Mel's Burnout

Mel’s Burn out

I love taking road trips. I like driving and exploring new places. Now there are several things you have to do before you hit the road. The first step is planning the trip. Look, I like being spontaneous but when you are driving 300+ Miles you should have some kind of plan especially if you are heading somewhere you have never been before. So I plan, I pack & I get an oil change.

Now the last thing I do before I embark on any journey is... I fill my gas tank up. I feel like this is a very important part of a road trip because if you do not have gas in the tank (or electricity in the battery for all my Tesla drivers) you can’t go anywhere.

Ok, so now I am ready to go. I start driving, I’m enjoying the journey. I am learning about a lot of new things and new places. But all of a sudden something changes, I’m getting closer to my destination. I am ready to arrive, I want to be there already.

Since I am now in a rush, I start driving faster. I am ignoring the wonderful scenery that’s surrounding me, I am no longer interested in learning about the great places that I am driving through. I am ready to get out of this car and get to my destination.

I am driving and driving. I am ignoring everyone’s pleases to slow down. I am extremely focused and I have tunnel vision. The car is shaking now, but I am so focused on the getting to the destination I can’t feel the car shaking. Everyone is trying to tell me about the shaking. They are yelling that I need to stop and that something is wrong. I am still ignoring them because I think I always know best. I am pushing and pushing and all of a sudden it happens. The car starts slowing down, I keep pushing the accelerator but it's not working.

What could be going wrong, I think to myself. I was so prepared and I planned everything out. I had everything set in the beginning. I was focused and determined. I knew I could begin this new journey and get to where I needed to go.

WHAT WENT WRONG!

Mel, you ran out of gas...

Oh

Now I really did run out of gas, but not in my car. You see the journey I am describing is actually my journey to success.

When I started my businesses I did have everything planned out. I was focused and motivated. I was eager to learn and grow, but as I got closer to achieving my goal I started burning the candle at both ends. I was pulling all-nighters and I was no longer learning or enjoying the journey. All I could see was the end goal and I was ignoring all the warning signs that something was wrong.

For a while, I was running on fumes only and at that point, I should have listened to my friends and family when they told me to slow down. I didn’t listen, because I am stubborn.

So here I am pushing harder than I ever pushed before with no gas in the tank and then It happened:

I Fell Down a Manhole

Yes, you read that right I fell down a manhole. The biggest issue wasn't that I fell down the manhole ( don't get me wrong that is a huge issue) the biggest issue was that I couldn’t recover mentally because I was so burned out. I had nothing left to give. I had no more energy to put out. I tried, but the energy just wasn't there.

After my accident, I went through a series of unfortunate events ( I will speak about them in another blog). I continued to have a hard time recovering because I was so burned out. The lack of energy and motivation affected me in every way. My personal life, my business, and my mental health all suffered. On top of everything, I started getting sick all the time. I am the type of person who doesn’t like to take time off from work, but now I was in a position where I just couldn’t work. I needed a change and I needed one quickly.

So I finally decided to take the long weekend off and do nothing. I literally did nothing but hang out by the lake a breath and It was exactly what I needed to start my healing.

So before you burn out and fall down a manhole, I want to encourage everyone to take time for themselves. Self-care is very important and it if you want to be successful, you have to learn to take care of yourself.

-Mel M. Andre