Naturopathic Doctor and Clinic Director Erin Wiley shares her insight on burn out.

1. If you don’t want to burn out, stop living life on fire.

Sometimes this is the hardest fact to accept, we’ve all been there. The patterns that have lead us to burn out from overwork and exhaustion lead to more overwork and exhaustion, and yet we often hold onto them. We need a new path if we want to work our way to recovery. That means changing our mindset, changing our behavior patters, refocusing our values, and at our core our health must be integrated into our definition of success.

When it comes to fatigue and addressing overwork we need to value our priorities over endless productivity. We need to value rest and creative exploration as a highly productive time for our body. We also need to understand that movement and exercise are absolutely essential to making energy. From these small mindset changes flows a host of health behavior changes that will nourish your body and restore your energy.

2. Health promotion means being proactive, but it does not mean being perfect.

Taking care of our health needs to be more than just something we do in our spare time, it also can’t wait for the perfect time, perfect recipe, or perfect running outfit. No one has spare time, perfection does not exist and it is a toxic energy sucking stressor. Our actions must reflect our values and be inline with our purpose. We need to set a daily intention to value our self-care, our environment and our community. This means thoughtful attention to our basic human needs such as nutrition, healthy sleep, exercise and social support. We need space for these essentials in our daily routine and we need to celebrate them. A proactive plan can really help focus our intention and make our goals a reality. For most of us that means scheduling our meals, our workouts, our friends and our healthcare treatments with the same emphasis and priority as we schedule our career goals and meetings, because after all they integrate into our success. This also means only scheduling your absolute priorities, keeping our health promotion tasks simple and enjoyable, and getting out of our heads and into our body.

3. Get the support you need.

Sometimes it can be hard to ask for help, but we don’t think so. We value investing in our health because information is empowering and people are more important to us than anything else. If you are feeling burnt out. It’s time to get a professional assessment, run your lab work, and start a treatment plan. We’ve been there, we can help you end the feelings of “overwhelm”, cut through the information overload. Taking care of you is more important than anything else and it absolutely integrates with your success.

When your actions align with your intentions everything changes.

Dr. Erin Wiley is a Naturopathic Doctor with a strong focus on preventative and integrative medicine. She is the Owner and Clinic Director of the Integrative Health Institute, an integrative medical clinic located in downtown Toronto. Erin has a strong clinical emphasis on stress related illness, anxiety, depression and hormone balance. As a naturopathic doctor, Erin is passionate about working with people to help them better understand their health and achieve their health goals.