From Burnt Out to Fired Up

How to Reignite Your Passion for Life

By Morgane Michael

Many of us are feeling overwhelmed by small routine tasks, the pressures of keeping up with all of the ever-changing health and safety policies, and, quite frankly, recovering from our second back-to-school season during a pandemic feels like running a never-ending marathon.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, people across North America are displaying higher than ever anxiety, depression, and, even worse, suicide rates. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made those challenges worse. Many parents, educators, and children are at a breaking point… many of us are feeling the effects of burnout. Drawing from the latest research and my own teaching experiences, I’ve identified five easy approaches to reignite your passion and replenish your well-being—reflect, reframe, refocus, reconnect, and reveal. You can make a commitment today to begin a new chapter—one where you continue to make a difference while maintaining a deep sense of wellness, worthiness, and wholeheartedness. In each section, I’ll offer one simple practice you can incorporate into your daily life to help you thrive and overcome the effects of burnout!

1. REFLECT

Understanding ourselves and reflecting on our state of mind is an essential component of replenishing ourselves

Daily Emotional Check in:

Take some time to name your feelings every day, even multiple times per day. 1. What emotions am I feeling right how? 2. Where do I feel it in my body? 3. What do I need right now?

Write Yourself a Letter:

Take a moment to write yourself a letter, reflecting on some of the following questions. 1. What is the biggest lesson I’ve learned as a result of being a parent?

What are some of the biggest challenges I’ve had to overcome? What am I most proud of as a parent? 2. Take the letter and hide it in a conspicuous place until you need the reminder of your own resilience.

2. REFRAME

Even in some of the most adverse situations, parents are expected to be flexible, positive, adaptable, competent, and knowledgeable, dedicating themselves to meeting the needs of their children no matter the circumstance. Within our capacity for self-awareness, we must make room to audit our internal narratives so we can recover quickly from adversity. 3. REFOCUS

We all have deep-seated dreams that reside within us, and there comes a time when we must take a good look at our lives to determine what we want our story to be. Refocusing is your ability to take stock of those dreams and to recalibrate your compass in such a way that you can step into the life you’ve always hoped to have.

Goal Reset:

1. Write down your top three goals. 2. Make a game plan to achieve the goal. Enlist the help of friends and family, find ways to carve out time, and don’t forget to articulate how achieving the goal will improve your life.

“If you’ve ever had days where you questioned your efficacy as a parent, spouse, or friend, you are not alone.”

“If you simply feel overwhelmed, headed toward burnout, think back to the 5 R’s.”

4. RECONNECT

Humans are neurobiologically designed to connect to one another. The good news is that, with intention, we can develop excellent communication skills, with strong boundaries, and connect meaningfully to those around us.

Seven-Day Gratitude Text Challenge:

1. Text a friend about one good thing that happened each day for a week. 2. Reflect on your level of connectedness and gratitude by the end of the week. “Oh, I’m not creative.” How many times have you heard someone refute their own creativity with a sense of scientific conviction? Maybe you’re guilty of doing this, too. Here’s the thing—your perceived lack of creativity is total nonsense. We are all born creative. It is only in adulthood that some of us lose the childlike capacity for divergent (creative) thinking. Inviting a sense of play and creativity into our daily practice is an integral method for reconnecting to ourselves.

Try New Things:

1. Decide that you’re going to commit to a new activity or experience. For example, take a cooking class, join a team, learn a new skill, take a pottery class with a friend, or take out those old watercolour paints you’ve been meaning to play around with. 2. It’s not about the product you create, but more about the process of launching into a creative mindset. If you’ve ever had days where you questioned your efficacy as a parent, spouse, or friend, you are not alone. Some days it feels hard to stay optimistic, but the truth is that you can be a remarkable parent, family member, spouse, and friend without burning out! If you simply feel overwhelmed and headed toward burnout, think back to the 5 R’s to inspire you to reignite your passion and purpose, tuning back into the fullest expression of who you are and create essential self-care practices that can empower you to show up for your family, colleagues, and friends in a meaningful way without compromising your wellness.

For more details about how to handle your anxiety look for From Burnt Out to Fired Up: Reigniting Your Passion for Teaching available on Amazon from November 19, 2021.

Morgane Michael has been an elementary school educator with the Greater Victoria School District in British Columbia, Canada, since 2008. She is a passionate advocate for socialemotional learning, kindness education, and educator wellbeing, and leads professional development initiatives aligned with those themes throughout her province. Find Morgane at smallactbigimpact.com, listen to her KindSight 101 podcast, and follow @smallactbigimpact on Instagram and @ SABI21days on Twitter.