Why Slowing Down isn't the Only Solution to Healing Burnout

Hey to all my amazing listeners! You guys seriously rock! And I’m so excited to dive into the topic of burnout because it’s something a lot of people have experienced and there is lots of advice on things you can do for healing burnout. When I experienced burnout people always told me I needed to slow down. In all honesty, it was the first time in my life that I crashed like this. So I listened and took a vacation, spent the weekends resting, and took lots of baths. Well, that’s not new...I love baths. 

I was doing all the practical things to heal the burnout. The only problem was that it never really healed it. It was a band-aid solution with temporary gains. It wasn’t until I discovered Human Design that I started to understand burnout on a whole new level. 

Traditionally when people hear the word burnout it means working too hard with no break for extended periods of time. But what I’ve learned from Human Design is that burnout for most people actually isn’t about that at all. It’s about doing the WRONG kind of work. 

So slowing down isn’t the only way to heal burnout. In fact, slowing down is only going to prolong the burnout if you’re still doing the work that doesn’t spark the creative fire, and joy within you.

And I know this all too well. That is why I wanted to devote an entire episode to this topic. Like most of the topics, I cover them. But this one especially. Because I hear so often from entrepreneurs how exhausted, tired, and burnt out they feel. 

They lack the motivation to show up online because it’s exhausting. They are tired of creating all this content for their business. They are overwhelmed with all the things they need to do. 

So what do they do? They take a week off for rest and relaxation. They devote time to recharge hoping that the break will heal burnout. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to resting and relaxation. But for most of us, it’s not a way to heal burnout. 

Based on Human Design, 70% of the population are generator types–meaning we are the creative worker bees. We love to work when it’s the right kind of work that sparks our creative fire within us. The truth is when we are in our creative flow we can work 12+ hours a day without taking a break. 

We actually don’t get burnout from doing the work that sparks joy, and creativity. We experience burnout from doing things that don’t bring us joy. Meaning the wrong kind of work. Time spent is irrelevant. If you ask Manifesting Generators and Generators to work hard for 12 hours on tasks that drain our energy, that's when we experience burnout. 

So telling a Manifesting Generator or Generator to slow down when they are showing signs of burnout is actually just getting them to prolong it. Because after the break they go back to doing the same work. The work that is draining them of their creative life force energy. I know right...it’s why we are seeing so many people suffering from burnout and not actually healing burnout. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t heal my burnout. And it was frustrating as hell. Especially, because a lot of the coaching, mentorship space is designed to ask open-ended questions hoping to help solve the problem. 

However, in Human Design, Manifesting Generators and Generators respond to yes or no questions. The open-ended questions actually add to the overwhelm. It’s actually pretty funny because my spouse and I hate the question, what do you want for supper? 

But for the longest time, we always asked each other that question. Only to go back and forth with “I don’t know, you choose” Until one of us caved and just decided. It’s because Generator types don’t respond well to open-ended questions. 

According to Human Design, they respond to yes or no questions. And it’s these types of questions that will help them uncover where the energy leaks are that are causing the burnout. 

And for sacral generator types that heck yes, meh, or no is what guides us to make decisions that light us up. For example, what tasks are causing burnout is an open-ended question that doesn’t allow the sacral to fire with a yes, no, maybe. Whereas if you ask them, Do you enjoy writing emails for your business? It gives them something to respond to. 

What gets generator types in trouble is saying yes to the wrong things for whatever reason. It could be out of obligation, or not wanting to hurt someone else's feelings. It could be the pressure you’re feeling to pay the bills. Lots of entrepreneurs take on projects, clients, or jobs out of fear of not making enough money or chasing success. So they say yes, to things that don’t really get them excited. 

OR…

If you’re like me, a Manifesting Generator you hold onto things longer than you should. According to Human Design, a Manifesting Generator is here to break the mold and do things in a different way. But we are also meant to let go of the things that aren’t serving us anymore. Something that excited us a year ago, might not bring the same excitement. So it’s learning to let go of those things as soon as we lose that spark.

For emotional generator types, it’s about riding your emotional wave. Your process of figuring out what truly lights you up and what to respond to is based on a less spontaneous response than a sacral generator type. So what gets emotional generators in trouble is feeling pressured to say yes to things at the moment instead of allowing themselves to ride the wave. When we live in an instant gratification world, or the entrepreneurial space where lots of selling is grounded in short deadlines with the pressure to buy now, emotional generator types can say yes too quickly, which will eventually lead to burnout because you’re not using your energy correctly. 

I know I’m talking about generator types mainly in this episode, but there are three other types in Human Design that will experience burnout differently because they don’t have the creative life force energy 

Now, this doesn’t mean they aren’t as powerful. Each Human Design type is powerful in its own right, but the Manifestor, Projector, and Reflector will experience burnout if they try to keep up to the generator types. So, rest, relaxation, and alone time are some ways these types can recharge themselves and avoid burnout. It’s when they are trying to keep up with the generator types that they will experience burnout. This is common because most people are generator types, so the conditioning of the world is hard work. But for these other three types in Human Design, the work hard doesn’t work for them.

So, if you’re suffering from burnout the first step is identifying what type and authority you are according to Human Design. This will give you an idea of how you can go about healing burnout. 

Genetic Matrix or Jenna Zoe are two places where you can get a free Human Design chart. 

Before we end, I’d love to leave my generator types with some yes or no questions you can start to ask yourself when you’re feeling meh or unmotivated:

• Does this specific project I’m working on for a client bring me joy? 
• Do I enjoy spending time ironing out the minor details in my business?
• Do I enjoy dreaming about the big picture ideas?
• Do I enjoy implementing tasks?
• Do I enjoy setting specific goals in my business?
• Do I enjoy working with people?
• Do I enjoy working alone?
• Do I enjoy posting on social media every day?
• Do I enjoy marketing my business?
• Do I enjoy making sales calls in my business?

You can see where I’m going with these questions. When we ask yes or no questions for generator types including a manifesting generator it gives them something to respond to in a yes, no, or maybe way. So anytime you’re feeling meh, you can create a specific question at the moment to get an idea of where the energy leaks are in your business.

Taking inventory and getting good at detecting when your energy is off so to speak is key. And the more you learn about Human Design, you’ll start to uncover other ways to maximize your unique energy and avoid burnout. 

So, as we wrap up I invite you to reach out if you have any questions about Human Design or the specific ways I healed my burnout DM on Instagram @creativelyowned.com or shoot me an email at info@creativelyowned.com

Thanks again for tuning in as burnout is something more and more people are experiencing, but sharing why you’re experiencing it from a Human Design perspective helps shed light on why the traditional ways of healing don't often work. I hope this has given you insight into how you can heal your burnout or avoid experiencing it again.