What’s up, swimmers?! Bet you didn’t expect to see me in your inbox today!
Throughout January on The Year of Yearning, we’ve been exploring burnout. First, we looked at definitions, statistics, and what burnout might mean conceptually in our lives through the lens of The Fool and the Nine of Wands. Then, we talked about what in the self-care hell we can do to recover from it. And, of course, I wrote you not one, but two Love Letters along the way.
I hope that the month has been enlightening, supportive, and has made you feel less alone in the experience of being burnt to a sweet, little crisp.
Today, to wrap things up, I have even surprised myself by bringing back the podcast aspect of this space! I thought those days were on, but best laid plans, and all—here we are! And I can’t think of a person more worthy of listening to in this moment than my dear friend Kevin Munhall, founder of Habit Disruption.
“Avoiding stress is impossible. The only answer is improving HOW you respond to stress, mentally, physically and at a nervous system level.”
- Kevin Munhall
Kevin is a Stress, Breath & Somatic Educator who helps people live more intentional, resilient lives. His clients range from CEOs & Finance Executives to Crossfit Coaches & Broadway Performers because these stress skills are universal. He has also run events for WeWork, Avocado Mattress, Fleet Feet, Sikich, Canyon Ranch, Touchcare Health, Dvora Properties, The University of Michigan, Vassar College, Howard University, and more. Formerly a Broadway dancer, he brings the stress & burnout tools he used to survive 8 shows a week to anyone looking to thrive during their 5 day work week.
In this gorgeous conversation, Kevin and I talk about burnout, building and sustaining a sense of safety as the gateway to nervous system regulation, and the practices that he uses in his work with others, as well as what he’s working to implement personally in 2024.
If you’d like to connect with Kevin, check out his website, HabitDisruption.com or find him on Instagram @habit_disruption.
Some of my favorite moments include:
“Burnout is way easier to prevent than to recover from! Recovery takes forever. And prevention is, you just have to be proactive. Because if you only wait until those warning signs are screaming at you, we've gone too long. We've just gone too long… What's really tricky is that if you are not used to tuning in, you aren't going to notice the warning signs.”
“The definition of [burnout] is only talking about chronic, workplace stress that is unsuccessfully managed…You cannot independently talk about the stress at work without realizing how that’s showing up in the rest of your life. You cannot talk about that stress, but not talk about the stress of being a parent, or the stress of having a loved one who’s sick, or losing someone, or any of these different things…”
“Can you find one thing that is actual rest, even if it is for 10 minutes? What that means is something that doesn’t have a stimulus… At first, it’s gonna be very challenging to get yourself to do it, and you might not like the feeling… But you can trust that over time, that resistance is teaching you that that is important for your healing. Because without ever truly resting, we’re always gonna be just barely getting by in this kind of chronic, low-grade, heightened state of arousal, unsustainable, energy-intensive state of being.”
But there are so many practical pointers within. Let me know which moments stood out to you!
On Disrupting our Habits with Kevin Munhall