

In this episode I explore how meaning, seasons and gentle structure create lasting stamina and energy that actually feels good.

• mapping spring energy to motivation and momentum
• a heartfelt wish list as compass rather than to-do list
• staying focused without force
• the difference between purposeful and draining tiredness
• a one-minute future self ritual
• gently rebelling against stories about energy and ageing
• micro-tweaks that add or drain your daily energy

For anyone who wants more and wants it to feel good getting there.

This podcast was created to help big-hearted, driven professionals break free from overwhelm and experience more clarity, ease and joy.

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This podcast is here to soothe and inspire, helping you reclaim your life from overwhelm. It is not intended as medical...

Transcript

Welcome And Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Welcome to Overwhelm is Optional, the podcast for big-hearted, highly driven professionals who are ready to turn overwhelm into clarity, ease and joy. I'm Heidi Mark, the Gentle Rebel Coach, and in each episode I share insights, stories and practical tools to help you gently rebel against the pressure to push on through. Because you matter. How you are in the world matters. Apart from obviously, if you're on the other side of the world where it's autumn, but here in England, oh my goodness, sunshine, daylight. Oh, I'm so happy. I had this amazing day on Saturday where all I did was garden. Literally, I was out there from 7 30 in the morning till 4 o'clock, and I I really didn't stop. I did have some lunch, but pretty much didn't stop and had so much energy, which is exciting. Really, really exciting. So what was that about? Why did I have so much energy? Well, firstly, I'd been working really hard and I ran February Focus a live small group course during February, which meant that I haven't had weekends because I've been working on the course, which has been a joy, a gift, amazing, amazing bunch of people. However, I was really, really excited because suddenly I have a free weekend. So I'm first of all, I was excited, and there's something in there, isn't it? Something in that, isn't there? About um when you have a restriction and then it's lifted, it gives more joy, which is why I think trying to set everything up where it's equal and the same, as if everything can always be balanced, is is possibly not a good thing to aim for, at least not for me. So that was really exciting. Also, the weather was just amazing. And then I'd ordered£150 worth of plants, and they'd they'd arrived two days before. And I've read the reason I mean I love plants anyway, and I you know I just love my garden, and I do regularly go and say hello to my plants. So I do feel an affinity with the plants. Now then they're not the same as animals, however, there is research about plants and a stress response. So I don't know, they did stuff like chucked plants off balconies and measured the stress replants, the stress responses, but I can't remember how they do it. Anyway, the point is these plants had travelled a long way and they'd been in this huge box and I'd unpacked them and I was just really feeling for them. I mean I'd unpacked them and I'd put them in the conservatory and I'd had a little chat and said welcome, and but I felt like they were waiting, particularly the bare root plants, which were in plastic bags, and I really, really, really wanted to get their little roots, get their little toes in the soil. Anyway, I was just excited about the plants and welcome welcoming them to my garden. There were so many plants, and I've been making so many big changes to the garden that I'd actually had to draw a plan, which isn't like me, I like to kind of feel my way as I go. And I'm pretty good at that. My garden is beautiful, but I've been doing these big adventurous things. So just before we went to America last year, I finished this bit where I dug this whole new area for extending where I sit under the apple tree. I want I wanted a windbreak around it, and I'd planted two magnolia trees and three of those beautiful shrubs that I can't pronounce properly. I'll give it a go. Please forgive me. I think it's YGila. Anyway, they're amazing plants, really tough, really, really long flowering time, and grow pretty big. And my son had bought me three really unusual ones for my birthday last May, but I obviously had to pop them up, and then I just waited. I really wanted a new area, I didn't want to squeeze them in the other beds, I wanted this new area, so I was very excited, just managed to finish that before we went away, and then I've been you know, then spring comes and I I want to finish that area, and that but I also had this other area going on. Basically, I've got three different areas going on in my half acre garden, which is really lucky. I'm not complaining, but it's a lot, right? It's a lot of thinking about, and then it kept raining. So the last time it wasn't raining too much was in January, and then it was