Burnout baby!

Below is an excerpt from the newest post on a blog I frequent:  www.zenmatters.net

"Everyone experiences burnout.

Maybe you feel overworked, sick of your marriage or stressed about money. Maybe you’re living a daily cliché: one step forward, two steps back. Life can be tricky like that.

Believe it or not, burnout can be a beautiful thing. Instead of surrendering to burnout, what if you could use it to transform your life? Just like the story of the Phoenix, what if burnout was a chance for rebirth?

Four years ago I was overworked, stressed and a bit burned out. Now, I’m in a much different place. Here’s what I’ve done since 2007 to help redefine my life.

• Quit smoking for good (after failing more than eight times)
• Eliminated over $42,000 in debt.
• Convinced my employer to let me work from home two days a week.
• Stuck to a budget so we could live on one income which allowed me to …
• Quit my day job.
• Started to eat right and exercise.
• Ended my relationship with stuff."

This resonated with me on two primary fronts.  The first was that I could totally relate to this person and the feelings they were experiencing a few years back.  Hitting the bottom and the feeling of burnout has been a part of my journey in the past.  I am not currently experiencing burnout.  Not unless you count how wicked fast my feet are in my new Newton's and all the rubber I burn in my speed work from my training at the Michael Johnson Performance Center!

The second was due to a number of people who have approached me lately looking for advice on how to get out of their rut and shed themselves of these feelings of burnout.  The themes are universal.  Job.  Relationship.  Diet.  Fitness.  Some are dealing with all four of these elements, while others may only have one or two areas they are trying to move out of stagnation.  

I believe one of the keys to moving out of this negative and toxic zone begins from within.  What is the common denominator in each of these four particular areas?  You are!  Attitude creates altitude.  This may be over-simplifying things, but true wisdom in this world usually is this simple.  It all starts with you.  You have to make the conscious decision that your current state of affairs, while undesirable, are only temporary. You can change anything about your life you choose at any particular moment. It may take several additional steps for you to arrive at your chosen outcome, but the longest journey begins with a single step.

Leave your old self behind!  90 seconds of greatness.

Two of my favorite quotes/mantras from my ultrarunning experiences standout to me in relation making real change in your life and have the dedication to follow through.

In regards to race pace:  "Start slowly and taper off..."  Taking immediate action is good to create some momentum, but it is more important to make consistent forward progress at a pace you can sustain.  A flurry of desperate activity with a quick flame-out will not create lasting change.

In regards to persistency:  "Run if you can.  Walk if you must.  Crawl if you have to."  All forward progress is significant.  Even the smallest of movements forward in your quest for growth and change gets you that much closer to where you desire to be.  Sometimes in an ultramarathon you can feel so good you think you could run like this all day.  Minutes later you may be reduced to walking with no perceived window of time that you can see that you will be able to run like you were earlier.  Invariably, your fortunes will change many times over when running 20-30 hours consecutively.  The key is to always be making RELENTLESS FORWARD MOTION!  You only fail to reach your destination when you quit moving forward, no matter how slow that may be.

Get moving!  Be the change you seek in YOUR world!