December is here, you've been waiting for this since the summer.

Your summer holiday didn't cut it.  

The exhaustion.

The brain fog.

The constant and never ending to do list.

The mistakes you've started to make.

The balls you've started to drop.

It's all being noticed.

You've started conversations about getting a coach, because you're starting to feel like a failure, but oh the irony, you haven't had the time to confirm a coach, or the budget, and you definitely start a coaching relationship this side of Christmas.

You can't fit anything else in this side of Christmas.

You can't slow down.

You can't stop.

You can't switch off.

You're counting down the days.

It's all going to be better after Christmas.

The new year is going to be different.

You're going to make some changes.  Or you say you will.

But the reality really is that you're just hoping that the change will come from other people. Because the thought of change, of making change, of creating change, it's just...

12 years ago my body was giving me a lot of signs that something needed to change, and I ignored them all.

Two periods of Burnout, three chronic health conditions, five books, hundreds of talks, and several hundreds of clients later, and I'm still here banging on about Burnout.

And it's getting worse.

I'm often asked, and even did my TEDx about whether I should be even trying to prevent Burnout.  "What if it's the 'awakening' that people need to experience to make the changes that they need to make in their lives". And I get it.

Because I didn't pay attention.  I didn't pay attention the first time, and I didn't pay attention the second time.

I had to go through those two periods of Burnout before I really started to make the change.

And I now believe that I went through those two periods of Burnout so that nobody else needs to.

If I could turn back the clock, I would.  Living with the aftermath of Burnout is not fun.  I live with and manage my conditions as best...

It's the weekend, so let's talk about something totally unrelated to work, periods!! 

Just kidding. 

Periods are very much related to work, and health and wellbeing.  If you were flying the flag for Mental Health awareness on Thursday, you cannot ignore periods today. 

And you know I like a story by now, so let's start with this one.  

Once upon a time, way back to 1990, a 10 year old girl (me), started her periods.  

She was told by the teachers not to discuss it with any other students, (as we hadn't yet done the session where the girls go to one classroom to put tampons in a glass of water whilst the boys are in another classroom putting condoms on a banana), but, she also had to ask permission to use the teacher's toilets whenever she had a period as they were the only ones with a sanitary bin. 

Trying having to ask to use a teacher's toilet and NOT having everyone ask what's going on with you.

From this very first period, the little...

Burnout: The Science and the Woo

Last week I was called an anomaly when it came to Burnout because of the work I do and the understanding I’ve created about Burnout from Science and what they called Woo.

And whilst this has been in many ways accidental, my thirst for knowledge and joining the dots has played a part on the learning and skills I’ve acquired when it comes to understanding ourselves and Burnout.

In my teens, I remember my Mum being ill.  A hysterectomy, an operation on her sinuses, an under-active thyroid diagnosis.  And in my twenties, she was then diagnosed with Diabetes, she developed angina, and the issues have continued to grow and develop.

Every time a doctor or consultant has changed her medication for one condition, there has been an impact on anther condition, and sometimes with near fatal outcomes.

I never understood why she couldn’t just be admitted to hospital, and treated as a person, instead of all of her conditions being...

In January 2013 I started to experience a lot of physical pain.

Then came food intolerances and allergies, more pain and more discomfort.

For the next 7 months the pain would worsen to the point of me passing out, once on a train, and once from the top of the escalator at Liverpool St Station from the street to the station, and numerous times in between.

Hospital admittances were regular, more tests, no signs of anything physically wrong with me, and no time off.  I'd work from my hospital bed or from home if I couldn't do the two hour commute each way to London and back.

In July, I had two operations in 4 hours, and only when I went for my follow up appointment was I asked my stress levels.  I replied by saying I wasn't experiencing any stress.

I was a 32 year old HR Director, spending four hours travelling, at least 12 hours a day working, mum to 12 year old twin sons, wife, daughter, leading a team of 43, in an organisation of almost 4000, working on at least 15...

