This is a time of transition from one season to the next, from full bloom into the harvest and culmination phase of the growth cycle. This is a time to reflect on what’s been supporting you, and what’s ready to be released.
Here are some ideas for Fall reflection and release:
Take a walk in nature, giving special attention to the signs of transition around you. Leaves changing color, the smell and feeling of rain, the activity of birds, the decomposing of flower petals.
Sit for 5 minutes each night, studying the moon. Notice how the light and shadows slowly grow and diminish. Sketch what you observe.
Build a fire and bask in its light. Identify the various colors within the flames. Notice the patterns made as the wood or other material is slowly burned.
Community is a foundational support for Burnout Proof Interpreters, and we welcome you to reflect and release with us during our full moon gathering October 20th. All the details are below.
May you uncover and nourish even deeper layers of yourself this season, and may you know the support, connection, and belonging of your community. I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Do you believe you can have the self-care that you want?
When it comes to self-care, have you thought:
I don’t have the time. I feel guilty for focusing on myself. I don’t even know where to start.
It can be overwhelming to imagine making any big changes. Especially right now, in this transitional phase between the isolation of the pandemic and resuming some in-person activities.
The pandemic and all the emotions that have come with it are still very much with us and yet things are changing.
You’re making new decisions. You’re getting more social invitations. You’re deciding how much energy you have. When do you need to start saying ‘no’ to people again? (We haven’t had to exercise our ‘no’ muscle in a while!)
The one thing you can do right now
Here’s one simple thing to help move you forward a little bit. One thing to do if you feel stuck, not knowing what to do next.
Start where you are.
Ask yourself:
Where am I now?
How am I doing now?
What am I experiencing?
What’s alive in me right now?
Take the quiz
This fun, short quiz helps you take stock of the areas where you may or may not be:
💞 showing up for yourself 💞 giving away your energy
💞 aligning with your life goals and values
…and come away with an idea of where you’re at.
The place to start is always exactly where you’re at.
The next step
Once you’ve gone through the quiz, take a look at your result.
Are you up in flames? Is the check engine light on? 🔥 Are you feeling great? Are your systems and your routines supporting you? 🥳 How do you feel about your result? What does it feel like in your body?
😞 Disappointment 😢 Sadness 😡 Anger 😄 Excitement 🥰 Pride
Take a moment now to check in with where you’re at and how you feel about it. This might be uncomfortable! That’s ok.
Feeling the discomfort, naming what you’re feeling, breathing through it, and doing the next right thing is building your nervous system’s capacity! You’re doing great.
Photo by Diana Simumpande
When you’re done
Head on over to our private Facebook group to share your score with us and let us know how this was for you.
What’s Happening at Burnout Proof Academy
It’s been a fairly quiet summer here at Burnout Proof Academy, but we have an exciting book club going right now that you can still jump in on!
Who were you, before you learned to be good?
Speaking directly to anyone who relates to putting others’ needs and feelings before your own, Untamed, by Glennon Doyle, reconnects us to the wild inside each of us.
Join Burnout Proof Book Club as we read Untamed by Glennon Doyle. Come create community and grow your support system as you learn and practice what it means for you to quit pleasing and start living.
All you need to do:
Enroll in the course
Purchase and read or listen to UNTAMED
Answer discussion questions for each section of the book
Participate in the Live Discussions or watch the recordings
Fall is an exciting time at Burnout Proof Academy!
We’ve been working on a new way to earn CEUs while getting burnout support and building community, and it will be available first exclusively to members of our Facebook group and email list.
Speaking directly to anyone who relates to putting others’ needs and feelings before your own, Untamed, by Glennon Doyle, reconnects us to the wild inside each of us.
Join Burnout Proof Book Club as we read Untamed by Glennon Doyle. Come create community and grow your support system as you learn and practice what it means for you to quit pleasing and start living.
All you need to do:
Enroll in the course
Purchase and read or listen to UNTAMED
Answer discussion questions for each section of the book
Participate in the Live Discussions or watch the recordings
Receive 1.1 GS RID CEUs!
Our first Live Discussion was held in ASL and focused on getting to know each other and discussing the prologue and part 1 of the book.
