The Power of Awareness (and the word “No”) to Combat Burnout in the Horse Industry

Burnout is very real in the horse world. Many of us get into teaching or training for the love of the horse. This heart-centric work makes it harder to say "No", to put up boundaries, and to see when these blurred lines begin to take a toll on us. Instead we often realize way too late via an overreaction to something or through physical pain. This can lead to all sorts of seemingly unhelpful symptoms - headaches or stomach aches, shame for not meeting self imposed expectations, frustration when we’re at our wit’s end … the list goes on and on. I bet you know how it shows up for you. 

Spoiler alert, if we keep going without building awareness and setting up personal boundaries to keep our wellbeing in check, these reactions will continue to happen - it’s not you not being able to do enough, it’s our world’s way of showing us it’s time to slow down. 

Signs of Burnout

It’s so important that we recognize what we need in our life and business to keep us operating optimally. It's the only way we can keep doing the good work we’re bringing into the world. The first place to start is to recognize your personal signs of burnout. For example, several years back I noticed every time my life got too “busy” I would end up with a tension headache. I’ve had them for years and other factors can play a role tipping me into one. I could pretty much guarantee you that if I was saying "Yes" to too much and not taking decent care of myself I would end up with one. When one set in I couldn't teach, check communications, drive, etc. It was really quite debilitating and detrimental to my credibility when I would have to cancel lessons yet again because of a headache.

How does burnout show up for you?

Figuring Out the Why

For me, I know those headaches were my body’s way of telling me I was taking on too much; by forcing me to take a break. They became so pervasive I even ended up seeking medical help, to no avail. By paying attention (it was hard not to, they were so frequent) I began to recognize the patterns that led to my headaches. They would almost always occur when I was busier than my preferred pace of functioning and I ignored earlier signs that I was fatigued. I would find myself getting anxious, losing focus easily, and struggling with rationalizing things. Because I was already disregulated I wouldn’t take care of myself (didn’t drink enough water, ate on the go - I was never a big fast food person but crackers for breakfast and a protein bar for lunch were not uncommon - sound familiar?), I would sit still for far too long and avoid taking the time to move my body (not as big an issue for my instructors and trainers at least, though repetitive movements can take a toll, too). Next thing I knew, I would have a headache. 

What are your early warning signs/patterns? What are they trying to tell you?

What To Do About It

So, what kicked off that anxiousness, lack of focus, etc.? I alluded to it earlier, but essentially for me it happens when the pace of demand exceeds my capacity to meet it. Or, in simpler terms, when I need to exercise my vocabulary by using the word “No” more. Of course, I made it worse by ignoring those early signs that I wasn’t balanced and instead digging in on the responsibilities placed on me by others when I said “Yes” too many times. I made choices that exacerbated the problem (being dehydrated, not eating for my health), too. These days I’m much more mindful of those early warning signs and work to build the structure of my days around what I actually do have capacity for (for example, I book things in my calendar to take 1.5 times longer than I think it will, so when it does take longer I don’t get stressed and anxious - and if it doesn’t take that long I get some extra bonus time in my day - yay!).

When I was a full time instructor I built in a half hour of time between my scheduled lessons. This enabled me to focus on the student with me when we were really close to making progress on something in a lesson and just needed an extra 5 or 10 minutes to get to a great stopping point. Alternatively, I didn’t have to worry about students coming or going from the barn early or late (by the way, if you do this you need to build the extra 30 minutes of time through when calculating your lesson or training rates - it’s not free time. Your customers won’t know the difference fiscally but they will so appreciate the extra effort you appear to be putting in to focus on them above and beyond their scheduled lesson). These things kept me from feeling frantic through out my day, created space for me to take care of myself, and even gave me little glimmers of extra time to clean a stall or two when people didn't stay over.

Looking at your own early warning signs of burnout and what those triggers are, what are some things you could do to create space and take care of yourself before you get there?

Not sure what to do but know you may be getting a little (or a lot) burned out? Want help figuring out solutions for your life and business? Let's brainstorm what will fit into the uniqueness of your day-to-day together. I’m here to help. Set up a coaching one-on-one call with me today. 

Hugs and Happy Riding!

Kristin

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Learn more about author Kristin Bowers.

Blog posts from Equestripreneur are not meant to replace individual professional advice, which will best inform personal circumstances.