By Clara Myers

Have you ever taken a cross country trip by car? Remember how you felt when you passed the last rest stop before a long stretch of road? Against your better judgement you pressed on to your destination only to find yourself on the side of the road doing something private in public. That’s sort of what burnout is like. It’s your final warning sign before you find yourself on the side of the road.

You have to ignore a lot of warning signs before you arrive at burnout. Simply put, burnout is the end result of self-neglect. You’ve given everything you have to your loved ones, your employer, to anyone who needed you, and now you have nothing left for yourself. Congratulations. You’ve made self-neglect into an art form.

We all have responsibilities. Where most people fall down is balancing their responsibilities with self-care. Somewhere along the way, we mistakenly learn that that self-sacrifice is noble. Unless you want to have a close encounter with a mental health professional, get rid of that idea now. Every human being has needs–physical, emotional, and spiritual. If you don’t meet those needs, your body will not meet yours. Women especially are conditioned to be this way. We all know someone–a grandmother, an aunt–who was self-sacrificing to the point of self-destruction. Is that what you want for yourself? Is that what you want to model for others?

Don’t ignore the signs. Listen to your body. Sleep when you’re tired. Eat when you’re hungry. Learn to say no without guilt. Self-sacrifice is only noble in romance novels. In real life, it puts you on the side of the road.

2006, Clara Myers. Vist Mind Mart at http://mind-mart.com for holistic ways to deal with sress, anxiety, and strenghten the mind-body health connection.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clara_Myers

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