Just over a week ago, I burnt out. I was staying at a friend’s house and woke up early to go to my Thursday morning 6:30am networking group. But I didn’t make it.
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I was feeling super anxious and couldn’t function. I physically couldn’t get up. And later that day suffered an anxiety attack. Luckily for me, my office and networking buddies are super supportive and one of them basically gave up their day to make sure I was OK – and in the self-employed world, that’s really saying something!
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That day was a major turning point for me because I realised my life of devoting every waking second to my business was unsustainable. I mean, I already knew it was, having suffered a similar breakdown exactly a year ago, but slowly I’d slipped back into a lifestyle of waking up, working on my phone, showering, working on my phone, getting Luna ready, taking a phone call in the car on the way to nursery, heading to a meeting, heading to the office, working, eating a bag of pick ‘n’ mix or a cookie, staying in the office until 9pm/10pm/11pm (if I wasn’t on nursery pick up), heading home, and texting/working on my phone until 3am. Note that there’s no breakfast, lunch or dinner, or even time for a wee.
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When my best mate Dan and I decided to grow Lunax together, I knew I only had 4 weeks (his notice period) to build the business up to a point where there was enough work for both of us, so although I knew working to the point of mental exhaustion wasn’t at all healthy, I told myself it was necessary for those four short weeks in order to make the business work.
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But what actually happened?
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Well obviously I burnt out.
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Sleep
Usually I’m quite a switched on person but my lack of sleep was making me ditzy AF. I couldn’t even follow conversations because the cogs in my brain were barely turning. In a social environment, this was quite funny and mirrored the blonde highlights running through my hair. In a business setting, I was slow, unproductive, inefficient and ineffective.
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Recommendation: GET MORE SLEEP.
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Eat
Usually, despite my sweet tooth, I’m kind of quite healthy. I love fruit and veg and and exercising regularly to look and feel good. But a diet that consisted purely of sugar (no exaggeration) meant my moods and energy levels were up and down like Luna bouncing on her trampoline. I was either buzzing and ecstatic or lethargic and depressed.
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Recommendation: EAT PROPERLY.
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Talk
Usually, I’m quite comfortable in my own company. In fact, in the past I’ve always preferred being on my own, but recently I’d realised the benefit of a support network. I’d worked hard to surround myself with the right people – positive people. Unfortunately due to my personal living situation, it was really hard to avoid negative encounters, but I forgot to reach out to those I was closest to, to ask for the support I needed.
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Recommendation: TALK TO YOUR SUPPORT NETWORK.
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This one was probably the number one way I picked myself up. Both my BNI networking group and the office where Lunax is based are full of people at all stages of their business journeys and you can bet they’ve all been where I was many times. After slipping into conversation with a few people, how I was feeling, I received a mountain of support, ideas, help, and people asking if they could take some work of my hands until Dan started. I also made a new friend and we become close – with him taking a lot of work off my hands and generally making me feel much happier!!
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So now Dan has been with Lunax for one week and already we’re completely on fire again!
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Desk – organised ✔️
Invoicing – done ✔️
Mileage – recorded ✔️
Diary – planned ✔️
Work – on top of it ✔️
Food – eating healthily ✔️
Sleep – 7 hours a night ✔️
New business – rolling in ✔️
Personal Life – super happy. Happier than ever, in fact ✔️
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We’re looking forward to moving into a bigger office at the end of the month with Alexis from Mila and Pheebs, and have big plans for the future of Lunax.
🔥