Disrupting Burnout
Disrupting Burnout with Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson is dedicated to overworked, undervalued high-achieving servant leaders who give all to serve others and leave very little for yourself. You are an accomplished woman with many responsibilities and you often find yourself overwhelmed, exhausted, and burned out. I’ve been there. As a matter of fact, burnout almost cost me everything. Compassionate work can carry a high price tag: your mind, body, spirit and relationships may be in distress as you serve the needs of others. I am here to equip your hands and refresh your heart so you can serve in purpose and fulfillment and permanently break cycles of burnout.
Disrupting Burnout
127. Transforming Digital Chaos into Mental Peace
Hey Friend,
Have you ever caught yourself lost in the endless scroll of social media, only to realize that you've let precious hours slip by? That's exactly what happened to me this past Saturday—a day I had set aside for relaxation that instead became overrun by digital distractions. In this week's episode, titled "Transforming Digital Chaos into Mental Peace ," I share my personal journey from mindless scrolling to rediscovering meaningful rest and productivity.
Join me as I recount how I redirected my day towards more fulfilling activities, like spending time outdoors and finally tackling the long-overdue project of cleaning out my kitchen cabinets. This intentional shift not only helped me reclaim my day but also brought unexpected joy and a refreshing sense of mental clarity.
We'll also explore the transformative power of movement and decluttering. Discover the surprising benefits that physical activity can offer as a form of rest and how addressing hidden clutter can significantly enhance your peace of mind. Through the simple act of clearing out old items, I found newfound mental space and sparked fresh ideas for future projects.
Moreover, we delve into the delicate balance between self-trust and spiritual guidance, examining how true rest—both physical and emotional—can lead to greater clarity and more confident decision-making.
If you've ever found yourself struggling to find balance and clarity amid the daily chaos, this episode is tailor-made for you. Tune in to find inspiration and practical tips for transforming your own environment and mindset.
Love Always,
PBJ
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All right, friend, it's story time. I've got to tell you about a lesson that I learned, or let's just say relearned, this weekend. Y'all know I don't mind telling on myself, so here goes, let's talk about it. So this is what happened, friend, if you follow on social media LinkedIn, instagram, whatever you do, whatever your social media choice is you may have noticed that I've been on the road for a couple weeks. A couple weeks ago I was in Topsom Topsom, maine. Goodness, All right, my friends from Maine, if I said that wrong, y'all help me out, help a sister out, I think I said it right In the Brunswick area of Maine and I was able to see the coast, which was absolutely gorgeous. And last week I traveled to see some friends, to share with some friends, to speak, to do a workshop in Dayton, ohio, at a beautiful, beautiful location.
Speaker 1:So I've been on the road two weeks back to back. This past weekend I said okay, I'll be at home. Weekend I said okay, I'll be at home, edward will be at home, we'll spend some time together. Because I knew on Monday I was traveling again, just a turnaround trip, but I knew I would be going all day. So for the weekend, in my mind it was whatever he wanted to do, that's what we were going to do, well, on Friday night. So I got back from Ohio on Friday morning, friday night, edward got an invitation from a friend to do something different, which is fine, which was great. I was really excited for him because it was something he wanted to do, and then I thought, oh, this is awesome. Right, like, don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with my husband. He is my best friend, we enjoy each other and I am truly an introvert. So that means, after two weeks of sharing and peopling and meeting new people and having conversations and flying and driving and all the things I was not mad at having a Saturday to myself. Again, I love my husband, I love spending time with him, and some time alone was very exciting.
Speaker 1:So we kind of pivoted, got some things together that he needed for his day and I had all these thoughts in my head Gosh, I could go get a massage, I could do this, I could do that, like all I do. I was just thinking what am I going to do with my day? What am I going to do with my day to myself? So got up Saturday morning while Edward was getting dressed. I got some chores done in the house. Y'all know what Saturday morning is Get up, turn on your music, whatever your musical choice is, and get your house clean, right. So I got up early because I wanted to get that out of the way, um, so that by the time he got going I was done and I could just do whatever I wanted. So I got my stuff done that morning. He got out of the house and went on his way and I said whew, let me sit down for a few minutes. Let me just sit down here and rest for a minute, because I was working, working. I was working. So I said let me have a seat and then I'll figure out what I want to do.
Speaker 1:And I found myself scrolling, scrolling on the news and scrolling Instagram, just scrolling. I listened to a couple of YouTube videos and before I knew it, a couple hours had passed and I'm thinking what in the world am I doing with my day? I am scrolling my rest away. Have you ever scrolled your rest away? Not just social media. Maybe it's not Instagram or LinkedIn for you, maybe it's another podcast or another YouTube video, or even another article, or another book or another work assignment or one more email to answer. Have you ever found yourself Giving away your rest time to things that really don't matter?
