NK Podcast: Leading H.E.R. Way

Ep 41: Burnout Series w/ Anna Brook - Navigating Burnout to Reclaim Joy

February 06, 2024 • Nikisha King | Certified Life & Business Coach • Season 2 • Episode 41

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Have you ever wondered how to navigate the challenging path from burnout to a vibrant life of health and self-compassion? 

Join Nikisha and Anna Brook, a former pharmacist turned holistic health coach, as she shares her inspiring journey from a bleak hospital room to a beacon of holistic health, offering insights and practical advice for anyone struggling under the weight of burnout. 

In today's episode, your Key Takeaways:

  • Transforming Burnout into Rejuvenation: Learn practical strategies for overcoming burnout and emotional exhaustion.
  • Balancing Career and Personal Passions: Uncover the secrets to cultivating a harmonious balance between demanding careers and personal fulfillment.
  • Reshaping Your Career for Well-Being: Learn how to negotiate work arrangements that support your well-being and use meditation and other tools to find clarity and direction.

Join us on this transformative journey from burnout to a life of balance and joy.  And don't forget to hit the FOLLOW button and share these amazing tips with your friends and family.

How to Connect with Anna Brook:


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Nikisha:

Welcome to Nikisha King podcast, leading her way, where we see the human, evolving and resilient spirit in you. I'm your host, Nikisha, and welcome to the burnout series. I'm thrilled to introduce our incredible guest, Anna Brooke, a powerhouse who's reshaping the narrative on wellness and resilience. Anna isn't just a pharmacist and certified holistic health coach. She is the force behind Biomental, a trailblazing nutritional supplement company based in the heart of New York City. In this episode, Anna and I dive into the profound moment that altered her trajectory and an unforgettable experience that unfolded in a hospital room yes, a hospital room igniting a powerful transformation after facing the exhausting effects of burnout. In her pharmacist role, Her journey from that pivotal moment to becoming a beacon of holistic wellness is a narrative that resonates deeply with anyone seeking a path to fulfillment and balance. You know that. You know, but wait, there's more.

Nikisha:

Anna and I didn't just share her story. We distilled it down to its essence, offering practical, actionable steps around one to two. Simple but practical steps that anyone, you especially, can incorporate into your life, From mastering the art of time scheduling to uncovering what truly nourishes your soul. These nuggets of wisdom are game changes in the fight against burnout. So join us in this episode that's not just a conversation but a blueprint for reclaiming control in designing the life you desire and breaking free from the cycle of being consumed by life's demands. It's time to step into your power and chart a course that's authentically yours. Get ready for a transformational journey with Anna and me. On this episode of Leading Her Way Podcast. Let's redefine what it means to truly live. Hello Anna, Thank you so much for joining Leading Her Way Podcast. We're so happy to have you. What we're talking about as being part of the burnout series is what is burnout, and I would love to get your interpretation, or just give us some examples of how you see burnout or how your clients experience burnout.

Anna Brook:

Hello, Nikisha, thank you for having me and it's such a pleasure being here. And yeah, burnout is a very important topic nowadays and I think a lot of people don't address this, and even myself, I used to be in that position where I would feel burnout on a constant basis because I used to work as a pharmacist, as a, for a long time a full time, 50, 40 hours a week, and I didn't really give myself time to replenish recharge, and I found myself being to the point where I really felt like nothing is gonna help me to get out of that kind of like main, I would say, the mindset that would just not feeling healthy, like I would feel that I didn't wanna do anything, I didn't wanna interact with anybody, I just wanted to lay down and do nothing, and that led me to the point where I felt like I didn't process my emotions in the way that they should have been, because over time, it felt like it stuck one upon another and I was in a very unhealthy or dark place where I didn't feel like myself, I would say. I felt anxious, I felt even depressed, you could say, and that's something that a lot of people struggle with and they don't know how to manage that kind of overwhelm or that type of that they are dealing with, and I know it's a lot on their plate, but we need to find that time. We need to schedule that time on our daily basis, because if we don't prioritize, if we don't really check in with ourselves and how we're feeling at the moment and give ourselves time to process the emotions that might come up, that's something that we would regret along the line, because the energy, the emotions they need to pass through us, they need to find the outlet to really transform and give ourselves more clarity of what's next.