The hour was packed with poignant honesty and real-time revelations, including real talk about:
Our untamed selves (with pictures!) – who we are when we don’t care what others think
Why the term ‘people-pleasing’ might be just another way to beat ourselves up
The movie Frozen, and how our most powerful gifts can hurt us when we don’t know how to harness them for good
What we lost when we learned to please others over pleasing ourselves
Our own ‘snow globes’ – the ways we make ‘snow flurries’ to keep from acknowledging the dragon at our center
When you register, you’ll get instant access to the recording and all the info to prepare for the second Live Discussion happening September 29th, 2021 from 5 – 6 pm pacific.
This is an on-demand, self-paced course worth 1.1 GS CEUs. If you haven’t yet registered, just click below and you’ll get instant access to everything!
If you are reading along with us but were unable to make the first live discussion, here’s another opportunity!
Join the live discussion to real-talk about:
The ‘yuck’ that’s leftover after handling a problem.
How holding everything in and doing for everybody else keeps us up late at night.
The shame we feel from HAVING emotions.
Taking up a hugging practice.
The struggle of saying what we need or how we feel.
The inbox in our gut where we store our uncompleted stress.
That it’s ok not to be ok.
This is an on-demand, self-paced book club offering worth 1.3 GS CEUs, with a Live Discussion opportunity. Click below to register and get instant access to everything!
Don’t miss the upcoming Live Discussion, happening August 11th 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm pacific. Put it on your calendar now!
Summer is the peak of the harvest – bringing fullness of life and emotions.
If you’re feeling energetic and expansive, this protocol can support you in enjoying your people and expressing yourself.
This season can also bring up grief and sorrow. If you’re feeling it, this protocol can help you to remember you’re not alone, to connect with your body’s wisdom, and to express your emotions.
As you apply these oils, bring your attention to your senses:
Inhale the fragrance of each oil separately, and the combinations
Feel your own touch as you apply them to your body lovingly
See the colors of the bottles and the amber drops of liquid
Set intentions with each oil application, grounding yourself in what you know to be true
Invite the properties of each oil to inspire your intentions:
Cedarwood – You are not alone. Identify the supportive people who love you unconditionally.
Grapefruit – Develop awareness of your body and its important messages.
Spearmint – Express yourself with confidence and clarity.
Safety + Efficacy
Dilute essential oils with a carrier oil for increased efficacy and decreased skin sensitivity.
Citrus oils like Grapefruit can produce photosensitive reactions. Use on skin covered by clothing if you’ll be in the sun.
Some oils are hot or ‘spicy’ to the skin, including cassia, oregano, thyme, peppermint, and spearmint. Dilute to decrease this sensation.
May the energy of this season work in and through you. May you enjoy the fruits of your labor and much needed rest. May you know the love that surrounds you, may you connect to your source and to others who help you remember your worth.
Think of a situation where you worry about what others might be thinking of you.
So many of us experience this. This is a big one for me – really caring about how others see me and caring about others’ experience of me. Often that takes me outside of what’s actually mine to control, what’s really my responsibility.
So you’re worried about what others might be thinking of you. What kind of situations does this happen to you in? Maybe in some places in our lives we’re more susceptible to being worried about what someone else thinks of us. Maybe in some situations we’re less concerned about that and we feel clearer within ourselves.
Something to notice in these situations where we’re concerned about what someone else thinks of us is first we don’t get to control what others think. We’re never in their minds, even if we can play a part that might influence them one way or another. We don’t control what others think of us.
I love a saying that I hear often and I repeat to myself often – what others think of me is none of my business.
That’s not our business, what others think of us.
What is more helpful and the reminder I want to share with all of us today is that I am responsible for what I think of me. What I think of myself is what matters more.
✔Am I living up to my values? ✔Am I operating in a way that really aligns with how I want to show up in the world?
That’s what I have control over. That’s what I can do something about. That’s the metric I want to measure and I want to live my life by.
Whose Yard Are You In?
Photo by Jalen Hueser
There are two kinds of yards:
My yard >> My thoughts, my feelings, my actions, my words.
These are all things that are mine. These are the things that live in my yard, that are in my domain. These are the things that I’m responsible for.
Someone else’s yard >> Their thoughts, their feelings, their actions, their words.
