Reinventing Joy

A coaching colleague of mine just called me out yesterday! I was filling her in on what was going on in the last few months.  I shared that I worked myself into the energy point of no return.  I was burning out.   She quickly pointed out that at the same time last year, I was telling her a similar story about how I hustled so hard I needed to take a break.  She highlighted that it appears that August is the season for slowing down.  But I shouldn't be working so hard until I'm at the brink of burn out AGAIN.   Oops! I did it again.  I got lost in the game.     What's interesting is that we focus on bad habits like smoking, over eating, negative self talk but I think we forget that how we work can also be a habit that needs close attention.   My name is Joyel Crawford and I'm a workaholic. I hustle until I can't flow no mo.   Building your own business is not easy or cheap.  I learned that for 18 yea...

For years I would struggle and go to work sick and contagious because I needed to get the work done.  My team needed me.  The business needed me.  They can't function without me.  What I didn't realize is that when I'm not at my best, I can't be my best. Yeah, I got the work done or the webinar completed or the folks trained but they didn't get 100% Joyel, they got 50-65% at best.  That's no bueno.  Showing up while sick doesn't make you a hero.  It fosters a lack of self care which (as I slowly learned) can lead to other deeper issues along the way.  I developed larger health issues along the years that accumulated into some pretty scary stuff.  It was my body's way of signaling me to slow the hell down!  But I didn't listen until I was 4 meds in, 2 fibroid removal surgeries down and had a stress related cough that gave me a hernia to realize that working while ill is not the answer to a more productive life. I'm writing this note t...