Anna Brook:

I struggled myself, but I found a way to manage emotions that would come every day pretty much, and I thought this is something that I needed to suppress for a long time, because this is how I've been taught. Nobody taught me any other way and I know a lot of people. They just don't know better, they didn't list, they didn't hear other messages. Then you have to distract yourself. You have to find the way to feel better right away. But usually for you to feel better and sustain that type of mindset or that type of state of being is to first let yourself feel in the moment. And that's hard, and that's only hard when we make it hard in our mind, but in reality it usually takes people say, 90 seconds to feel the emotion. Maybe I would say five minutes, right, but you need to find that place where you really be quiet and nobody would distract you, nobody could bother you, and you give yourself permission to feel.

Anna Brook:

What is it that's coming up? Because what it does, it's really asking for your loving attention to it. It's giving you a message. Your body always communicates with you, right, and that kind of message is important to listen to. If we be in the moment, if we feel it, if we let it pass through us and we understand what it's trying to tell us. What kind of emotion is that? If you can name it, if you can see the origin of it and why would it come up in this kind of situation that you were in, you would understand it better. And the more you feel it, the less it will take power over you over time and you will feel lighter and lighter each time you let yourself experience it.

Nikisha:

But here's the thing you and I being coaches, we are on the other side, so everything you're sharing makes sense to us. But think about when you were, in that moment, working 40, 50 hours as a pharmacist. Think about that moment when you were not feeling like getting out your bed, not feeling like speaking to anyone, not feeling like socializing. If that Anna, at that moment in time, had you today, the Anna who speaks today, do you think she would be open to what you're saying? Or she would totally not hear you because she wasn't in a place to hear you and me, knowing my past and me being where.

Nikisha:

I was before 2021, I couldn't hear Anna speaking to me about all the light, all the healing, Like I couldn't hear you because I didn't know how to hear you, because people were speaking to me in that way. But I still wasn't hearing them. I just felt they were too positive. So let's go back to that moment. There is something that happened to you that started to create the earning to get out of burnout and transition into this place of calm. What was that pivotal moment for you?

Anna Brook:

Yes, it was actually a very extreme moment where I overworked myself to the point where I ended up being in the hospital, and that was a place where there was no escape Right. So now, pretty much, we always have choices, but I felt like I had no choice but to get better, and a lot of people find themselves in that extreme situation where the only way out is for you to start prioritizing your health. That's it. Otherwise it's just, there is no life.

Anna Brook:

And I had to stay with my thoughts, with my feelings, with my sensations in my body in a hospital bed for a while to really listen, and from that point on, it's just. It gave me so much information where I heard it loud. So for me it was first. Maybe it starts as a noise, it starts as a kind of small messages, but you ignore them, but when it's loud, it's like in your ear, it's hard to ignore. Now you have to take some actions, and that's when I really started investing in myself, in my health, and how can I get better? What different can I do now to feel better?

Nikisha:

Right. And in that moment because this is what I want the audience to understand and it seems to be the recurrent, the recurrent theme In order for a transition to take place, there has to be an extreme point in your life, there has to be a point where you no longer or how can I say you're fed up. But the fed up had to be at your choice. You had to opt in to the change. No, when you were laying in that bed, there was no coach next to you going. You have to make a change. There was no partner, no children, no, anyone.

Nikisha:

Anna had to go through the feelings, the emotion, the sensation. But how did I get here? Moment. And then Anna had to make that decision of do I want to keep going down this road and ending up in the hospital every six months, every four months, or do I truly want peace? Do I truly want something different that will help me be better mentally, emotionally and physically? Because by the time you're in the hospital, your burnout has created a physical manifestation. We don't get in the hospital if we have mental, yeah, but when you're in a hospital bed, it's because there's a physical deterioration, there's something out of whack and you're admitted. It's the only way you're getting in a hospital. They trust me. They don't take you if you're healthy and you're fine, right.