I can care about someone else deeply, but I can only do it from my yard. If I go over into their yard and worry about:
❌What they’re thinking about me ❌What they’re feeling ❌What they’re doing ❌What they’re saying
Then that means I have abandoned my yard. I’ve abandoned myself. I’ve abandoned my responsibilities. I’m not taking care of me or what I need to be taking care of because I’m over there trying to take care of what they should be taking care of.
If you find yourself in someone else’s yard, don’t worry! All you have to do is go back to your yard and remind yourself, “I’m responsible for what I think of me. What do I think of me?”
TIP: Those thoughts we’re talking about, “what I think of me…” those are thoughts, those are like clouds that pass through our mind. We’re not even really in control of our thoughts! Thoughts come and go. They’re projections of the mind and the brain. What I’m more responsible for, if we want to get really nuanced here with our language, I’m responsible for those thoughts that I attach to, those thoughts that I believe.
I love the sign for believe. Think – marry.
A belief is a thought that I marry, that I attach to. I choose to bring this thought into my world.
I get to choose what thoughts I attach to, what I believe, what I believe about myself. That’s mine to manage, that’s mine to take care of.
Photo by James Resly
Final Thoughts
A reminder as you move through your days and weeks (or even just this moment):
Pay attention to what the thoughts are in your mind. Where are you worried about what someone else is thinking of you? Come back to your own yard and ask yourself these questions:
🌱What am I responsible for in this moment? 🌱What do I think of me? 🌱What am I thinking of me right now?
This is a mindfulness practice. This is just noticing where our thoughts go and gently bringing us back to our center. That’s what meditation can be. That’s what any kind of mindfulness practice can be.
Paying attention on purpose to the present moment without judgment.
Sometimes our judgments of ourselves are what we’ll really notice here. When I come back to the present moment and I pay attention to what my thoughts are, I notice — “Oh there’s a lot of judgment against myself right there.”
Can I let that be here too? Can I come back to a place of love for myself even with my human brain that wants to judge? Because that’s what our brains do.
Where does this show up for you? What is challenging about this for you? What have you found helps you come back to responsibility for yourself and noticing what you think of yourself and really caring for that relationship that you have with yourself?
You’re Invited
Join our free support community, The Burnout Proof Collective, to connect with interpreters, teachers, and parents who are working on taking better care of themselves too. This is the best way to get personal support from Brea and to go deeper with your self-care!
The past year has been a doozy!!! As more people get vaccinated, COVID restrictions are lifting, and we are navigating the potential return to more face-to-face time.
Gathering with others in person might be what you’ve hoped and dreamed for, it might be stirring up your deepest fears and anxieties, or you may be feeling both excitement and dread simultaneously. Here’s a helpful article I read this week titled, Advice to the anxious for eventually meeting in person again. I’m definitely in the anxious/excited mixed-emotions camp!
The bottom line is: whatever your reaction to this transition…
You’re normal!!
This is a good time to create or update your self-care plan to support your transition to summer and to ease your nervous system through another shift. Here’s part 1 of a series to help you be with difficult feelings – like the ones you might be having now – and to give you tools to take with you into the summer:
This hour was packed with poignant honesty and real-time revelations, including real talk about:
The ‘yuck’ that’s leftover after handling a problem.
How holding everything in and doing for everybody else keeps us up late at night.
The shame we feel from HAVING emotions.
Taking up a hugging practice
The struggle of saying what we need or how we feel.
The inbox in our gut where we store our uncompleted stress.
That it’s ok not to be ok.
This is an on-demand, self-paced book club offering worth 1.3 GS CEUs. If you haven’t yet registered just click below and you’ll get instant access to everything!
Our first book club was so much fun! I can’t wait until we get started on our next book in the fall 2021. But I need your help deciding which book we’ll be reading next.
Give yourself over to review, renewal, reflection, and rest, as you cross the threshold from spring to summer.
Slow down.
Give yourself permission to feel the sun on your cheek, the breath in your lungs, even the frustrations and the hurts. Make a deal with yourself to offer patience and curiosity whenever possible.
This oil protocol will serve as a reminder and energetic guide.
