Over-Achievers Rarely Have Surplus Energy and Creativity

Have you ever noticed how over-achieving rarely leads to feeling joyful, energized, or even fulfilled? How the fear and discomfort we feel around slowing down, taking time for rest, or the idea of "falling behind" tend to leave us constantly doing, but rarely actually living? And not even feeling the joy of having accomplished something, because there's always "more" to do?

When I was in my teens and the push for constant achieving really set in, I was always striving for good grades. And I'd watch my friends (who often got Cs) be so ecstatic when they got a good grade, often just because they'd passed.

And I was happy for them, I was proud of them - truly. But when I got straight As... I wasn't. It was expected. It was the "bare minimum." And my parents were the same. We didn't celebrate achievements, they were just expected. And if I didn't "achieve," it felt horrible. Because I was always supposed to achieve.

It didn't matter if I enjoyed it, if I was taking care of my health, if I felt any sense of purpose or fulfillment. It just mattered that I was doing and achieving.

Not surprisingly, that led to some not so fun results... Like burnout, exhaustion, complete lack of fulfillment, feeling no joy whatsoever, constant inflammations and illnesses...

So in this episode, I'm sharing about the permission slip we need to give ourselves not to have a "perfect" week, day, or season and allow ourselves to find joy anyway.

I also discuss a typical pattern in high-achieving women, where we rarely allow ourselves to have a surplus of energy and creativity and how that's actually very counter-productive if we have big goals we want to accomplish.

We tend to push and deplete our energy, when our goals actually benefit from us prioritizing more rest and spaciousness.

Ready to dive in?

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