4 Secret Ways Your Body Tries To Protect You From Burnout
Every high-achieving, workaholic, recovering perfectionist powerhouse can remember a time when they thought of their body as an inconvenience.
Maybe that’s you now!
But before you get mad at your meat suit for screwing with your packed schedule again, let’s decode these inconveniences.
Though it may not seem like it, many of the unpleasant circumstances our bodies serve us are actually meant to protect us.
Here are 4 super common & super misunderstood ways our bodies try to protect us from burnout.
Getting Sick A Lot
Let’s be real, would you actually rest, take the weekend off, close your laptop if your body didn’t MAKE you every once in a while?
For a shockingly large number of people, the answer is “no.”
If they are physically capable of showing up and continuing to “do, do, overdo, & do some more”- then they’re gonna.
But, since bodies literally need rest to survive- it makes total sense for your body to make it physically impossible for you to keep going at that inhuman and inhumane pace.
And, really, you can hardly blame your body for looking out for you. Even though the resulting illnesses and chronic conditions can be unpleasant.
“I used to push myself so hard and so fast, I would often be seized with severe whole-body pain that forced me to stop or slow down.”
-Mica Winegarden, The Burnout Fairy
The good news? Rest more, sick less. That’s how it usually works out.
2. Feeling Tired All The Time
OK, there’s an obvious rhyme and reason for this one.
Your body tells you you’re thirsty when you need to drink some water.
It tells you you’re hungry when you need to eat.
It tells you you gotta go when you’ve got a full bladder.
It tells you you’re tired when you need to rest.
And if you’re dragging through heavy fatigue day after day, your body is now shouting at you that it’s time for you to rest.
Having a hard time concentrating? Showing up on time? Meeting deadlines? Having a personal life in addition to your job cuz who has energy for both?
Girl, you gotta rest.
It’s the absolute most productive thing you can do right now.
3. Anxiety Whenever You Have Downtime
Alright, this one is a little counterintuitive.
For so many clients, when they actually do try to have downtime, they’re consumed with guilt about all the stuff they “should” be doing instead of resting.
What if… now that your body finally has your attention, it’s flooding your fear responses and pushing your To Do List to the forefront of your mind in an attempt to get you to realize that your To Do List is the threat. Your To Do List is the clear and present danger your body is trying to protect you from.
Your To Do List is basically a tiger. And you’re just standing there while it’s charging you.
Your body is trying to tell you to “ummm, maybe stop messing with that giant apex predator? ”
You’re not recognizing that the pressure you are under is dangerous. (Being constantly flooded with stress chemicals really isn’t good for you.) Your body wants you to know. So you can do something about it.
4. Disconnecting From Basic Body Maintenance Cues
“I would ignore my hunger cues for so long, by the time I could take a breath, I was so hangry I made less that ideal food choices (and ripped into my adjacent loved ones needlessly). That hurt my body and mind, as well as my relationships.”
-Mica Winegarden, The Burnout Fairy
So, your body thinks your To Do List is an angry tiger.
If you were actually confronted with an angry tiger, you’d need all your energy, faculties, and resources available to get outta there unscathed.
Your autonomic systems would probably prioritize certain bodily functions over other ones. If you’re side-stepping an angry tiger, your energy is going to your alertness and running parts- not your digestive system. (Your body doesn’t want to cue you to have a little snack when you should be running for your life.) It doesn’t want you thinking “hot damn! I gotta pee” or “wouldn’t a little cat nap be nice right now?” while you’re dodging and bobbing and zigging and zagging around a creature that might like to have you for lunch.
But, even though your daily professional, personal, social, and relational workload isn’t actually a tiger, your body is still prioritizing your fight/flight/freeze survival systems over other ones.
So, if you’ve ever gone all day and realized you forgot to eat- this is why.
You’re in such a state of stress that your body stops sending cues that you need to do the things that keep your body going long-term. Like eat, drink, sleep, relieve yourself, move around, connect with others, etc. Your body doesn’t want you to worry about that stuff when there’s a tiger right there!
The Inconvenience That Loved Me
See? Your body isn’t bent on thwarting you after all!
But if your To Do List is as scary as a pissed-off tiger headed your way, we gotta do something about that!
What if you had:
🧚 Tools to show your body that it’s safe (No tigers!)
🧚 Easy action steps to make resting pleasurable
🧚 Gloriously clear boundaries so your To Do List never felt predatory again
🧚 Space in your life to do more of what brings you joy
🧚 A calendar that protects your fun by proactively preventing overbooking
🧚 A strong, confident “no”
Hi, I’m Your Burnout Fairy 🧚 Mica Winegarden, and it’s my life’s work to equip you with the tools to keep your life force lit. Through trauma-informed coaching, breathwork, body-based tools, and a dash of whimsy, I help women stop working themselves to death and start living.
Make sure you’re on my newsletter for regular Break Up With Burnout tips & subscriber specials for my 1:1 & group coaching programs.