Thyme – release and forgive Wintergreen – surrender Ylang ylang – connect with your inner child Basil – renewal Magnolia – compassion Frank – truth
Dilute essential oils with a carrier oil for increased efficacy and decreased skin sensitivity.
Leave a comment and let us know:
What are your self-care plans this summer? How will you rest, play, renew, and release?
May you find a growing softness within that buoys you through any storm. May the crossing of this seasonal threshold bring you a renewed sense of peace, presence, and patience. May you receive all the love, support, and grace that surrounds you.
This hour was packed with poignant honesty and real-time revelations, including real talk about:
The ‘yuck’ that’s leftover after handling a problem.
How holding everything in and doing for everybody else keeps us up late at night.
The shame we feel from HAVING emotions.
Taking up a hugging practice
The struggle of saying what we need or how we feel.
The inbox in our gut where we store our uncompleted stress.
That it’s ok not to be ok.
This is an on-demand, self-paced book club offering worth 1.3 GS CEUs. If you haven’t yet registered just click below and you’ll get instant access to everything!
Are you growing in new or uncomfortable ways?
Do you feel like you’re shedding an old skin?
Oregano – Stop trying to play God. Reconnect to your own and others’ humanity. Sidestep judgement and invite compassion. Accept your imperfections while opening to curiosity and grace.
Marjoram – Connect. Connect with yourself, connect with others. Loving relationships can heal the most painful scars. Invest in them. Open to them.
Arborvitae – Grace surrounds you. Receive it. Rest in it in every moment that you’re able. Soak it up and learn to trust in it.
Neroli – Partner with Life. Believe that it’s on your side. Acknowledge the way it works in you – your feelings and intuitions are a part of Life’s communication network.
May we find peace and growth in the in-between times. May the rain showers and sunbeams remind cleanse and warm us. May we keep reaching deeper inward, and ever toward one another.
I look forward to all the ways we’ll connect in the month ahead!
I’ve resisted this for so long. After years (a lifetime?) of disturbed sleep, waking to terrifying images that either aren’t real or are in the past, and trying to find and fix the ‘root cause’ – usually some version of believing I’m not doing enough, healed enough, evolved enough, haven’t processed enough.
I’m ready to feel better and to not make it mean I’ve failed.
Being a 2 on the enneagram, I’m stubbornly and persistently resistant to my own human-ness. To having needs. It leaves me feeling self-righteous, disappointed, and exhausted.
When I confessed my sleep-struggles today, my doctor peered over her mask compassionately and said, “Breana, you deserve to feel well-rested.”
Her words landed in my middle, cracking my resistant armor and seeping through like warm pudding.
I do deserve to feel well-rested.
This doesn’t preclude my desire to get to the root, to give care and attention to past trauma or current grief. This is not an either/or.
Believing I have to choose between sleeping better or attending to my mental and emotional well-being is a lie. I can have both. And I can choose better sleep while or even before getting to the bottom of what’s keeping me awake.
As a mental health coach I know that so many caring people feel trapped by this false choice. Parents, caregivers, and people in relational professions often struggle to prioritize their own needs. Oppression and any sense of ‘other’ness can make it even harder.
Do you relate to this struggle? What do you believe you have to choose between?
Let me know below. Together we can reclaim permission to care about how we feel.
Burnout Proof Bootcamp – January 2021 Interpreter Self Care
2020 is officially over, and here at Burnout Proof Academy we’re welcoming in 2021 with a commitment to caring for ourselves and cultivating our support-systems.
Burnout Proof Bootcamp begins January 13th!
Explore the roots of your burnout and build habits of resilience, while connecting with a nurturing and supportive community.
Created for interpreters, teachers, parents, and anyone who finds it easier to care of others than to care of themselves, Burnout Proof Bootcamp is a self-paced self-care intensive that offers 1.5 GS CEUs through RID, and has the power to change your life.
From past participants: “Strongly encourage everyone to take this workshop! Life changing!”
“The flow and order of the workshop/course was spot on. The timing and the ability to take it at your own pace is exactly what we need as busy interpreters!”
“Brea is a masterfully mindful instructor/ coach! Such great tools, resources, guidance, nudging, and support throughout the course! So helpful to be able to complete it at one’s own pace. Inner work does not follow a schedule or deadlines. THANK YOU!”