Speaker 1:It happened so quickly. It happened so quickly. One moment. I was just sitting down for a moment to rest and the next thing I know it's a couple hours later and I had not moved from that spot. My phone was in my hand. That spot, my phone was in my hand, and I realized my day, my day of rest, my day of whatever I wanted it to be, was getting away from me and I thought, man, you got to know better than this. How did you allow this to happen? But I'm here to tell you. It is so easy, it is so easy to find yourself scrolling your rest away.
Speaker 1:So I decided in that moment okay, that's enough, I'm not doing this. I'm not wasting my day just scrolling on whatever, just looking at another thing, filling my mind with another thing, listening to another thing. I decided I'm going to actually rest, maybe take a nap. I went outside, got some fresh air, walked the dog, that kind of thing. I said you know what, I might just take a nap. So I came back in the house and sat down, but I couldn't get comfortable. I was a little restless. I wasn't comfortable just sitting. I was a little restless. I wasn't comfortable just sitting, I was a little antsy. There are days that I would say is this am I anxious, like what's going on? But I don't think it was an anxiety. What I decided to do was I decided to get up. Now, y'all, hang in there with me, don't judge me. We're friends, right, we're friends, don't judge me.
Speaker 1:I decided to get up and clean out my kitchen cabinets. Now, this is something that's been on the to-do list for a while. I travel and I speak mostly to colleges and universities. So when I tell you I have t-shirts, I have blankets, I have coffee cups, I have water cups, y'all know. Y'all know what it is right and I love it. I love them. And my cabinets were so full I could no longer fit another coffee mug in my cabinets. It like no room in the end, right? So it was on my list Like I got to clean out these cabinets, I gotta do it. And I put it off for a couple weekends, gotta do it, gotta do it.
Speaker 1:So in this moment, I'm like now's the time, Now's the time I'm going to get up and do it, and part of me was judging myself like girl, like this is your opportunity to do whatever you want to do and you're going to clean out the kitchen cabinets. But let me tell y'all what happened. What I found was as I got up and started moving around and got up on a ladder and got to the highest cabinets and pulled things out, and then I got a box and started stacking and wrapping them and once I finally got it all cleared out and done, I reset the cups, the cabinets and everything that we're keeping. And then I took boxes because we also I cleaned off our bookshelf a couple of weeks ago. Y'all, when I tell you there were stacks of books around my house because they couldn't fit on the bookshelf I know I know y'all promise not to judge me, Okay. So I cleaned off the bookshelf a couple of weeks ago, so I already had boxes of books ready to go to be donated. Now I have the stuff from my kitchen cabinets ready to go be donated cake plates and mugs and water cups and all the things.
Speaker 1:So then I decided, oh well, we just going to go ahead and get this out the house, like I'm not going to keep all of this in the house. So I put all of those boxes in our little beach wagon I love that wagon, listen, that wagon does work around here Took them to the car, unloaded the boxes into my car, went to the donation place, donated all the stuff, got back home. Then Bella needed a walk. So I walked Bella again and when I got back in the house you know I have I had broken a sweat Like it was a workout. My watch was saying go girl, do your thing.
Speaker 1:And I realized I felt better. I felt better after moving my body and doing something physical, and what I realized in that moment was the kind of rest that my body needed was not a nap, I needed physical rest. Meaning for the last two weeks I was either sitting at my desk or flying on an airplane, or driving in a car or you know, speaking like my body had been in certain positions for extended periods of time, mostly sitting, other than the actual workshops, other than the actual workshops. It was mostly sitting, mostly traveling, that kind of thing. And what I have come to learn is there are different types of rest and sometimes the rest you need is movement. And as I moved my body I began to feel better. The restlessness went away, some clarity came to my mind, some things that I was thinking about and wanted to jot down. I had ideas that I needed to put down in my phone because I moved my body. So that's the first lesson that I want to share with you that I learned this weekend.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the rest you need is to get up and move in. Sometimes the rest you need is to get up and move, especially if you are a person who has a job that keeps you sitting at a desk or sitting in a car or riding along. You may need your body, may be crying out for movement, and that movement may be the release that you need. In order to feel rested, in order to feel at peace, in order to think clearly, you may need to move your body. So, in one way, I was kind of judging myself Like you got a full day to yourself and what you're going to do with this day is clean out a cabinet and donate things.
Speaker 1:And here's what it did for me. One, it gave me rest in moving my body. Two, it gave me rest in my environment. It allowed me to clear the clutter. Even though, if you walked into my house, you could not see the clutter. I knew it was there. I knew that if you open those cabinets, I was not happy with how things were going behind those cabinet doors. So this was not about impressing any other person. This was about the clutter that I knew I had going on that could not be seen on the surface, not that a preach. The clutter that I knew I had going on that could not be seen on the surface. I knew it was there and I could not rest knowing it was there and knowing that I had not addressed the hidden clutter. So the physical part of climbing ladders and wrapping things and lifting boxes and pulling wagons and all the things, my body, my physical body, was able to just take a deep breath.