Nikisha:

And then, in that moment, you had to make that decision. Now let me ask you, when you made that decision, what was one simple step you took towards your healing? What was the first one? And it must have been simple, because I'm assuming it's simple because you kept doing it, or maybe you didn't. So share a little bit about what that looked like for you.

Anna Brook:

Yes, I started first with a plan how can I reduce the time working as a pharmacy, which requires a lot of effort and physical work as well, so applying my skills in a different direction where I could help other people as well and enjoy the process?

Anna Brook:

And I started thinking what also would provide that type of fulfillment to me, because I didn't feel that in my career working as a pharmacist, even though I like this profession, but it wasn't enough. I felt like there is more in me, there is more potential, and I knew that I have to find a way to apply my skills into a different direction that eventually will provide me this lifestyle that I want, and it would be something that is not putting a pressure on my health. So, first step, I was just scheduling my time differently. I would reduce the time working as I used to work and giving myself time for something fun, for something enjoy, and that's how I got myself out of that mindset of always being in struggle or overwhelmed, but rather seeing more opportunities. What else can I do? Feeling that freedom of choosing, and that's how it starts.

Nikisha:

That's so good that you mentioned that One. You had to make a choice to change. The change that you were creating was I can't do this, but how do I do this? What are the steps I can take to minimize my schedule? Knowing when you had the feelings in that hospital bed that you had more potential, you had more to give.

Nikisha:

Even recognizing that because I think every human being has more, when we have a career that's a nine to five we tend to forget we still have so much more potential in us. We're giving a small percentage of our intellect to that organization, but that doesn't mean that's all you are. You are so much more, so you have more to give. That's why there's a lot of executives that I meet and I work with who have the tendency to feel like they're unhappy in their position, but usually to coming from a place of they're not realizing they're more than that position. They are so much more and if they find their outlet, it will give them balance in their executive position and in their personal life. And what you shared was that comment, that thing that was like goals when you said it. I had to find something outside of that that brought me joy. There is always. We are beings, we're analytical beings and you should know that because you have a science background as much as I do.

Nikisha:

But we're also creatives because we create. All of us on this earth create the homes we live in was created by another human being. We are creators. So, no matter if you're white collar, blue collar another label of division but we're all creatives. So when you're analyzing, you need a balance. The balance is creativity. However you use it, you show up and you create calm in someone's life. You create art, you're creating.

Nikisha:

So when you found that one thing that was your outlet to create balance and it's not like you may, I'm not sure, but you tell us if you kept going with pharmaceutical or you transition out of it, but either way, you always need some balance. You need to work on. You Also have the ability to provide an IP intellectual property to an organization to help them work on them. We're always serving, but we're always creating, and I think that's where balance, the yin and yang, is. Now let me ask you when you found that outlet, what did that outlet look like for you? What was that joyful thing that you started to incorporate in your life, that brought so much goodness into your life? Yes, so.

Anna Brook:

I was always that person who would inspire others, who would bring out the best out of other people and I would see what would limit them into realizing their potential.

Anna Brook:

So I was really into a holistic approach of helping people and that's what started me with first being certified as a holistic health coach and started my own coaching practice, as well as I co-founded an intritional supplement company along the way to bring out not only services, physical products, people to support them, and that's what I do through my work to support people, to really feel naturally empowered in different ways, and, as well as my own podcast, which is inspiration and motivational in nature.

Anna Brook:

That's called intern and that's how I was able to see how I can apply all of the knowledge, all of the skills and my talents and my gifts into helping others, serving others, and I just love doing this. I don't feel like I'm working. This is not work and this is how it should feel. And again, even though I still do this pharmaceutical job, but it's not something that given me that type of pressure anymore, because it's, first of all, it's hard time, but I'm in a way of transitioning into a different life and I envision it for myself. Now I see it clearly who I can be, but it's not just. I can build myself being that person, and I know that I am. And now I am in a state of being where I'm growing, like I see the opportunities, I see the potential and I'm just going to that direction.

Nikisha:

Which is so good, because you see the possibilities.

