Hi,
My name is Inge,
And this session is part of the Recovery Solution,
An integrated plan for burnout and chronic stress recovery.
If you followed the previous sessions,
You have explored several different layers of stress.
First,
We worked with your emotional and mental inner system through internal family systems.
Then we worked with your physiology through breath and movement.
Today we bring all of that into your daily life,
Because one of the big issues of recovery is not that people don't know what to do,
It's that they lack guidance in how to implement practices into their day.
You may want to take out a notebook for this one,
Because implementation requires a plan,
And that's much easier when you're writing things down.
Many people experience real relief during practices like yoga,
Breathwork,
And IFS.
And then life resumes.
Work,
Responsibilities,
Caregiving,
Notifications,
Old patterns.
Not because you did something wrong,
But because your environment is stronger than your intentions,
Your motivation,
Or your willpower.
I know this because it happens to me too.
I have all the right tools,
And yet actually doing them is always the bottleneck.
And the funny thing is,
The more tools you have,
The more implementation becomes that bottleneck.
We think that if we understand something well enough,
We will naturally act on it.
But insight alone rarely changes behavior,
And motivation is deeply unreliable when you're stressed or exhausted.
Burnout is not a motivation problem,
It's a capacity problem.
So we need to lower the bar and make doing your recovery easy and within your capacity.
Because when your system is overloaded and you're sleep deprived,
It will default to what's familiar,
What's easiest,
And what gives immediate short-term reward.
And guess what those things are?
The phone,
The scrolling,
The streaming,
That glass of wine,
That piece of chocolate.
This is not your fault.
These things are designed to be easy and rewarding.
Your brain is simply wired to go for them.
So now that you know how to relax,
And yet you can't get yourself to do it,
How do we then go about that?
Many health practices unintentionally create more pressure for burned out people.
They highlight what you're supposed to do without changing the that make it hard.
Self-care can become another stick to hit yourself with.
Trust me,
I've been there.
This is why helping you with implementation is a key part of my approach as a burnout and stress coach.
And the good news is,
You can actually do something about this.
This is where behavioral design comes in.
Behavioral design is basically compassion in structural form.
It is about shaping your environment so that the behavior you want becomes easier to do.
People don't do what's best.
They do what is easiest in the moment.
Good design works with that reality.
It reduces friction for helpful behaviors and increases friction for draining ones.
I sometimes compare this to flying an airplane.
A pilot is mainly needed during takeoff,
Landing,
And when something goes wrong.
The rest runs on structure,
Systems,
And autopilot.
Your recovery works in a similar way.
So let's start with your takeoff.
You facilitate takeoff by reducing friction.
This means you make it very easy and very clear when and how your recovery happens.
Start with one specific action per day at a fixed moment.
What you will do,
When you will do it,
Where you will do it,
And after what you will do it.
This is a good moment to start writing things down.
Start with what.
Pick one practice.
I would suggest choosing your favorite practice from this course and committing to that exact one for now.
What is one practice that felt supportive and easy to do?
Choose the one that felt easiest,
Not the one you think you should choose.
Then,
Decide when you will do this.
Pick a moment in the day when it is most realistic.
Then,
Select where you will do it.
Behavior is strongly tied to place,
So using the same spot helps.
Then,
Select after what you will do it.
Behavior follows sequences.
You already have routines in your day.
The easiest way to make this work is to attach your recovery to something that already happens.
This thing,
Whether it is brushing your teeth,
Or closing the door,
Or after the dishes,
Or after work,
Will then become your natural reminder to do recovery.
Take a moment to hit pause and write these things down for yourself.
Next,
You will need an emergency plan.
Life will interfere.
That's not a problem,
But it does mean you need a plan.
First,
Identify what distracts you most.
Is it your phone,
Other people,
Habits,
Food,
Or something else?
Then,
Think about how to create friction or boundaries around that.
For example,
I put my phone away in a locker when I want to focus or recover,
Because otherwise I know I will get pulled in.
If your distractions are social,
It might mean communicating boundaries.
Something as simple as wearing headphones can already signal that you're not available for a moment.
Second,
Assume there will be days where even 10 minutes feels like way too much.
So,
Create a minimum version,
1 minute,
Or even 3 breaths.
Consistently doing 1 minute a day is far more effective than doing 10 minutes once a week and feeling bad on all the days you're not doing it.
Finally,
Your landing.
One thing people often forget is how to properly close the sequence.
The next take-off of your plane depends on the last landing.
If something ends in stress or rushing,
It is much harder to repeat.
We repeat what feels good,
So we need to close the sequence properly.
Take a moment to acknowledge what you did.
Something simple like,
Okay,
I did it.
When I was recovering after my pregnancy,
I would literally write 4 words in my journal after meditating,
Even for a few minutes,
And that was,
Yay,
I did it.
Celebrating yourself is what makes behavior repeat.
One final tip,
And that is visualization.
You don't actually have to do this sequence in order to rehearse it in your brain.
Visualization is a very powerful way to practice wiring in a new behavior or habit without actually doing it.
So take a breath now,
And imagine the moment in your day when you will do your recovery.
Where are you?
What does the space look like?
What happens just before you're doing your recovery?
Now imagine doing the first few breaths of your practice,
And then imagine how you will celebrate yourself and properly close the sequence.
If there is one thing I hope you take from this series,
It is this.
You don't have to fight stress from one angle,
But you do need to start with one simple step.
Recovery becomes possible when different layers support each other.
But the way in is to start with one simple practice from which you will build layers and momentum.
Burnout recovery does not respond well to big promises and big demands.
It responds to small consistent moments of safety.
One tiny behavior repeated over time is enough.
You don't need to fix everything.
You don't need to become a different person right now.
You just need one anchoring place where your system can regularly experience that it is allowed to slow down.
For now,
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much for trusting my guidance.
And remember,
You are enough.
