The expectations placed on women to be perfect in all areas of life, including work and motherhood, are leading to a culture of burnout. But why do we put so much pressure on ourselves, and how can we prevent, understand, and recover from burnout?
As women, we internalize burnout; it’s not just a lack of something; we feel like a failure in every aspect of life. We tear ourselves apart, digging ourselves deeper into the burnout abyss.
But what if we didn’t…
- What if we could unpack all the nuances of burnout?
- What if, instead of punishing ourselves, we used it as an opportunity to take a much-needed internal audit?
- What if this was the invitation to know ourselves even better and create life-long habits and practices supporting us in every arena?
- And what if we started seeing burnout as the direct cause of not looking after ourselves and prioritizing our mental, emotional, spiritual and physical well-being?
In this episode of the SheBurns podcast, we talk to Nicky Lowe, the founder of Illuminate Development and Wisdom for Working Moms, dedicated to supporting career-driven women in balancing their work and family life sustainably and successfully without sacrificing their well-being.
Nicky shares her 10-year journey of recovering from burnout in her career and motherhood. She candidly discusses her experiences and how she overcame the internal struggle of burnout by embracing discomfort, rethinking her narratives around success and identity, and prioritising self-care and self-acceptance.
Listen, and let’s start seeing burnout as a wake-up call rather than a failure.
So what’s this episode really about:
- The unrealistic expectation of ‘perfection and sacrifice’ for women in all aspects of life, from career to relationships and motherhood.
- Understanding the relationship between poor well-being and burnout.
- Encouraging women to prioritize themselves as a direct antidote to burnout
- Redefining success and turning inward to address the root causes of burnout without self-blame or judgment.
- Building daily, weekly, and monthly habits and rituals that connect the person with their body, better identifying and managing the symptoms of burnout.
- Strategies to embrace all aspects of your womanhood that light you up without burning out.
Why you should listen
As women, mothers and talented people with so much to offer the world, we deserve to be in the arena. We deserve to take up space and live meaningful, fulfilled lives that embrace what we love, both at home and work, which means an end to toxic perfectionism, martyrdom, and never feeling good enough.
This episode encourages you to go inwards, championing self-care, well-being and a redefined version of success as the antidote to burnout.
You can quote me on that
“I’m a career-driven woman. I love my work. But I also love my family. And I want to show both sides of my identity in a way that feels fulfilling, but also lights me up without burning out.” – Nicky Lowe.
“I kind of saw self-care as a luxury, and I now see it as self-preservation. And I learned through that experience that when you lose your well-being, it doesn’t matter what else you’ve got, right? I couldn’t be there for my children. I live in a beautiful house. I couldn’t enjoy that. You know, I couldn’t go out with friends. So it doesn’t matter what else you’ve got.” – Nicky Lowe.
“A lot of my practices are about bringing me back into my body. Because actually, there were a lot of little warning signs along my burnout journey that I would completely dismiss and overlook.” – Nicky Lowe.
“To break through burnout, or at least break the cycle of burnout, we have to turn towards ourselves and excavate those old patterns of behavior.” – Hannah Austin.
“You can have it all, you just need to prioritize the things that really are important with well-being at the center of that importance.” – Hannah Austin.
Links:
Wisdom work working Moms Instagram
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