Six Ways I Fought The Overwhelm
The hard thing about advocating against burnout is that you can feel like a fraud when stress creeps in. Isn’t the whole point not to feel overwhelmed? In reality, it's almost impossible to avoid moments of max capacity and denying stress altogether only makes it worse. But there are definitely ways you can manage it, in the moment.
This vs That. Learning to tell the difference and why it matters.
Here are a bunch of things I used to conflate.
They sound the same but they feel completely different.
The Power of a Friction Audit
For a long time, I prided myself on being a great planner. On the surface, it looked like efficiency. I was organised, productive, on top of everything. But under the surface, I was constantly stressed. Small irritations would spiral. Days felt jammed and overwhelming. I took this as proof that I was simply busy - a natural byproduct of doing a lot. Stress wasn’t just inevitable; it was, I believed, necessary.
Maternity Leave as a Founder: When Stepping Away Isn’t an Option
When my son was born, I was back in work mode just days later. As the co-founder of an agency, maternity leave wasn’t as neatly packaged as I expected. While I was in hospital, clients were changing projects and shifting budgets. Staff changes needed my immediate attention. The business I had built from the ground up still pulled at me - even as I was recovering from childbirth.
