As a woman in business, it is highly likely that you experience a number of challenges that can mean your mood swings from the Queen of Calm, to The Empress of Overwhelm in an instant.
Yes the ebbs and flow of business are normal, in fact I do not know anyone who works for themselves that doesn’t experience this, regardless of how ‘successful’ they appear to be.
The one thing I do know is that you need to deal with your stress before it transforms into burnout.
But how can you deal with this if you don’t know what your specific signs of heading this way are?
We are all different and I don't like to place labels on things, but often when you experience stress you will fall into one of three camps.
The first one is those who manifest stress as physiological symptoms, such as clenching your jaw, shoulder tension, a sore throat, or headache- you are one of the people who experience your stress somatically, as in you feel it in the body and the physical. Oftentimes you're also one of those who appears to be quite stoic or doesn’t complain and just ‘keeps calm and carries on’ very British!
The next group are those of you who experience your stress emotionally. You are one of those people who can explode at the drop of a hat, cry on demand, or feels overly frustrated a lot. You wear your emotions on your sleeve and can often swing through the spectrum in a day.
The last group are those of you who become a bit numb or discombobulated. You don’t feel yourself but can’t quite put your finger on it, you get brain fog, and can’t seem to make decisions, or you forget thongs a lot, often walking into a room and not remembering why you are there- its kind of a numb, indifferent or disassociated feeling.
By knowing how you respond to stress, you can then pick up on the signs earlier and implement tools to help you work through it.
It’s a bit like needing to decompress yourself. I often find this if I've been around a large number of people or at an event, that i need time to recalibrate and decompress as my stress response goes through the roof.
Putting you first and attending to your needs is actually not selfish, its essential, especially if you are the heart and soul of your business.
There’s a great quote, that I don’t even know who coined, but her it is;
“If you don’t make time for wellness, you will be forced to make time for sickness.”
Which is why I personally work in the way I do, to help those who need it.
It’s important to remember that just because a yoga class works for one person to recalibrate themselves, does not mean it will work for everyone- in fact it could actually exacerbate the issue.
Some people may need to dance it out in the club, sit and chat over lunch with friends, or it peacefully in the garden. An ice bath, walk in nature or massage may bot be the best for you, at this time.
It's about fining what works for you.
Sleep is a biggie though, because this is when all of our body systems are allowed to do their thing and recalibrate.
If you aren’t sleeping, you're not able to function effectively throughout the day. which has a huge impact upon you and business, so its one of the key areas i focus upon.
If you are continuously waking up n the morning, feeling like you’ve gone 10 rounds with Anthony Joshua in your sleep, want to jack in your business, sell your kids and leave the known world behind, then it's likely a change is needed.
Your world is not coming to an end, it just means that things need to be different.
It doesn’t mean you're going slightly bonkers or that you need to take drastic action, often it can be a few tweaks that are needed (sometimes it can be a complete overhaul), but if things are affecting you negatively it’s time to seek support.
If you are forever feeling exhausted, distant form life and business, and more cynical than normal, then check in on yourself and take action.
DM me and see how I can help you right now… there’s always a way to support you.
Love + wellness
Tracy x