Anna Brook:

Yes.

Nikisha:

Before you didn't see it because your 50, 60 hours didn't allow you to see any of that. You couldn't see you, but now you're serving your purpose. You found it, you're serving it, you're doing it. It brings purpose to you. So now the possibilities are bigger. Right, there's so much bigger, but they're worth it. Now I want to give out, like our audience clients our audience some actionable steps.

Nikisha:

Right, I want them to at least take one or two actionable steps from this episode with you, and what I would like to help them is your schedule, because we are speaking to people who have businesses who might work for it and they are feeling overwhelmed and they have not hit their extreme point yet.

Nikisha:

So, taking action is a little bit more challenging and you also have to make a choice right and that's going to be in their hands. You're capable humans making the choice when they see fit to take this action. When you said you scheduled or you started to shift your schedule, how did you do that? Because, working for a business, a company, a corporation, or even if you had your own business, there's some balance, but you have to know how to do that. Was it? Your days got shorter? Did you request time to minimize? What did that look like? What was that question you asked and how was it given?

Anna Brook:

Yes, I would address it with a manager or supervisor. If you work in a corporation, you could say that your life requires you to be available in a certain date. I would just reduce my time, giving myself like extra day off. Instead of working five days a week, I would do four days a week. But another way would be to shorten your day of working from nine to five. You can do. I don't know if it's available, but you can ask for, let's say, nine to three and have the rest of the day doing something you want. But for me it was easier to do extra day off and use that time towards, like I said, something that I love doing. That's where I would start first to have that conversation and just say that my circumstances changed over time. I used to work this kind of shift, but I'm no longer available those days. Is it possible so we can switch to and give them maybe one or two or three options to choose from? If you are a valuable employee, they would find a way to meet you in the middle, exactly.

Nikisha:

That's a great point. So, for our audience, if you are working a nine to five whatever that looks like for you Putting in that request, maybe it's not open to you, but I would say, try it before you deny it. Right Acts, because there's something I tell my kids if you don't ask, the answer is always no.

Nikisha:

It's very clear it's always gonna be no if you do not ask. But if you do ask, you don't know because now you've put it out there. The opportunity may not be right then and there, but there might be a moment where they have someone who can do more time and you can scale back because it was a request. There's also the option where you might not have Monday through Friday off because that's not available to you, but you have a weekend to do something you love, right, feed your soul. So when you go back on Monday doesn't feel draining. So there those tactics as you sheared.

Nikisha:

If you're a business owner, you have more power Because you get to dictate your calendar, even though you don't think you can, because there are some people I work with who would tell me no, and I go, you can. You just don't think you can. You don't give your space because you're in the I can't Mindframe and the I can't mindframe never serves you because you're not trying to figure out how to Right, how to adjust. So, in regards to what you're sharing, the first step of your schedule is by asking Can I set, scale back, can I do this to this? Whatever works for them? Is that first step now. What I want you to share with us is that thing that you started to fall in love with, that started to feed your soul. What is one action that you took there? How did you even, how did you find this world of giving back through coaching? Something happened and it was exposed to you. It was like, oh, like, what's that story?

Anna Brook:

So for me it was also meditation. This is a great practice and a lot of people are hesitant or they're not sure what it would feel like if they try. But I was just, you know, advice to try and see for yourself, but mostly what it did for me and again, I didn't know what it's gonna be like. It's just I've heard people, a lot of people, saying that it's very beneficial and I wanted to try for myself. But trying it's not just one, two times. Give yourself at least a month to try. You can find Time, let's say, two, three times a week, about 15, 20 minutes a day. Either you wake up you find that time, or before you go to bed, there's always 20 minutes a day you can find. So that's not a problem. And once you start doing that, what I've noticed for myself is how I start to slow down and noticing and becoming aware of the thoughts that I'm receiving, that the thoughts that I'm Choosing to think on repeat, and those thoughts are the ones that create the type of emotions and then you take action and basically it drives your decisions in life. And if you think about it, it's very important to know what you're thinking about, right, so for you to really become aware, you have to slow down and see what is it that you choose into think, and why is that? Is that thought really serving you? Maybe it's coming from long time ago? Maybe it's time to let it go and really Question the validity of it. What is it? Is it true, what you're thinking? So that would be number one Staff is to become aware and to become aware.

