Many moons ago, I thought about listening to the audiobook “Green Lights,” by Matthew McConaughey. I don’t know you, and therefore I don’t know your opinion on this man, but regardless, this is how my story started.
Would you like to listen?
“Green Lights” talks about how we experience these moments in life where they either make sense to continue on or to stop what you’re doing. In my interpretation of the book thus far, I relate a green light to being a lightbulb moment. And do you know what? I had once recently regarding my burnout situation.
Let me tell you about it.
I was standing in the gym, talking to someone about not being as active in my recovery lately and how it’s been frustrating me that I’ve spent more time doing other tasks instead of taking care of myself properly…by actively making time to fully recover.
“Fully recover…” not something most of us ever even think about doing. Why?
Related: Why I Chose Courage
Alright, Alright, Alright
We all have those times in life where we want to just shut the door to the world and move into our bed full time. I’ve had some of those times recently. In my opinion, this was me starting to experience burnout again, but in a new way. Burnout comes in many forms and can attack us from multiple angles. It’s frustrating how much of a grip it can have on us, pulling in directions we didn’t even know previously existed. It is hella annoying, and I’m sure like most of you, I dislike it very much. How do you know when burnout arises? You’ll feel it, I’m sure…but you won’t act on it. You’ll keep pushing back and sending all of your neurons into overdrive even though they’ve already hit maximum capacity. Why do we do this to ourselves?
Dazed and Confused – Burnout
When we face burnout head-on, it takes a toll on the rest of our body as well. We notice it, then we continue to try to dismiss it or say it isn’t real. We continue to grind, hustle, double down on our goals and break through the next chapter of whatever comes next. Here’s the deal though, break throughs can come in many forms. They can come when you’re burnt out and pushing, providing you with a little more productivity. Or, you could take a break, rejuvenate your mind and body, and then experience a break through like never before. Which one do you think would be more successful?
The Sea of Trees – Green Lights
When I recently started to experience this feeling again, I decided to stop listening to music and start listening to audiobooks once more. I’ve noticed that I go through stages. Podcasts, newly discovered music, audiobooks…podcasts, newly discovered music, audiobooks. It’s a whole thing. I’m not certain as to why this is, but it does seem to occur the same way over and over, every few months. Since I had hit my limit of listening to music, I decided to go back into Audible and find a book that had been on my mind, “Green Lights,” by Matthew McConaughey. This book has been out now for several years, and even though I’d planned to read it when it came out, I suppose it was just never the right time…I often think about that. How it’s so strange that you put certain things off for a specific period of time, only to come back around to them when the timing is just right. Weird, isn’t it?
“Green Lights” talks about how we experience these moments in life where they either make sense to continue on or to stop what you’re doing. In my interpretation of the book thus far, I relate a green light to being a lightbulb moment. And do you know what? I had once recently regarding my burnout situation.
Let me tell you about it.
I was standing in the gym, talking to someone about not being as active in my recovery lately and how it’s been frustrating me that I’ve spent more time doing other tasks instead of taking care of myself properly…by actively making time to fully recover.
“Fully recover…” not something most of us ever even think about doing. Why?
Related: Why I Chose Courage
Fools Gold…Always Healing
Most often we’re never “fully recovered.” That’s because we push push push until we hit a wall. Then we run out of time to “actively recover,” therefore eventually leading to that all too well known burnout feeling. Which is frustrating af. After I had talked to them about “not having enough time” to recover enough, I started telling them about how I’ve been napping more often. Then it hit me. A lightbulb. My body had gone into the caveman mode and taken over. It was forcing me to take more naps because the advanced part of my brain was actively seeking work 110% of the time instead of finding the time to actively recover.
Surfer Dude – Blue Mind Theory
While naps are part of a great recovery routine as well, they are that exactly, just a part. We need to implement more time in our hectic lives to include relaxing things for our minds and bodies such as sauna time, cold showers/cold plunges, reading a good book, taking a long walk or hike, visiting the beach when you just know you need some blue mind theory time.Blue Mind Theory: Blue Mind is the mildly meditative state people fall into when they are near, in, under or on water. Water positively affects the mind and body, and the Blue Mind Theory provides ways people can use water to improve their well-being. Blue Mind is the term used to describe the state of water-associated peace.The thing is, to prevent our all too common burnouts, we need to find these suttle ways to enact this peace feeling more often. Slowing down our momentum to calm our minds and bodies as a whole. By engaging in more activities that induce that sleepy feeling, such as the tasks mentioned above, we can use these stressors to force ourselves into a more calm state, therefore sending us into nap or sleep mode to fully recover. Related: Working through self expectations
Tip Toes – The Recovery 2 Step
You see, you simply cannot use one or the other. Fully recovering takes both steps in using active recovery, (stretching, light swimming, sauna or steam room time, etc.), as well as sleeping your best during naps and at night. Our minds and bodies need both to make that full recovery from the feeling of burnout, and making time for these things should be one of our most important tasks. What are you doing these days to recover from burnout? Do you notice that some things help more than others? And if you’re interested in learning more about how to find those lightbulb moments or the Green Lights in your life, I highly suggest giving a listen to Mr. McConaughey’s book on Audible. Recover well and recover right, my friend.
