A Letter To Burnout
Human Design, Unearthing Projectorhood
Dear Burnout,
I never quite fathom you.
You crept into my life through many seasons, disguised in different names, labels, chronic pains, physical ailments, and weight loss/gain. You arrived like the overcast skies. Cold, damp, lonely, and bleak. You sensitized my nervous system. I would never forget the late nights I would lay in my bed, questioning your existence and berating myself for my downfall. I knew you would rain on me but no one taught me how to put on a raincoat.
Never in my life would I ever imagine that, that someday I would see you as a gift as I do today. You turned out to be the signpost I was looking for.
To re-evaluate, to re-assess, to refine, to nourish my container, to bloody rest.
To attune, reclaim and cultivate my relationship with my body over my mind, to let go of people-pleasing tendencies and fear blocks. I never thought that this conditioning of a burnout would one day be my biggest wisdom.
In the APA Dictionary of Psychology, burnout is defined as “physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance and negative attitudes towards oneself and others.”
The truth is, burnout does not have to exist if we have the right systems, structures, values, and habits in place in our personal and professional lives. It will not exist if we acknowledge the fact that the work will always be there, but our body is, however, exhaustible. Of course, not all workplaces hold the employee’s well-being and fulfillment as their highest priority. Nevertheless, we are always only one decision away from living an empowered and fulfilled life. Navigating burnout always requires enforcing some tough No(s) and plentiful of initial guilt and remorse.
It is not a path of least resistance but a path of consciousness and choice.
Burnouts can feel like a difficult head space to be in and to navigate especially when we are conscious of the rut we are, in and our health and nervous system is dwindling and dysregulated. Our battery runs on survivor mode, we experience restlessness, chronic fatigue, physical ailments, heightened sensitivities, a dissociation with our body (aka choosing to heed the mind over the body), and an inability for us to attune to our higher selves, our Soul for clarity and coherence to fall through.
One, however, can always begin today.
One can begin by refusing a close eye. One can begin by intentionally and consciously opting out of the burnout, grind and hustle culture.
Acknowledge that you are burnout. Begin by reassessing and taking an inventory to anyone/anything/anywhere that is energetically depleting you. Set that intention to reclaim your heart-body coherence. Head to your fridge and ditch any food which you innately know is not serving your body. Begin by taking ownership of your body, not the way it looks, but what it actually is on the inside. Recognize that it is a powerful and wise vessel of wisdom. Prioritize your mental well being and nervous system. It is your birthright to nourish it. Let go of the physical, mental clutter and distractions that takes you away from this commitment. Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. Make daily energetic check-in(s) a habit of yours. Consider habit-stacking. Make achievable, bite-sized and incremental steps in your journey. Connect with your body intentionally every day. Every little habits and commitments always compounds. Be patient and gentle with your de-conditioning. Decompress your energy alone. Rest deeply. Find ways to let rest be fun and playful. Growth is not marked from a day to day basis, growth and healing is inherently non-linear. But one day when you look back at yourself, how far you came, it will all make sense.
In Human Design, burnout exists for all humans and across all energy types, this includes all sacral and non-sacral beings. Below are a few examples as follow:
A Generator who is not living in their design/strategy can experience the gift of a burnout if the work he/she does does not excites or is correct for them. Because they are powered in by the enduring, sustaining energy of the sacral, this could potentially play out with them working long hours in a job that depletes them more than it energised them and an inability to opt out of it. Think of the masses of people who are unfulfilled in their corporate jobs?
A non-sacral being (Manifestor/Projector/Reflector) who is not living their design/strategy and is conditioned to assume themselves as sacral beings often experience the gift of burnout in their professional lives. Because of their non-sacral, they are mechanically and energetically incapable to sustain the conventional long working hours. However, because they could be surrounded by sacral beings, they may amplify and absorb the sacral and work/do/prduce much more than the sacral beings. However, this “power” will only last for a short period of time before they find the fatigue, restlessness and chronic burnout kicking in. As a projector myself, burnout has been in my vocabulary for decades. However knowing my Human Design and stepping into projectorhood has consciously changed my life since.
A disempowered individual with an undefined-root center may feel compelled to act on something because of absorbing and amplifying the pressure energy from others with a defined root center. Because of the conditioning influence, one may end up acting on it to relieve the pressure and eventually arrives at burnout.
Any design not living according to their strategy/authority can effectively experience burnout through their not-self theme. It is important to emphasize that burnout exists in everyone regardless of our energy type. Human design isn’t here to categorize you in boxes, but to show the world that we each energetically and mechanically operate differently. And if we are able to view each other with that wisdom and understanding, we will create a society/world where we are living life cohesively with more peace, flow, ease and fulfillment.
As a projector in Human Design and a Human Design reader, it has came to my awareness and understanding that non-sacral beings are heavily conditioned in our grind, hustle and burnout culture. Many projectors arrive at a burnout in their late 30-40s only to realize they have multiple health conditions. One of our biggest de-conditionings that we will have to undertake as a projector exists in our relationship with rest.
I always felt that it is the duty of projectors to hone, redefine and honor our unique relationship with rest so that we can guide the other energy types in doing the same.
What is your energy type? What is your relationship with rest and burnout? Our Human Design offers us a deep understanding on the areas in our life where burnout may be experienced, and healed. If you have been feeling burnout, know that they happen for a reason. Know that you are always one choice away from living an empowered and fulfilling life.
If you are new to Human Design and would like to know your design, check it out here. If you would like to understand more about yourself and your unique energetics through the profound technology of Human Design, you can check out more of my offerings here.
If you are a projector in Human Design, check out Unearthing Projectorhood, a series of free resources to support Human Design projectors and their divinity. I have designed my free resource, “Projector’s 3 Agents of Change Guidebook” to support projectors like you in becoming and feeling empowered as we decondition and embark on our projectorhood journey. In this 30+ page toolkit, I share my tried and tested ( line 3 here) personal in depth-expansive practices to assist you in activating your projector divinity today. Read more about it here.
If you are looking for something physical and tangible to support you in your deconditioning and projectorhood journey, my Your Companion 2024 Planner is the world’s first-ever Human Design energy type specific planner. It is currently available only for Human Design projectors. Besides being a year, month and weekly planner, it contains a comprehensive guide about Human Design catered to projectors with a focus on practical integration and embodiment.
It is suitable for any Human Design projectors who are at the beginning of their de-conditioning journey or have been in their experiment for a while. It is designed to instill self-accountability and empowerment for one to take practical actions toward a life of authenticity, fulfillment, ease and Projector success. Read more about it here.
Lastly, if you feel called to engage in my frequency and have an in-depth Becoming Empowered Human Design session or a Projectorhood Uplevel Session, do get in touch with me here.
The Projector Remembrance is a 12-week, small group, live Projector mentoring container, centering around the technology of Human Design and Neuroscience.
TPR is for soul-led Projectors who are serious about stepping into their Projectorhood with a focus on community, embodiment and practical integration through differentiated and group support.
If you are looking to wholeheartedly uplevel and align yourself with your unique Projector divinity, and hold the readiness to usher change and live a different reality, I welcome you to join us in this sacred container.
Explore here.
All my love. Sat Nam,
Sylvia
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I am Sylvia— the founder, writer and human design reader of Arawme. “Arawme” is basically, a raw me put together.
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