Recently I ran a two day retreat workshop in a beautiful setting in the English countryside and noticed on my way back to London how tired and exhausted I felt!

It was a fantastic two days but it was only a few days later when I felt fully rested and able to fully process all that happened. Now I feel more rested I am able to celebrate the breakthroughs, formulate my new ideas going forward, and tackle all my ongoing workload.

Things look so different to the time when I was totally exhausted. It’s not that I was negative but I have to admit I couldn’t see as much of the positive that I see now just a few days later.

So, it led me to thinking, how many of us have skewwhiff perspectives on our lives right now just through sheer exhaustion? How do you know if you are suffering from exhaustion or fatigue? Adrenal fatigue is a modern phenomenon of our so called progressed lifestyle which apparently exists in about 60-70% of us. So chances are you are tired and your adrenal glands are worn out from all the various stresses of normal everyday life. The bottom line is you know it if you are generally quite tired. Most people I meet in and around London and ask ‘how are you? ’ Respond, ‘busy’ and/or ‘I’m quite tired actually’.

So what is the effect of exhaustion on our perspectives? When I say exhaustion or fatigue, I’m not talking about a day when you feel it but a season when you feel consistently tired for some days or weeks. What does that do to our thinking and decision making? How does it affect our positive attitude and our belief in what is possible? How does it affect the directions we end up going in? Is it perhaps one of the biggest modern day hindrances to us keeping in touch with our dreams, creating an ‘out of the normal’ life vision and truly allowing us to reach our fullest potential?

5 things tiredness affects

1. Creativity. Tiredness for sure squashes creativity. It’s hard to draw out new ideas, to create something, to write, paint, and schedule fun things to do or create a business plan when you are tired.
2. Good Decision Making. Tiredness hinders good decision making. When you feel exhausted you are unlikely to be able to evaluate all the options and be fully in touch with your values and your ultimate goals. It just takes too much energy to do this!
3. Relationships. Tiredness affects your relationships. Whether you end up screaming at the kids, snapping at your spouse or being grumpy with your house mate, chances are you don’t have the energy to invest a whole lot in your current relationships let alone thinking about investing in new ones.
4. Achieving your long term goals. Tiredness stops you reaching your goals. Whether it is sticking to a health region, writing a book, learning a new skill, if you feel tired you will find it extremely difficult to stay motivated and make it to the end of reaching your big goals.
5. Your vision. Tiredness makes you question your vision. Is it really what I want? Am I kidding myself? Am I being realistic? Tiredness is affecting your perspective of what’s possible.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

So what’s the solution to all this? I know it sounds simplistic but I have a theory that the best first step is to have a holiday! A complete change and rest from work for at least one week preferably two WILL do absolute wonders to change your perspective completely. If you are really tired you may need a month off or even a year! You could start by just taking a day off to rest, one complete day. Studies on the human body indicate that taking a day off each week actually increases your productivity, not even to mention how beneficial it is to your health, and emotional wellbeing. Some would do this and call it a Sabbath, and it seems that this works for the way we were made. Another strategy is to create spaces in your daily routine for rest and fun. Maybe make sure you take a lunch break, take a walk, visit a café, meet with a friend for a chat, take an evening class on a subject you enjoy, cook a new dish, read a book, watch a movie, just figure out what helps you rest and also have fun.

As well as a healthy diet and exercise its documented that doing things you consider fun, helps combat the effects of adrenal fatigue or any fatigue. Your body and your mind will then no longer feel like they are on a hamster wheel but begin to actually heal and rest and you will feel better and more positive again. It’s from this position that your perspective improves and you can start making good decisions, creating a life that you want to live and impact the world in the fullest most amazing way that you were designed to! So I’m off to plan a holiday, I hope you are encouraged to slow down a little too.