My Personal Hell
Wow it feels like I’ve been gone for about a year, but it’s only been about a week. Ironically, after typing about burning out, I never would have expected to continue diving into a deeper level of burnout. From running two different companies, and starting a new company I’ve been busy. My health took a dive and that’s ultimately when I had to put the breaks on a lot.
It was Tuesday afternoon last week when I stood up and I thought the room was spinning and I couldn’t stand. I laid down to catch myself and had an apple just in case I was experiencing some kind of sugar low. Ultimately things got worse for me and I ended up taking an Uber to the hospital. Initially the doctors thought I was having some kind of stroke or cardiac episode, but being 31 and relatively healthy it didn’t seem likely. Once the brain scan came back clean, they determined that I had Vertigo; the cause, stress. I’d always joked about people not being able to handle the amount of stress in their lives. Now facing the full effects of what stress and taking on too much can do to your body, I’m a believer.
This past week I’ve been under doctors orders to throttle back and take it easy. It was in this moment where I realize I had lost focus on everything important to me. I had become consumed with growing my companies and making something great. I had neglected everything I was working for and everything I loved in the process.
So how does someone get to this point?
For me, it came down to obsession. I feel it’s important to put everything you have into your business, but you need to have distinct boundaries. These boundaries or safeguards in my life didn’t exist. I looked for every free opportunity to work and disconnect from my actual life. Regardless if it was a vacation, a weekend, a holiday or family time I was mentally somewhere else.
In the end, I am thankful for this hardcore reminder of where the body can go when you really burn out. It reminded me that I’m working toward something that will benefit the people I love the most. This also gave me an opportunity to make my family my job for a week and make sure I move forward with clear priorities and clear boundaries.
I want to encourage anyone out there who is like me and is putting your life in danger. It’s not worth it and you will eventually regret not putting boundaries in place. Take time for yourself and your family. Make sure to give yourself a vacation and time to actually get away from business. If you cannot do it for days at a time, make sure you define some time in your schedule to do so.
In the end, it could save your life!
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