Clarity On Fire

A client of mine, Molly, is burnt out. She’s got two jobs that have her working at least 50 hours a week (usually more like 60-65), including night and weekend shifts. Sometimes after working 6 days in a row, her boss will ask if she can fill in for someone on the 7th day … and she usually agrees, even though it means she doesn’t get a single day off in a week. She’s also involved in multiple social groups, and she gets roped into helping plan and coordinate events, even when she can’t make it to the event (because she’s working so much). I pointed out that this is not a sustainable pace, and she fully acknowledges that. She’s constantly sleep-deprived, and her naturally sunny personality is slowly being replaced by a grumpy, snippy, unmotivated person who she barely recognizes. Molly knows that something’s got to give, but whenever she considers backing out of a commitment or saying no or taking something off her very-full plate, she becomes consumed by guilt. Recently she told me, “I really wanted to tell m