My Burnout Recovery | Virtual Assistant

Hi and welcome to my burnout recovery.

I recently realized how burned out I had become. It took some close friends pointing it out to me for me to slow down enough to notice. I had been working my ass off non-stop for years. All the solutions I kept trying to make my life slow down over the last year never stuck, and I was frustrated I couldn’t find the answers.

Once I googled symptoms (yes I’m one of those people), I realized: ta-da…I had every single one. Fuuuccckkk.

But as soon as I admitted I was burned out, everything started clicking. All the failures I was personalizing suddenly became symptoms I could heal. My burnout recovery began.

As women small-business owners, we have enormous pressure on us to do all the things. Keep up. Push our business forward. (And according to Brene Brown, pressure to look good while doing it. Blah.)

We are typically really good at multi-tasking. At telling ourselves, ‘when things slow down I’ll start taking care of myself’, and putting ourselves on the back burner.

The truth is: I KNOW ALL THIS STUFF in my head and I didn’t even realize I wasn’t practicing what I was talking about.

I was trying to do it all.

Burnout is a slow burn, and I’m not sure when my burnout started, but I know the pandemic didn’t help. In March of 2020, I was hospitalized for preeclampsia one week before the world shut down. I watched from inside a hospital room (that I couldn’t leave) as everything stopped.

I spent two months in lockdown in that room. Yes, I broke the rules and walked the hallway outside my door a few times but other than that I was confined to that little purple room.

After I delivered my son, I was discharged home to an isolated postpartum experience. My parents wore masks and gloves to meet my son. And other relatives met him through a window or across lawns.

After weeks in a hospital, I came home and life did NOT resume. I didn’t step foot in a store for months. I rarely left the house. My high-risk self, and newborn baby, stayed in the safety of our home. But that meant I didn't have access to the same support moms deserve in those early weeks.

After maternity leave I jumped back into my photography business, hustling HARD to make the income I needed during the pandemic. Cautiously opening my in-home studio with hefty sanitation protocols. Shooting anything and everything. All the while, not feeling good about my business or how it aligned with my life.

The pandemic lingered longer than any of us wanted. Putting limitations and conflict and loss into our laps. Keeping a small business afloat during this time was no small feat, as you probably know if you’re reading this.

After about a year of trying to manage everything, and feeling like I was misaligned as fuck -- I finally admitted I needed a major change. My burnout recovery didn’t start at that point, but the pre-recovery did (haha). I started examining the parts of my job that I loved versus the ones that caused me stress. Shooting didn’t fit into my schedule with a now-toddler & very little childcare due to the pandemic. And I kept gravitating towards the backend of business: marketing, systems, market research, SEO etc.

I decided to listen to that, and became incredibly clear I needed to pursue Virtual Assistant work.

I hadn’t had a gut feeling that strong in a long time. I stayed up late and poured all my extra hours into developing this business and making it something I was proud of. After months of hustling, I felt ALIGNED and it felt so good.

So it was validating when within the first week of launching, I was sold out with full time work as a Virtual Assistant for Creatives. Like WTF and heck yes.

This was the first step in my burnout recovery, I just didn’t know it yet. I’ve spent the last 6 months building this business and growing my team. I now have a thriving business, making triple my previous income, and providing for my family in ways I used to dream of. But I hadn’t fixed the root issue.

Burnout.

I still felt exhausted, and not like myself. I couldn’t find time for the things I loved like exercise or being outside or hanging out with friends. Every new schedule or system failed. And I felt like I was running in circles.

One of my best friends told me: you are trying to do more in one day than there is physically time for. You can’t sustain like this.

I finally admitted that while pivoting businesses was the first necessary step, it wasn’t the final solution.

Moving to virtual assistant work opened the door for me to start burnout recovery, but I had yet to take steps in that direction.

So that day I decided that getting my equilibrium back was my top priority. And I’ve been shifting my energy towards healing, and already seeing a total change. I feel like myself again, and I’m slowly getting back to balance and the things that I love. And the ironic part is, even though I’m outsourcing & paying more $$ for people to support me, I’m actually earning MORE than before. Let that be a sign that outsourcing is WORTH IT.

So what am I doing to aid my burnout recovery? Let me share my focus and hopefully it sparks some ideas for you!

• I cut my work hours! This was the hardest one to accept, but I knew it was vital. I needed more hours in my week, so I hired someone to help me on the backend of my business and took a step back. It was a night and day difference.

• I started exercising regularly. I love working out, but I struggled to find the time. Plus movement discharges stress from the body so it’s a really effective way to heal from burnout. I decided to do lower impact, gentle cardio to not further stress my system, but that also aligns with my health issues. Everyone has different needs!

• I prioritize sleep. This one I am still working on, but nothing can change how I feel faster than a good night’s sleep. It’s not always possible with a toddler, but I do my best to get 8 hours.

• I drink less caffeine. Like most entrepreneurs I had started to consume and ungodly amount of caffeine. Before I had a kid, I would regularly take coffee-fasts for a week or two, to make sure to reset my system. But now I’m chasing a toddler + running a business, I was relying heavily on my caffeine. So I cut way back, and despite the headache the first day - it has been nothing but good for me.

• I sleep with my phone in the other room. It’s really easy for me to scroll TikTok at night, or find myself aimlessly shopping for stuff I don’t need. I put my phone in the other room and just that little disconnect makes me feel more centered when I wake up, and don’t automatically have my phone in my hand.

• I am creating systems in my business to hold me. I am getting serious about systems in my business so that I can rely on them, instead of self-generating all the time. It’ll take time to implement but it’s important for longevity so I don’t get burnt out again.

• I hired a business coach. She specializes in working from pleasure and rest versus hustle culture. I invited someone in to challenge my narratives and help me replace them with more well-rounded thinking.

So that’s my burnout recovery in a nutshell (who am I kidding, nothing about this post was brief haha)

If you are working through burnout, just know that it is possible heal & feel better. It is possible to have equilibrium. I’m rooting for you!