A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to help out a colleague with her workload.
While she felt guilty for “needing help”, I reminded her about a discussion we had months ago about how our lives are more important than work and how work will always be there, but we won’t.
She quieted and said that she had a lot of personal things come up for her and it was hard to deal with all at the same time, but declined to discuss further. I reassured her and said, regarding her case load, “it is what it is” and we will work together to close these things out.
She shook her head and then we discussed how I can support her.
Fast forward 2-3 weeks later, the job was done and I looked for her in the office.
She smiled and said, “I have never been down to this number of cases before”.
I shared with her that she seemed relieved and lighter with this new reality.
She agreed.
I then said to her, how happy I was to help her out and to see her so relieved.
We both wanted to celebrate!
She then said, she felt her spark reignite to do the job again.
She chose to make a change.
Rather than feel guilty because she wasn’t doing all the things assigned to her and not ask for help which would plunge her deeper into an increased workload.
She instead, leaned into support and she transmuted feelings of guilt into inspiration because she had the support she needed to feel accomplished.
If you’re feeling burned out and exhausted and feeling like you don’t know which way to go, this is your opportunity to ask for support!
Having someone in your corner can give you the boost you need to change something in your life and to light the spark to keep you moving forward.


