Fatigue is a common symptom of many conditions. It can be present in nearly every chronic illness, whether it's mental or physical. The words ‘sick’ and ‘tired’ go hand-in-hand because they feed one another in a chaotic cyclical way that is sometimes difficult to escape. And when I say, “sick and tired” I would wager a serious bet that you know exactly what I mean, even though I don’t personally know your story or day-to-day life. Point is - we all go through these uphill climbs in life, where we feel things getting harder and we simultaneously feel so out of control of what’s happening.
Battling the Burn Out
This was me - sick and tired. Fed up. Burned out. Exhausted and unhappy. Even though I had everything I thought I ever wanted. Of course life was teaching me a lesson because for everything I had on the outside, I was lacking on the inside. Fulfillment, joy that wasn’t fleeting… seemed just within my grasp but somehow kept slipping right between my fingers.
I wrote a book about this very thing. Pivot: The Art and Science of Reinventing Your Career and Life was all about reinvention, reaching a point where you’re so sick and tired of being sick and tired that you lean into the challenges and use them to make a change. The irony of the situation was how I had written and narrated Pivot as an audio book, but had never listened to the audio myself.
When I reached the point I had coached so many others out of, I turned to myself - and man was it ever cringeworthy to listen to my own voice - at first anyway. But the more I listened, the more I heard, the more I felt, the more I knew that it was time for me to take my own advice and Pivot.
Fast forward, which we can’t do in the middle of a burn out, and it amazes me that I went from being sick and tired to being the “I Love My Life!” guy. That’s quite a pivot. So how does that happen? How did I go from failed attorney to fired CEO to loving life, no matter what?
If you liked the irony of me recording an audio book and never listening to it until I was in dire straits, here’s another kicker for you: I employed a process way back then that I just wrote about in a new book, and it took me pivoting again to realize how I had escaped my sick and tired routine.
The Flat Out Truth
Most people don’t pivot or accept the challenge of loving life, no matter what, because they don’t know what that entails and they assume the process will be long, difficult and exhausting. I am here to tell you that is simply not true. I escaped my own cycle of burn out with simple steps that required a few minutes a day. Slowly I built on that, but just to begin, took less effort than everything else that was eating away at me took.
Choose YOU
So in that sense, it’s a choice, right? Because we get to choose the alternatives to each thing that is burning us out, but so often we are so afraid of the unknown, we stay in the place that is making us sick and tired. Imagine it - we would rather stay sick and tired than step into unknown territory. This blows my mind because I know what the human spirit is capable of. And this is part of my why - teaching people how easy it is to love life and to live a life that loves you back.
Part of this pivot is choosing yourself. In the morning, when my feet hit the floor, I make a declaration. “I love my life!” And even on days when there are parts I’m not thrilled about, I’ve already declared it, decided it, for me, so my mindset is to make things better, not just soak in the parts I’m not happy with. You see, this is a tiny thing, a small pivot. Instead of punching the alarm clock and groaning to the coffee pot, I intentionally choose me. And more than that, I choose not to be all of the things that were making me sick and tired before.
This whole, “I love my life” thing became a very real thing that became a very real workbook, and now a guide book. It’s that time of year where we collectively feel sick and tired of being sick and tired, and we gather our battle axes, or gym memberships. And we put on our battle gear, or declare a new diet - and then we slowly let fear strip us of our choices.
But I don’t want that for you. Not this year. I want this to be the year you love your life, no matter what and I want to help you make that your own truth. I know you’re ready because I know what you’re capable of. And I know you don’t deserve to be sick and tired for one more day. And ultimately, I know that once you make this pivot, you will bring others with you.
This is how we change the world in 2022. By making new declarations, and accepting simple solutions over fear. By becoming so sick and tired of being sick and tired that we vow to love life, no matter what.
- Adam Markel, author of The I Love My Life Challenge