really really cold and frosty, and it's you can't do anything, can you? Because the ground's too hard and you can't plant things. So then it had rained lots, and then I'd been teaching at weekends. So this this all culminated in this huge excitement. So I'd been building this, I've built this area now. I've done it, I've created new borders, and I mean I it's not that profess it's not professionally done, so it'll probably sink, but I've moved a path and I've created a brick paved area with these old bricks, so it looks beautiful at the moment. I'm sure it'll probably go wrong at some point, but I don't care. I'm not a landscape um designer, but I really enjoyed it. There's so much joy in just moving stuff around, and it's like a gym workout, but without having to go to a gym, and I'm creating something, so I get to be creative and exercise and be outside and have my hands in the mud, which I really really love. So I've created this area where is this flat paved area made out of reclaimed stuff from the garden, of which there is a lot. Then I've put in new borders around it using the large lumps of green sandstone, which is the natural stone from around these areas, and which our cottage is made of, but for some reason there's quite a few chunks of it in the garden, which is not a good sign because it means they removed bits from the house previously, but anyway, I use them in the garden and they're beautiful, and just the fitting together of all these different shapes, rocks, and oh, it's just I have so much joy in making these things, and then we managed to get at Christmas at half price this beautiful bench, which is a rocking wooden bench. I don't even know they made rocking wooden benches, so cool. So, anyway, I've done that, but I wanted I was waiting for these plants to arrive to go in these new borders. Usually, I don't know about you, but usually when I'm gardening and I think, oh, I want this plant, there isn't actually any room for it, or it goes in the wrong place and doesn't survive. I don't know. Anyway, anyway, can you feel the energy building? So that there's excitement, there's momentum, there's desire, there's creativity, there's the physical workout, there's the change in the season, there's the change in the daylight, there's sunshine, there's the rainstropping, the greyness, the Tupperware weather disappearing. So much energy going on for me at this time of year, and the the delight of planting all those plants and having to create spaces for them, which involves physical hard work and thinking and planning. So it's using every part of me. Another thing that happened on Saturday is that I didn't listen to any podcasts, so often I'll stick an earpiece in, and you know, Simon's listening to his music or podcast, and I'm listening to mine, and we're not disturbing each other. And and I usually love that because I love learning, I'm really interested in, I love podcasts, but I just decided I'm not listening to anything today. And that was amazing. Partly I think because it gave me space and I could hear the birds singing, and I don't know, it just made me more outward looking. I was looking around at the garden rather than focused in. It's not that one's better than the other, I'm just unpicking why I was able to have the stamina to keep going at really hard physical work from 7 30 in the morning till four in the afternoon with hardly a break. And yes, at the end I was physically tired, very tired, but so happy. It was so satisfying, and it was so much fun as well. I I was just I was excited, it was so much fun to do this. I'd been waiting to do it, then my momentum was there. I settled the plants in. I haven't finished planting them because I'm now moving on to the area under the apple tree, and I want some plants for there. And oh, I've just there's so much creativity, there's so much I'm excited about this. So I'm trying to unpick here energy. The theme inside the gentle rebel space this month is energy. Why? Well, look at the time of year, look at the energy coming through the earth with everything sprouting. I can't remember, I meant to look it up. The thing about um a seed or a bulb or a grass shoot coming up through the ground has to push so many tons, and you think that's interesting, isn't it? How's it managing to do that? A tiny seed pushing tons or whatever it is. Anyway, I didn't look it up, but there's the idea there for you, there's something about this time of year, the energy of spring, the spring energy. So I really wanted to harness that inside my online membership, and also it links so the the Q1 theme inside the Gentle Rebel space has been kick starting your year, gently rebelliously kickstarting your year, and it started with one identify what you want, and the workshop that we normally have would have normally been inside the community. I opened up to the public and make sure you're on my mailing list and that you don't miss that next year. It's very popular, it's very, very effective, and that's my new year workshop where we identify our heartfelt wish list, what we