Burnout + Christmas

I woke up exhausted... here's what I did! 

You may have seen my post on the weekend, all about how I felt like I woke on Sunday morning in full exhaustion land. Like I’m talking my legs and body felt like lead and I was wading through mud. I didn’t want to open my eyes, and I was craving stillness and softness in my day.

I really listened to my body, and have heard it tell me it feels dehydrated, and like it’s in full sleep debt…. Yet I drink a lot of water and sleep 8 hours a night. What this really means… well it means that I have mentally been doing too much, not honouring my rest cycles as they show up. 

I’m sure that some of you would have had this feeling before, like you are doing all the things and it isn’t providing you with all of the health that you are expecting. My wish is that if you have crashed before, or you can feel yourself teetering towards it again, that I can give you the tools to help yourself before the crash. 

The crash is more than just feeling rubbish and tired.  

It can actually have ongoing health issues. Did you know that there is a legion of mum’s battling chronic health from trying to do ALL THE THINGS. So let’s work at getting those sorted out and kicked to the curb a little before we begin the ol’ Christmas dance. (More on Christmas later).  

There are simple steps I took yesterday, and will keep honouring until I am feeling back to myself again, so here’s the rundown! 

The Quick Guide to kicking that end of Year Exhaustion to the Curb! 

 1. Slow Movement is key.

There’s a pretty strong narrative in the world around moving ourself through anxiety and stress with heavy workouts. But when our body is already in its fright flight mode, adding into that with the addition of heavy workouts can really stress out our cortisol and our adrenals. So slowly move. Maybe it’s a walk, a yoga pattern, or a simple stretch session. Conscious mindfulness to this is key!  

2.  Breathe

Coupling this with your slow movement is like getting an adrenal reset on steroids. I love just a purposeful deep breath. One where my belly actually moves, I’m pausing between the in and the out and my internal organs feel that breath envelop all of them. This can take 1 minute or 10… and you can do it any old time in the car, in the office or just when you jump into bed also.  

3. Stop the stimulants

Don’t hate on me too much for this one, but stopping the big three can be absolutely life giving when we are in exhaustion mode. You know the mode, where we are reaching for the coffee first up ( and multiple times a day), and then the sugar for the 3pm slumps, and the booze to get our busy brain to quieten down for the night.  

If you can find in your magic mama self to stop one of these a week, and keep it up for a few weeks, you will feel totally refreshed. Each of these things work against our body to create fight/flight mode all the time… which increases fat deposition, poor sleep, exhaustion and infertility (to name a few). 

It can be tough, but if you are really at the end of the tether, how about sticking to one coffee a day and decreasing the sugar to begin with… and just listen in on what your body tells you about this! 

 4. Sleep in the day

Wouldn’t this be glorious if we could get it all the time!

I know, it is 100% not a thing that we can do each and every day, but being able to have a chance at sleep in the day, even once a week when your partner is home would be amazing.

I love a 20 minute cat nap. In fact that is exactly what I did yesterday. I also just lay on my bed a few times and rested and read a book. I let the kids have screen time when we normally wouldn’t, and we all finished the day with our rest cup filled back up! 

5. Connect back in with your village

Just like in that Millionaire game show… phoning a friend can be a real game-changer. I often need a chat about nothing but the latest TV show I’ve watched, or the way the kids are pi$$ing me off… but I just need that chat. Connect in if you can, even in a what’s app group or messenger!  

Our brain thrives on connection, in fact it is wired to do just that. If your brain is tired and fried, then connecting with others is a bit like mouth to mouth. 

6. Get adjusted or a massage

I know you know that chiro would come in somewhere. What we do know is that movement of the spine is a great way to reset your pre-frontal cortex – that part of our brain that is dealing with all the behaviours and learnings and emotions… the human part. 

Massage is also shown to be of benefit, as it regulates through the vagus and allows us to reset into calm mode. Human touch is one of the best ways we can really get our calm state back! 

So there you have it, my quick 6 steps if you are thundering towards exhaustion mode! If you need some more guidance on dealing with the stress of Christmas, then you can find my Christmas workshop on the link below. It’s a recorded workshop from last year that I wanted to give you all access too. You can go here to access it!  

And next week I'll be opening the doors to my January Thriving Healthy Mum Kickstarter morning, where we will walk through some health & heart planning for your 2022! So make sure you get that! 

 Much Restful Mama Love to YOU,

Dr Ali,

Chiro, Mama & avid Napper!