Running on Empty

It has been a while since I posted a blog, in fact looking back I see the last title of the one in this section was aptly titled ‘knowing when it is time to step away’. During the last six months I have had to do this for a myriad of reasons but predominantly to look after my own mental wellbeing.

Over 2024 and 2025 a lot of time was spent caring for close family as they went through a number of health issues. Whilst doing this I was trying to work as well as maintain balance in my life, I will admit right now I failed to do all three at the same time and unfortunately it was my health that took a bit of a sharp hit and mentally for the second time I hit burnout (my first occurrence being through work in 2009)

You would think having gone through it once and spent time over the years practicing what I preach to help others that I would notice the signs however whilst others did (and tried to tell me to slow down), I didn’t.

As a result of trying to do everything the burnout took hold and I was forced to step back from a number of things in order to rebuild, writing was one of them although I did keep up the personal journalling which indeed helped with the recovery.

Fortunately, as per my last blog here I had stepped away from a number of things however the new vision had to be put sadly on the back burner until 2026.

I am sharing this with you as I really want you to understand that if you are continually running on empty, if you are frustrated, sad, feeling alone, wanting to hide away under the duvet and generally your health is under par then it is time to stop, take a step back and re-evaluate what is going on.

April is Stress Awareness month so what better time to understand that life isn’t always easy, but you can simplify it which helps to bring the balance back in.

So, if you are feeling burnt out (and not necessarily through your work situation) then ask yourself, ‘ what do I need to do to regain a sense of self and strength?’ then do that thing today!