really really want. So it's not goal setting, it's really deep, heart-mind, body aligned, a coherent guidance, setting your compass for the year. And then so January was identifying what you want and allowing that to come to the surface to percolate, giving it time, not making it a rush job, tick box, got my goals, and then February was stay focused on what matters most to you because there's that cycle. I don't know about you, that cycle of get really excited and I get really inspired, and I decide I'm gonna do this thing, and then other opportunities come and curveballs come, and then I find I'm not actually that focused on that one thing. I'm either split focused, which is very common with me because lots of opportunities get very excited, andor probably both, I'm distracted by you know drama and stuff going wrong and blah, you know, life. And what I've thought about is that actually, if you just take one thing and focus on it until it's done, so the upgrade to the heartfelt wish list is to keep doing it until it comes true, not in a pushing, obviously, we're not pushing through overwhelming to exhaustion to do this, and this is not all about action, but it's aligning with the feeling of it already done, so starting in the end result, so because it's an identity shift, so each of the heartfelt wish lists is an invitation to identity upgrade. Now we're doing we're changing all the time, right? Our cells and our bodies all become new every seven years or whatever it is, but we're changing anyway. I mean, life moves on, you get older, you you change roles. I mean, I'm I'm a grandmother now, I'm still getting used to that. Life changes, nothing stays the same. But what we're looking at here in in the transformational personal development space as a transformational life coach, what I'm looking at here is intentional identity shifting. So using the heartfelt wish list as your compass for the year, you can then use your future self, the version of you that already has everything that has come true on the heartfelt wishlist as your guide and reconnecting with that every morning for one minute. And I have a gently rebellious one-minute journal which you can get from Amazon if you'd like the structure for this, it works really, really well. And if you'd like more structure, consider joining the gentle rebel space where we have the structure there as well. So more accountability, more holding space, more gently rebellious reminders, because this matters. If you can imagine if you could stay focused on the things that really matter to you, how would that change your life? Because everything we do is in order to change how we feel. So if we decide how we want to feel and then decide what it is how we want to adventure, the the how we get there, or we're not getting anywhere, are we? There's nowhere to go. Everything is the present moment, but bringing that into our awareness now. So identify what you want, then stay focused on it. But thirdly, the end of our Q1 theme in the Gentle Rebel space is energy. Why? Because when you have the energy to do what you want to do, you're more likely to stay focused on it. I don't know about you, but as soon as I get tired, I am so easily distracted into not eating what I really want to eat or not doing what I really, really want to do. But there's a difference for me between that tiredness that comes from having worked hard at something satisfying, so the kind of spent energy of purpose, purposefulness, and the tiredness from that being distracted from what I really want to do, the the the draining energy. So there's the using energy purposefully and then needing to recover, and then there's the being off course and feeling drained, the not being able to focus in a flow state or in a in a purposeful way, feeling like stuff's in my way. Now, both things are gonna happen. Like I'm I'm never gonna be perfect at this stuff, I'm never gonna always work in the flow state, always work with purpose, never get distracted, like dishwashers break, ours just recently broke. You know, stuff happens, right? Stuff needs to be fixed, life happens, family drama happens, stuff happens, right? But the intention to to stay connected to my heartfelt purpose, to what I've already identified, rather than keep identifying over and over again, rather than that circular, I feel inspired, I know what I'm doing, and then losing it, and then what was I doing again? Like to break that, that's that matters to me, and so it's easier if I have energy. So this month inside the gentle rebel space, and if you want to join, I will put the link in the show notes. So when I have the energy, it's everything's easier, it's also more fun, I feel better. But what does that mean? So, what we're looking at inside the gentle rebel space this month is what do we mean by energy? I guess we all want more energy, but more energy for what? What drains us, what energizes us, all that kind of stuff. So the reason I'm showing what happened to me on Saturday is to me that's a I mean it was was it the first of March? It wasn't even