Breaking the Time Trap
I recently stumbled upon a fascinating conversation about time management, and it struck a nerve. For years, I’d been racing against the clock, trying to squeeze maximum efficiency out of every hour. The key performance indicators (KPIs) I meticulously tracked at work began to spill into my personal life. My world became an endless loop of checklists, tasks, and to-dos.
No matter how many hours I had, they always felt insufficient. I stayed busy but rarely productive.
Then one day, my body said, “Enough.”
It didn’t just whisper or send a gentle nudge—it collapsed in a way that even my overachieving mind couldn’t override. That moment forced me to ask myself deeper, more meaningful questions.
Was I struggling with a lack of time?
Or was I struggling with a lack of energy?
Managing energy, not time, became my mantra. It was a fundamental shift that forced me to reevaluate everything—who and what fueled my energy, and who and what drained it.
The Cost of Denial
Before I could begin to heal, I had to face the truth:
- I wasn’t thriving.
- I wasn’t even surviving.
- I was simply existing.
And so, I stopped.
For someone who ties their self-worth to their performance, stopping feels terrifying. If I’m not achieving, who am I? That question haunted me.
But as the days stretched into weeks, and the weeks into months, I began to uncover the answers. They weren’t easy to hear, but they were liberating.
Energy flows where attention goes.
This Week’s EQ Oasis Theme: From Invisible to Invincible
This week, we’re diving into:
How to manage your energy—not just to survive but to truly thrive.
This isn’t just about recovering from burnout; it’s about preventing it entirely by taking ownership of your energy across all areas of life.
For women, mothers, and especially working mothers, there’s often an added layer of guilt and shame. We’re told we can “have it all,” yet when we reach for fulfilling careers while nurturing our children, society’s expectations weigh heavily on us.
This week’s theme asks the hard questions:
- How do we let go of guilt and reclaim our power?
- How do we stop apologizing for wanting more and start designing a life that energizes us?
Let’s explore.
From Burnout to Breakthrough: My Journey
In a world obsessed with speed and productivity, many of us carry invisible backpacks—weighted with stones from past challenges, future anxieties, and unspoken expectations.
I know this because I carried one, too.
Burnout isn’t just about being overworked. It’s about being overwhelmed—by tasks, by emotions, by expectations we didn’t even realize we were trying to meet.
For years, I chased the illusion of balance. What I really needed was harmony.
What is Burnout?
The World Health Organization defines burnout as:
- Energy depletion or exhaustion.
- Mental distance from one’s work, cynicism, or negativity.
- Reduced professional efficacy.
But I believe burnout isn’t confined to the workplace. It seeps into every corner of life when we ignore our emotional, mental, and physical limits.
The Life Wheel: A Tool for Transformation
One tool that changed everything for me was the Life Wheel—a simple, visual way to assess where your energy is going and whether it aligns with what truly matters to you.
Picture a circle divided into segments, each representing a core area of life:
