Giving myself grace that I did my best that day...

[Note: this post was originally published on Substack August 15, 2024] 

...even if it wasn’t as much as I wanted to do or as much as I did yesterday

 Part 6 of 10 in the series, “How do I launch a business while on my burnout recovery journey?”

It may seem crazy to launch a business after going through burnout. Where does all the energy come from? How do you manage the stress? How do you keep going? This is post #6 of a 10-part series.

As a burnout survivor in recovery, I’ve had to learn how to be OK with myself for whatever I could get done that day.

Pre-burnout, I would beat myself up for not checking off enough boxes on my to-do list, not getting enough housework done after work, not spending enough time doing “all the things,” whatever those were for that day.

I was living in a land of perfectionism and perpetual self-abuse. I didn’t know how to not criticize myself when I didn’t get everything done. Even when I got most, or nearly all of what I had planned done, I never celebrated that achievement. I just expected myself to do as much or more the next day.

Once I started burning out, the self-abuse got worse because I could never keep up with everything. The procrastination increased and I had no self-compassion, no understanding of what was happening in my body, and a whole lot of anger that “my body was letting me down.”

What I’ve learned as I recovered from burnout is that my energy reserves can fluctuate a lot! 

Especially when I was first healing, they could be all over the place, from doing all the things on the list to doing one thing and needing a nap afterwards. (I never nap, this was the weirdest thing for me!)

I worked with my coach to learn more about my energy levels, what activities cost me the most energy, and what activities rejuvenated me. This new knowledge allowed me to build my self-compassion and mostly let go of the old self-abuse judge in my head.

I still have days where that judgy voice tries to break through, but now that I know what I need and how to manage my energy levels and my schedule, I am so much better at being able to give myself grace and compassion that I did my best today.

It’s all part of being a lifelong learner and staying in recovery from burnout.