Expat Burnout Red Flags & 3 Steps to Turn It Around
So you said yes to that exciting career opportunity abroad and agreed to move with your family.
Now some time has passed by, you should have been all settled by now but it just doesn’t feel right. And you feel the pressure to succeed because it’s all on you. The fear of failure and losing it all is more palpable than ever.
Are you experiencing any of these?
- The job is not what they promised.
- You painfully feel you don’t fit in, you can’t find your way around and get things done effectively.
- You feel stressed most of the time and never stop worrying
- It’s impossible to do well what you came here to do and still have some time left to enjoy with your family.
- The pandemic made it even more stressful, having to work at home with kids around.
Moreover, does it start impacting other areas of your life as well?
- Weight gain
- Physical pain in your body
- Not sleeping well
- Feeling depressed
- Avoiding people
- Being snappy or straightforward angry with your family, often for little things
- Started regularly using food, alcohol, other substances as a way to relax and get a break from the stress
And no worries, there’s no judgment. Honestly, I wrote this list remembering how I felt during my burnout a decade ago…
How many of these have you ticked off? If it was more than three, the following video will be worth your time.
There’s so much pressure on you to succeed in every way – as a professional woman with an international career, as a mom raising family abroad, with even less support and more judgment than other moms get… And you start noticing some of the burnout signs (check out my Monday post about Red Flags and see how many you tick off).
And it’s not that you suck at time management, you know how to plan and get things done. But it’s just too much, and there are so many factors that are completely out of your control (kids getting sick, school closing down for a week). And energy management advice doesn’t help much either because your day will always be full of things you’d rather not do but have no choice.
Those are all external factors that you can’t always control.
The only thing you’re fully in charge of is your mind.
So tune in this livestream recording as I go through 3 steps to turn it around and prevent burning out.
3 Steps to Burnout Prevention
- Mental Fitness: 3/1 Ratio
- Shut down your inner critic and take small steps
- What Gift/Opportunity Can I Create From This?
None of these steps are obvious, that’s why being burned out became the new ‘normal’, a badge of honor of really dedicated managers, leaders, and career women who happen to be moms as well.
This is your opportunity to choose a different path, just keep your ears open and see what comes up for you. Comment what resonated with you and let me know if you’d like to get further with this 1-1: alena@alenagomesrodrigues.com.