March. So it was um the 28th of February, so it's even before we were into March energy. I'm already set up with this marvellous example for me personally of look what happens when you feel energized and inspired. You have kick-ar stamina, which really surprises me because you know I'm gonna be 58 soon. I don't always feel necessarily that I have the physical energy I want, although, is that different for when I was younger? I don't know. In my 20s, I used to windsurf all day, so yeah, but it probably is, and okay, so everybody says as you age you have less energy, but I've got this thing of but what if that's not true? Because obviously I'm gonna gently rebel against that. For instance, I have a kettlebell, obviously, because they're one of the fastest, most effective ways to blah blah blah, you know, all the biohacking stuff. But I decided that I would do um what is it fifth so this year I'm doing 57 kettlebell swings, only like once my aim is to do it once a week, I fail, so it's probably I don't know, a couple times a month, who cares? My aim is to do it on a Sunday. I certainly wasn't gonna do it this Sunday after Saturday because I knew I needed to not do it and to recover, and I respect that in my body, so I did not do it this Sunday. Who cares? I did hours of shifting tons of soil and rubble, so I didn't need to do it, but I do miss it actually. Maybe I'll do it today, maybe I'll do it after I've recorded this. But I've decided what if each year I did one more kettlebell swing. So next year I do 58 every time. And so what I'm doing now is reversing the aging thing in my head. As the older I get, the more kettlebell swings I can do. Why not? Gently rebel against this aging stuff, anyway. So anyway, I wanted to share that with you because energy matters, right? And if you're in this hemisphere, then you'll notice the spring energy, or I invite you to notice the spring energy and how it affects you. Now it's it's not I'm perfectly aware that not everybody is as excited about spring and gardens as I am. So in that case, which time of year do you get most excited about? So my partner is an autumn winter person, and he gets so energized and excited by autumn while I'm just going, Oh my goodness, it's getting darker. I don't like it getting darker, he loves it. So people have different things, don't they? But anyway, I invite you this week, if you want to, to notice the spring energy because it's really rapid at this time of year. Brown hedges suddenly start getting green, they're like this green haze. The birds are really busy. Um, blackbirds are already having a bit of fisty cuff, so they're probably deciding who's going to be partner with who, and somebody else was building a nest, and oh I don't know, there's the it's noisy in my garden now. They're all the woodpeckers have been out for a month, so that's energy, things waking up, and then suddenly dandelions are sprouting everywhere, and I'm trying really hard to get them before they take over my entire garden again because there's plenty of room for gar for um whatchall it dandelions, and I know they're good for insects, but there's a lot of insects, and there's a lot of room for dandelions. I just don't want them. Where I'm trying to grow my beautiful other things, I want to give other things space. So I'm digging out dandelions quite regularly at the moment before they take over the entire garden because they are so well adapted to life, aren't they? Go, I could do a whole episode on dandelions and how adapted they are to life, but let's not do that now. Let's focus on energy this week. Energy, energy, energy. What energizes you, what drains you? If you have more energy, what for? Anyway, just invite that's invitation, spring energy exciting. And if you want to join us in examining that, the gentle rebel space is a subscription, so you can cancel any time. So if you just wanted to pop in for one month, or you wanted to do the whole of Q2 with us, in uh, or if you just wanted to do March energy, so Q2 we're moving on to the gently rebellious way of getting things done. Anyway, lots of exciting stuff coming up. It's the lowest cost way to get access to me because there's group coaching. So there you go. Invitation there if it calls to you. You can email me and ask me more about it, or you can check the link out, I'll put it in the show notes. Thank you for listening, have a great week. Thank you so much for listening and for being part of the Overwhelmers Optional podcast. If you want to continue the conversation, please do connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram or YouTube. Let me know your thoughts. I love hearing from you. And if you found this helpful, taking a moment to share, subscribe and leave a review would be much appreciated. It helps other people find the podcast. If you're ready to turn overwhelm into joy, you'll find my books, resources, and ways to work with me on my website heidimark.co.uk and on Amazon. All the links are in the show notes. Until next time, keep gently rebelling and making overwhelm optional for you.