Midlife Burnout Survivor
I am a burnout survivor. This middle part of life has challenged me to the core in ways raising three children, being a wife, developing a career, and losing several loved ones has not. Just a few short years ago I would have felt intense shame in admitting that very fact. It is humbling. For so many days, I would go to work at school and feel that something was wrong with me. It got so bad at one point that I had panic attacks, heart worries, and a brain that just didn’t want to work when I needed it to. I was a school leader and I knew I wasn’t as effective, as engaged, or as passionate about my work. So, I left. I didn’t leave the field of education, I left to take on another mountain of a challenge; a doctorate.
Yes, the work, sweat, and tears it took to get through the dissertation process was actually a therapeutic break from several years of feeling stuck and stretched. Why? We can do hard things, in challenging circumstances, when many people leave us or fail to show they believe in us. And, when we do so as women, we find an inner strength that no one can take away.
Midlife Bullet Journaling
What does this part of my life story have to do with bullet journaling? I believe bullet journaling can help many of us grow through the midlife transition. I have read the midlife transition is similar to adolescence in that it is a jumping off place toward our second adulthood. But, this time we have life experience, skills, connections, and a brain perfectly primed (if we are lucky enough to be healthy) to help us rediscover, reconnect, and re-invent ourselves in a way that is even more authentic and joy filled.
Bullet journaling is a system that not only helps one stay organized, it can be a holder of new ideas, a documentor of things tried/failed/revisited/accomplished, a database of curated information that helps us be caregivers to both our children and aging parents, and a professional tool that helps us gain and maintain the confidence we need to keep moving forward.
In addition to BuJo, these bring me joy...