These 2-hour sessions gave us a space to connect, learn, and practice together – and they’re both now available on-demand!
In 2021 I want to try something different!
Building a strong community of heart-centered folks who are committed to caring for ourselves so we can take better care of each other is a top priority at Burnout Proof Academy.
To that end, we’re going to kick off 2021 with a high-connection offering:
I’ve been dreaming of hosting a book club for quite a while now…A space where we can learn together through reading new and transformative burnout-related books, discuss them in an informal and fun atmosphere, while getting CEUs!
I’m so excited for this fun, new way to connect and grow together!!! Don’t miss it!
January Oil Protocol
Welcome in the new year and solidify your intentions with this nourishing oil protocol.
Oil Properties + Affirmations
Melaleuca – energetic boundaries –“I release what’s no longer serving me.” Clove – boundaries – “I ground and support myself with healthy boundaries.” Myrrh – nurturing – “I invite deep nurturing.” Arborvitae – divine grace – “I receive divine grace.” Neroli – shared purpose + partnership – “I open to the web of life.” Juniper Berry – the dark – “I’m willing to stay with myself through the darkness.” Cypress – flow – “Life is dynamic and I flow with it.” Wild Orange – abundance – “I give thanks for the abundance in my life.”
Photo by: Jason Abdilla
May this new year open many possibilities in your life. May it bring you closer to yourself and those you love. May it deepen our ability to care for ourselves and each other.
My needs can be an offering and opening to greater connection.
I am human – I can’t be everything to everyone, and I don’t have to be good to be loved.
Body first, business second. -Kate Northrup
I am not responsible for others’ growth, I’m only here to love them through it.
I cannot tell the future.
I’m willing to live with myself, no matter what. I look forward to living with myself, no matter what.
To live my life, let my kids live theirs, and love them fiercely while doing it.
The best-case scenario is just as likely as the worst. Believe in it.
WHEN YOU’RE STUCK: Drop down into your body. Feel. Listen. Move. Turn it over. Offer it up. Do the work that’s yours to do. Let God do theirs.
I am a human, standing on a dog, standing on a crocodile -Mike McHargue, You’re a Miracle (And a Pain In The Ass): Embracing the Emotions, Habits, and Mystery That Make You You
To pay attention to and care about how I FEEL.
That when I imagine a future where I get sick and die – I’m living into a scenario that is out of my control. When I imagine a future where I keep showing up to what is, with gentleness and care for myself, I feel so much less anxiety. I’m living into a scenario that is within my control.
If we don’t wrestle with anger, we never get to the heartbreak. And if we don’t get to the heartbreak, we don’t get to the healing. -Lama Rod Owens, Love and Rage
Thank you for the joy.
I found joy in:
Deep cleaning – like, on hands and knees with a toothbrush
The Necessary Accessory of 2020
Long baths and lots of oils
Family TV watching: Ted Lasso, Bob’s Burgers, Blackish
Long walks
Exploring my neighborhood
Rhythms + Rituals – the daily chore list, morning meditation, evening gratitude, following the lunar cycle
Playing games – Superfight, Monopoly, Life, Cards Against Humanity
Grandma – even though she died in 2019, I felt the loss more deeply this year
Spending time with my siblings and their children
Traveling – to see Chris’ family in Boise, Oregon Country Fair, Brownlee, the beach
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Riah Milton, Dominique Remmiefells
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
John Lewis
Oregon State Capitol in Smoke
Thank you for the teachers and mentors.
I welcomed new teachers and mentors:
Rachel Cargle
Morgan Harper Nichols
Colleen Jones
Prentis Hemphill
Sarah Gottesdiener
Marlee Grace
Emily and Amelia Nagoski
Alex Elle
Drew Hart
My 2020 contained so many FFTs (F**ing First Times – thank you, Brene Brown, for this descriptive term) – so much tragedy, loss, confusion, and struggle. It also contained magical synchronicity, unexpected joy, opportunities for rest, and deepened connection.
May we tuck away and integrate the lessons that are ours to carry forward, and may we leave behind what no longer serves us, as we cross the threshold from one year to the next.
I just got a prescription for sleeping pills.
