From burnout to balance

7 strategies for the capable and depleted.

A free, practical guide for people who are very good at holding it together and very tired of having to.

✦ Seven simple strategies you can start one at a time

✦ A printable worksheet for what's on your plate

✦ Written by a therapist, not a productivity coach

What's inside

Seven strategies, a worksheet, and an explanation for why slowing down has been so hard.

What could actually come off your plate

A four-step worksheet for getting everything out of your head and onto one page, then working out what has to stay and what doesn't.

How to ask for help when you've learned not to

Why asking is harder for some of us, and what to do about the part of you that decided long ago to manage alone.

What to do with built-up stress

Why you can be exhausted and wired at the same time, and seven small things that help your body finish what the day started.

Made for a specific kind of tired.

✦ You're capable and responsible, and the one other people rely on.

✦ You wake up exhausted, even after a decent night's sleep.

✦ Your patience is thinner than you're comfortable with, and you're snapping at people who don't deserve it.

✦ Work has started to feel pointless, or you dread it in a way you didn't used to.

You've probably tried this before.

Maybe you took a holiday, or promised yourself you'd leave on time this week, or downloaded something like this before. And then you didn't slow down, or at least not for long. That usually gets read as a discipline problem. It usually isn't.

What's more often happening is that two parts of you want different things. One pushes, because being capable is how you learned to stay safe, or valued, or needed. The other is exhausted. When you try to rest, the part that pushes gets louder, and most people take that as a signal to get back to work.

This guide starts there.

Hi, I'm Jenna. I used to think rest was something you earned.

I'm a burnout and anxiety therapist based in Guelph, working with clients in person and virtually across Ontario and Nova Scotia. Most of them are capable, responsible people who are very tired of having to be.

I know that pull well. Striving, people-pleasing, doing it all myself rather than asking. I'm further from it than I was, and rest is still something I have to be deliberate about.

Ready to find your balance

Get the free printable guide and pick one place to start.