There have been times in all our lives where we have all experienced a burnout or anxiety spiral. And in today’s world not only are we impacted by our daily lives and the laundry list of responsibilities but are also impacted by the collective village’s stress and anxiety around the chaos in the world and the unknown. When we live in a society that has been designed for us to only be valued if we are constantly producing puts an added level of anxiety and ignoring the signs of burnout that our bodies, minds, and spirits are trying to convey to us before we cross the threshold into a situation that takes us out of the game completely.
I have my own personal story of ignoring all the signs and symptoms of impending burnout that took me out of the game. In 2016 I had an onset of panic attacks that lasted 3 months. I could barely leave the house. Looking back on it I now know that the signs were there for at least a month leading up to it. And I am a person that has ALL the tools to work with it. But once that level of burnout or anxiety settles into the nervous system to that level it becomes more difficult to kick out the anxiety tenant taking up space in your whole system rent-free.
Once it gets to that level it can show up as anxiety or depression, sometimes both. But now it has permeated through your physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. Some healers say it is living in your energetic body long before it gets in your physical body, and others say it appears as a physical system before you have the complete emotional breakdown. I say, none of it is separate, and how it first shows up is unique to each individual and how you process sensory information. What I can absolutely say is being disassociated from yourself and ignoring the signs can lead to this level of what I call the Hot Mess Express. My wish for you is that you spend some time journaling on what your signs and signals are, and what suggestions I give for pattern disruptors resonate for you and put them into practice.
You also must be willing to open your heart, speak some truths to yourself, make a commitment to loving yourself, ALL of yourself, even your shadows, and creating some boundaries. Not just boundaries on what you are willing to say yes or no to when others ask, but also yourself. I have found that in this society and as women in particular a lot of the core survival strategies we built as kids to stay safe are long past their expiration date. Uncovering these for yourself is one step to recognizing the signs. For me my primary core strategy is control, even though I KNOW at a soul level that we don’t control anything, life is in the mystery and when I embrace that I stay grounded and aligned. One I see in our clients and customers is that we were taught to be needed equals love and so we take everything and everyone else’s responsibilities on, rather than just support people in what’s theirs to do. I once had a teacher say that to do everything for everyone is disempowering for you and them. I also notice and I think this is one of the biggest culprits to burnout is making everything that shows up on your “desk” an urgent priority and suddenly your whole to-do list is urgent and must be done right now and that is just not is what’s true. I always joke that no matter how long my to-do list is the sun will still rise tomorrow if I don’t get it done, and that I most certainly will die with a to-do list, so what. I DO NOT have to wait until it is all done in order to do something joyful, playful, or that is soul fulfilling instead of soul draining, or most importantly to rest. Rest is doing something. What I know is no matter your core strategy, as adults we override our inner knowing because at one time we were rewarded for these behaviors, but now the consequences outweigh the rewards.
I want to talk about herbs and the nervous system for a moment. As herbalists of course we want to offer herbs that are restorative, supportive and tonifying to the nervous system. But herbs are only one part of the whole picture, and often they do their job so well that people think they are fine and keep doing what they are doing, bringing themselves to the edge over and over again without doing the deeper level inner work at getting at the root cause of their stress and burnout. Without doing the additional work and practices herbs become a short-term solution to a problem that will continue to rear its ugly head until it becomes the full melt-down. That is what I went through in 2016. I say I got hit by a cosmic 2x4 because the Universe kept bringing me the signs and I chose to ignore going deeply into my inner realms to work with what my heart and soul was really trying to tell me. Holistic herbalism which is what we do at Wise Roots and we look at the whole picture and give practices in addition to herbs to help you go to those inner realms with support.
Your soul and your nervous system sometimes signals through whispers before it becomes a loud roar. Some of the nervous system signals may be:
· Chronic sympathetic activation.
· Cortisol rhythms disrupted.
· Subtle signs before exhaustion: irritability, urgency, numbing, hyper-focus, detachment, shallow breathing, sleep disruption, insomnia, or conversely wanting to sleep all the time.
