It’s Time To Make A Pivot (With A Twist)
I had the privilege of attending Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council’s (CBHC) 2023 annual conference this last week in the beautiful fall-changing Breckenridge. Who knew you could get so exhausted from sitting in a chair all day?
Enough about me, more about the purpose of this post.
Burnout. Ever heard of her? It’s a word that means so much to so many different people. A fabulous speaker, Erin Stafford, presented on this topic to over 700 individuals in the behavioral health field that feel it, HARD. Here’s the ‘not-so-secret secret’: we all do.
Erin’s mission is to beat burnout and continue to sustain peak performance both personally and professionally. My head was swimming with questions as she was presenting; do these mindset shifts really work? Is it really that unsustainable that I’m Type A? Can self-care stop being a buzzword? Most importantly, how in the hell am I supposed to pivot to gain more fulfillment? Does that require change? I’m OUT.
Wouldn’t that have been funny if I actually got up and left? I didn’t, okay, don’t worry.
Although Erin explains many different mindset shifts that are used to eradicate the sticky burnout trap, this idea of pivoting made me the most uncomfortable. & when things make me the most uncomfortable, I know I need to figure out why. Erin writes on her website, ErinStafford.com, “If you’re no longer happy in a job, find a new one and quit; in an unfulfilling relationship, move on. If something is no longer serving you, it’s time to pivot”.
It can’t be that easy, can it? All of these actions look so easy on paper, but they require deep, personal, and vulnerable change. Change elicits a very intolerable and almost unbearable fear in me. When you think of change in your life, what thoughts come to mind? I’ll go first: I’m terrified, absolutely not, this will never work, I don’t deserve this, I don’t know what’s going to happen, I can’t change.
Change means that you are actively moving away from something familiar, despite how toxic, unfulfilling, or monotonous it may be. Change means that you are actively putting yourself in a place of insecurity, maybe even slight chaos. Change means opening up the doors to the unknown.
Comfort disguises itself as safety. It keeps you warm and cozy and gives you this special offer to autopilot through life at no additional fee. Comfort is the anthesis of change, and we love it. Comfort doesn’t lead to pivots, no matter how small the pivot may be.
Erin continued her plea to pivot by turning to some internal processing. “What do you make jokes about?”, she asked. “Because jokes are only jokes until they’re not.” “What and who do you envy?”
Erin, it is 8:45 in the morning, these questions are too much.
Coming from the person who answered, “Oh, just living the dream”, to questions about my burnout saturated caseload, I really had a wake up call. She’s on to something. I recently pivoted (with a twist) into private practice. While still maintaining a position in community mental health, I felt envy toward people who had flexibility, freedom, and a renewed sense of zest for their work days. After much reflection, I knew that a full pivot would keep me up at night, and not in a good way. I knew that I valued, to some extent, financial stability. I knew that this yearning I felt to find a renewed sense of zest would need to be at my own pace, with my own twist. I found a middle ground; one that kept my comfort autopilot curious and satisfied while giving me the right amount of fear for change. I have just begun to split my time between community mental health and private practice, and this pivot feels like the perfect combination, the perfect twist.
Here’s what I’m trying to say: do things scared, but not too scared that you don’t feel sure of yourself. Find the pivot that scares you, but one that you will feel proud of when you look back on. Find the pivot that rustles the blanket of comfort, but doesn’t throw it out the window. You deserve both - you deserve the comfort in your change, the safety in your insecurity… whether that is from your support system, a favorite cup of tea, a TV show that always makes you laugh, or the familiarity of your nightly walk. Grounding yourself in the midst of change does not mean you are anchoring yourself to the bottom of the ocean. Little by little, change feels less scary, because you feel more sure of yourself, whether you’re Type A or B or any other letter of the alphabet.
Erin is right, pivot your life when you feel that inkling of something new tapping on your shoulder. Pivot when the sea of burnout is at high tide. But don’t get so caught up in the pivot of change that you forget to find your own sense of comfort. Pivot, with a twist.
Take care of yourselves :)
Emily Bretl
Becoming Therapy Services, LLC
Here is Erin’s information! Check out her site. She has some awesome things to offer:
https://erinstafford.com