It's August, I'm enjoying a month off and having some down time and creating some headspace.

September always feels like the start of a year for me. 

It's that back to school feeling. 

My birthday.

And with the last three months of this year including the official launch of the Burnout Club, the rebrand of the Burnout Club, the launch of F*ck Burnout, a couple of trips and some big speaking gigs, some new qualifications and training and a new policy liaison group role, it's going to be a busy end to the year.

So why is now the time to reduce my prices?

January marks my 11th anniversary of being self-employed and so much has changed during that time, but perhaps the biggest, is that I no longer want to create an empire, and I'm slowing down a lot of my corporate work to focus more on coaching and the growth of the Burnout Academy and Burnout Club.

The Burnout Academy training and accreditation is creating waves rather than ripples of change, and I'm seeing this and the...

When I share my story and experience of Burnout, I'm often asked whether I would choose Burnout based on what I know now and where I am now in my life.

And the answer is always no.

I've made some really stupid decisions in my life, I've cocked things up royally, and I've done some stupid things. 

I'd do a lot of things very, very differently if I had to do them again, but I don't regret them. 

I know that changing any of these things would have changed the direction of my life in some way, so I wouldn't change them.  I can use them as learning.  And some of them I can now laugh about.

Whilst I've made my peace with my Burnout, and I know I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now if I hadn't experienced it, I would NOT choose Burnout to be where I am today.

If I could go back and change it, I would.  And if I could go back and stop it, I would.

Burnout has given me a lot.

It's made me realise what's really important in life.  It's given me work with...

I was 41 when I had my first appointment with Newson Health and was immediately prescribed HRT, testosterone, oestrogen and progestogen, in fairly high doses that just kept rising over a period of months.

In that appointment I felt heard for the first time in nine years.

At 32, as a result of my first Burnout, I had developed severe Endometriosis and Chron's disease due to the stress my body had been under for a prolonged period of time.

By the time the stress had taken hold of my physically, what followed was seven months of hospital admittances due to the physical pain that was causing me to pass out. 

I once passed out at the top of the escalator at Liverpool Street Station from the street level to the concourse, and would have gone back to work if I hadn't ripped my clothes and instead headed straight home on the train and worked from the kitchen table for the rest of the afternoon.

Seven months after the physical pain had started to impact my body, I was in...

Can you reach Burnout more than once is a question I get asked a lot.

It's often also the biggest fear of the clients I work with through one to one coaching, reaching Burnout again.

And yes, you can reach Burnout more than once.

Many people live in the Burnout cycle, not quite reaching the point of full blown Burnout, and some keep repeating the crash and burn Burnout cycle over and over again.

So how can it happen again?

Why does the cycle often repeat itself?

And quite frankly, why don't people just learn their lesson?

I am a repeat offender.  My first Burnout made me seriously ill.  My second almost killed me.  And still I I know that I could reach Burnout again.

My biggest fear is that I wouldn't be able to survive Burnout number three.  And this fear in itself isn't really helpful, because at times I hold myself back, and in holding back I add to my stress even more, and then, thanks to the Bipolar that my Burnout caused, I can quickly spiral into a...

The closer you get to Burnout the more people around you will be trying to get you to take a break, to take some time off work and to slow down. 

But you can't.

You don't even feel like you need to. 

You feel like you need to keep going. 

You don't understand why people are insisting that you make some changes. 

And you can't see the warning signs that everyone around you can.

So, what is it that others can see and why can't you just take the break that could stop Burnout in its tracks? 

For the answer to that, let's understand a bit about the brain science that's keeping you pushing forward.  

When you're calm, you're able to function from the intellectual part of your brain. 

The intellectual part of your brain is positive, creative, innovative, and when you're operating from this part of your brain, you're able to think clearly and make decisions quickly and effectively.

When you're experiencing high and chronic stress levels, however,...