Speaker 1:But concerning my environment, knowing that there's clarity, knowing that we're not holding on to things that we no longer need in that area of the house Now there are a couple more areas I'm going to hit friend, we're not done but knowing in the kitchen the things that are left are actually the things that we use. The things that are left are actually the things that we use. What is left is actually the things that we use and we have more than enough room and I'm not going to fill that empty space. I love seeing the empty space. I love knowing that I can open up two or three cabinets and there's empty space in those cabinets because we have released what we no longer need. What are you holding on to that you no longer need? What are you holding on to that is no longer serving you? What are you saving for one day? Maybe One day. Maybe I'll use this thing One day. Maybe it will come in handy One day. Maybe I'll be this thing One day. Maybe it will come in handy One day. Maybe I'll be glad I kept it. When is that day coming and how is it serving you now?
Speaker 1:So, moving my body, clearing my environment, my environment and my physical space those are lessons that I learned last week in my day of rest and the last lesson that I'll share with you, that I learned in my see my air quotes day of rest. It was a day of rest though my see my air quotes day of rest. It was a day of rest, though the last thing that I learned was the power of silence. I realized that I struggle with silence. I'm very often having a podcast in my ear or some music playing, or a YouTube video or something. Constantly there's background noise to my life. You know, if I'm doing busy work in my business something that I don't have to necessarily concentrate on normally there's something playing in the background. If I'm driving normally, there's there's something playing in the background. If I'm driving normally there's music or something playing. And what I realized is I've gotten to the point lately that I am consuming too much intellectually, I am taking in so much that it's difficult for me to hear myself. Sometimes it's difficult for me, according to my faith, to hear God Because there's so many voices and so much noise.
Speaker 1:So after I did that work and cleared the space and walked Bella got some fresh air I decided that I was going to sit and listen to nothing. I was going to sit and I was not going to add anything else to my heart, to my head, that I was just going to sit with me. I was just going to sit in the silence and see what came up for me. And in that time of sitting with me, I gained clarity on next steps concerning something that I was praying about, thinking about. I wasn't really sure what direction I needed to go in, but through giving myself that silence I was able to make a decision. I was able to make a decision, and often when I hear people say, well, I don't know what to do, it's very rare. It's very rare that the person actually doesn't know what to do. They've just not been in a place that they feel comfortable. Making a decision, and sitting with myself in silence allowed me to finally hear my own thoughts, allowed me to finally see pros and cons and allowed me to make a decision of the next step concerning that question that I've been holding in my heart over a month.
Speaker 1:When was the last time you sat silently with you? When was the last time you cleared the noise to allow yourself to hear your own thoughts? When was the last time you trusted you as opposed to trusting every other voice I'm talking gurus, experts, coaches, but even sometimes your best friend? When was the last time you checked in with your thoughts first before asking anybody else? There's a scripture and I know that folks listen to this podcast who may not believe what I believe. Believe and I want you to know that. I honor you and I'm glad you're here and I also appreciate you um making space for me and all of me. I appreciate that. Thank you for honoring that. I just want to share this in this moment. Um, um. There's a.
Speaker 1:There's a scripture that says the heart is deceitful, and a lot of religious tradition, I believe, have used that scripture to teach us not to trust ourselves. However, there's another scripture that talks about how, accepting Jesus, I receive a new heart, how he takes out a heart of stone and gives me a heart of flesh. And if he has given me a new heart, then I believe I should be able to trust that new heart, then I believe I should be able to trust that new heart and I should be able to trust his spirit in me that guides me. So I have struggled over the years of when to make a decision, how to make a decision, not wanting to make the wrong decision because I was convinced that anything that came from my own mind or my own heart had to be wrong because the heart is deceitful. But I think when we read scripture in context and understand the entire context, not just of a chapter, of a verse, but of the Bible, I think we can get a broader idea of what he's teaching us, and I'm learning that most of the time when I'm struggling with something, the answer has been right in front of me all along.
Speaker 1:I just didn't trust me, I didn't trust it, I didn't trust what I knew, I didn't trust what I felt, I didn't trust what I believed to be the next step. So in this silence, in this silence, I learned and I thought everything was on do not disturb. And here's text messages coming through. I don't know if y'all heard that, but anyway, this is real life. Friends, we're going to wrap up this episode, but in my Saturday of rest, here's the wrap up.
Speaker 1:In my Saturday of rest, I learned that sometimes rest is moving your body. Sometimes you need to get up and move. Sometimes your body needs to release the tension from the positions that it's had to hold. Number two sometimes you need to clear the clutter. That may be emotional clutter for you, that may be physical clutter for you, but clearing your environment will help you gain clarity and be able to think more clearly. And number three we've got to learn how to sit with ourselves and sit in silence and trust. Trust what's in us, trust that we know more than we think we know, and we need to be able to make a decision and move forward based on what we already know.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to leave it at that. I hope, as always, that you got something you can use from my lessons. Friend, I know that we were in a series, but I just wanted to pop in and share that lesson with you all this week. Just as I learn, I want to share, so if it helps you, share with somebody else. Listen, friend, as always. You know you are powerful, you are significant and you are loved. Love always, pj, bye.
