As a naturopathic doctor and fellow entrepreneur and high-achiever, a lot of people don’t know that I’ve had my fair share of health challenges.
I have gotten to the burn out stage several times over, and guess what? I KNOW BETTER. But instead of listening to the cues of my body, I pushed through and let my strong will and determination override what my body was telling me I needed.
I wish I could say that it’s been years since this has happened, but just at the beginning of 2019 I had a flare-up and burnt myself out. I was physically and mentally exhausted (yet waking up between 4-5am every morning). I was overwhelmed and irritable. My body ached. I was SICK. For. Over. A. Month. My body had enough and wasn’t letting me go any further.
But despite it all, I STILL WASN’T GETTING THE MESSAGE. So, what was the tipping point you ask? Fainting in the middle of Costco. Yup. I had been blacking out for months, but I dismissed it as low blood pressure and vertigo (seriously? Who ignores that?). It wasn’t until I literally fainted in the middle of Costco (while alone) that I finally realized that I had gone too far and ignored my body for too long. It actually makes me quite emotional to write this out and realize how much I had neglected my own health.
And want to know what lead up to this? Working too many long hours. Working out too much (really the only time in my life I worked out consistently). Not resting enough. Not adequately coping with my mounting stress and extra demands.
I thought I was immune to burning out, after all it’s what I treat everyday. I thought I could do it all and my body would be faithful. I thought that drinking the green juice and taking the vitamins would protect me.
But I was wrong. And I’m sorry to say, but so are you if you think the same.
Despite the rocky start to the year, it took my health bottoming out for me to really reflect on what I want for myself. For my career, my personal life, my health. It took me passing out in Costco to commit to bettering my mental and physical health (and I like to think I had a pretty good foundation to start with).
I am happy to say that I have never in my life felt better. Really and truly.