The body may whisper in these ways:
· Jaw tension
· Waking at 3am with your mind running
· Losing appetite or craving control foods
· Shoulders rising to ears
· Shallow breath
· Gastro-intestinal upset (diarrhea or constipation)
· Muscle tension
· For women, irregular or painful periods
The emotions can feel like a roller-coaster ride with signals such as:
· Catastrophizing
· Obsessive planning
· Forgetfulness
· Decision fatigue
· Emotional flattening
· Having a short temper with everyone including yourself
· Inability to do restful or joyful activities
When the Soul and Spirit speaks:
· Loss of awe
· Cynicism
· Irritation at small beauty
· Resentment creeping in
· Complacency
· Loss of ritual, prayer or spiritual practices of any kind. This is known as the Dark Night of the Soul.
· A knowing that even though you don’t want to admit it, that your inner world and outer world are not aligned.
· A knowing that your soul has a purpose that is way beyond your career and checking off items on a to-do list, but you don’t know what it is or you are ignoring what it is.
I encourage you to take a moment to journal on any of these that “ping” for you or to create your own list of clues that you are approaching the edge of burnout.
There are so many practices that can help disrupt your patterns as soon as you become aware of them. Awareness is always the first step to transformation. To be aware, you must take a few minutes to check in with yourself throughout the day. I set an alarm three times a day, take some breaths, and ask how I am doing, how I am feeling in body, mind and soul, and how can I disrupt any patterns that may be emergent and that do not serve me. Here are some suggestions for you but create your own list. Pattern disruptors can be silly and fun, or more mindful and slower, but they are designed to shift your nervous system and create new neural pathways in how to respond to stimuli and situations.
Regulation Practices (Nervous System)
- 3-minute breathing reset
- Sensory grounding-put your feet on the grass and pay attention to the feel
- Getting out in nature and going for a walk even a brief one
- Leaving the room
- Gentle movement or dance to your favorite music
- Eye-gazing with horizon (regulates vagus nerve)
- (Longer term) take a social media break.
- Laughter is the best medicine. I often go watch a comedy short
Ritual Practices
· Naming the descent early- naming it brings awareness to it. I remember in 2016 saying to my spiritual advisor that I “could feel the darkness coming” but at the time I didn’t know why or what to do with that information.
- Lighting a candle, inhaling an essential oil for nervous system regulation, or doing a smoke ritual to clear your energy before overwhelm sets in
- Intentionally tuning into the connection between your belly and heart. Put hands on both, breathe deeply and envision a connection between those two spaces and honor those as the places your soul lives.
- A plant ally tea before the crash- make this a slow and sensory journey. Smell the tea, look at the tea, slowly sip the tea and feel it make its way down your throat and follow the pathway through your body. Intentionally “send” it to the places in your body and mind that need support.
Lastly, and two of the most important lesson I learned coming out of my Underworld journey a decade ago. Do not fear the Underworld or your shadows. The second, do not go there alone, have a support structure. Whether that be therapist, spiritual advisor or a wise council of people that can be there to make sure you don’t pack your bags and move into the Underworld. Learn to love your shadows, and rather than avoid the journey choose times where you intentionally slow down and go look at what is in there. The New Moons are a great time for this. Create a ritual, do a journaling practice, ask yourself “what am I not seeing?” Or “what within me am I afraid to show the world?” These are very intuitive questions for which there is no wrong answer. Journal the first thing that comes up for you or just free write. I also often ask the question and then do a creative practice such as collage or doodling or painting if that is your thing and let the intuitive mind completely take over (that is what creative practice opens for us) and let the images answer the question. The soul speaks in image and symbol before it does language.
And we wouldn’t be Holistic Herbalists if we didn’t talk about helpful herbs. There are countless herbs that support the nervous system, so I will only mention a few that also serve as both heart openers and help to soften the edges of anxiety and burnout, but we are always available to consult with you and provide customized recommendations based on your personal clues, signs, and signals.
Hawthorn- An herb that is a heart health powerhouse, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It helps to bring us out of our heads and into our hearts.
Rose- Need I say more, rose is the ultimate heart opener and heart softening plant there is. Bath in it, make an elixir from it, drink it in tea.
Motherwort- Known as the Lion Heart is an ancient remedy used for calming the mind and heart and invigorating the blood.
We will be talking about all of these plants at a deeper level all month on our socials.