Anna Brook:

Meditation is a great practice to do that, and if you give yourself a month to see the results for yourself Like I've fallen up with that and I started doing more of it and it became just part of my lifestyle and Just the feeling after you're doing that, it's like you are in a different type of energy that you are operating off and you are becoming more productive, becoming more mindful and Really more creative as well. It helps with that and you don't feel overwhelmed because of that type of energy that you're getting access to. But over time, you start releasing the thoughts that no longer serve in you and you find yourself Feeding with more positive type of thoughts. Right, so now you are choosing. What is it I'm gonna focus on, what is it I'm gonna invest in, and you're choosing from a perspective of what can benefit me.

Nikisha:

That's a good point. Meditation is one that in my journey it's always felt like a challenge and I love that you said 15 or 20 minutes. Allocate that, because we do have it out of the 24 hours. We do have it. We do have a lot of time. Sometimes we create our time. I believe in that, truly, and I create my time. And in the beginning, when and I am still in my beginning and I'm okay to be in my beginning Sometimes I don't call it meditation, I call it visualization. Right, you can have any name, labels or labels, they can, they're interchangeable, we have synonyms and and visualization for me is where I can sit and do a little breathing to get focused and then I visualize what's going to happen.

Nikisha:

So when I travel and I go to a conference, I visualize exactly my energy when I walk into that room with 2,000 people, with 500 people. I love connecting. I visualize myself talking to people, especially people I choose and wanna speak to, and I feel every bit of it. I feel the motion of joy, I feel the laughter, I feel the joking, I feel the hugs, I feel the tightness of the hugs. That's some form of meditation for me. I literally get in that moment. And when I started my journey, 20 minutes felt a little bit challenging, or 15. The reason it did is because my other thoughts would invade. I would be meditating, visualizing and these thoughts would just come in. And it's usually because I don't have either something guiding me, because there's now spiritual meditation guidance, and that would bother me because I would just start going on a whole other storyline. So I realized I'm gonna just start five minutes, just five minutes. I could set my timer and I can focus. And when I start going to the other storyline I can go, stop and bring it back.

Nikisha:

Five minutes give me enough time to feel like, okay, that was good, right, so starting five minutes for a week, getting used to that feeling, building that muscle, and then maybe next week I'll do seven minutes. Add another two minutes on, and for me that felt simple and doable.

Anna Brook:

You know what I mean.

Nikisha:

Because when I had to do 15 or 20 minutes, I love that you can do that because you desire that. It wasn't a desire for me, it was like a thing, let me try. Wasn't like a little pivotal moment. But in doing it 15 or 20, if it was challenging that first week, it minimizes the next week, I would do it. You know what I mean. It'll feel like a hill and I'm like, and you know what, I wouldn't intentionally stop. I'll just stop because I don't wanna feel uncomfortable, can I?

Nikisha:

see that yeah yeah, so the five minutes allowed me to get comfortable and build on it rather than started from this point where I had to keep going and it would become uncomfortable because I, being a perfectionist, would be like it's not, I can't do this and if I can't do something, that's uncomfortable for me, so I just stopped. I'm not making that mindful decision to stop. It just doesn't become valuable as humans. A lot of people do that and I know because I speak to them and I call them do it because I understand it.

Nikisha:

But it's that amazing thing of meditation. It's about calming your mind and not controlling, but choosing the life you desire. Meditation is that you're making choices to be mindful and to feed your soul through that place, and I think that's some great shares that you have and in helping us and helping your audience develop themselves and take care of themselves, because they're worthy and valuable in so many ways.

Anna Brook:

Yeah, definitely, and a lot of people don't feel like they deserve this time for themselves and they distract themselves from doing something that really fulfills their soul and just gives them this pleasurable, enjoyable time. They think it's a waste of time, in a way, right Like doing nothing. It's so important. That's what I wanna stress out. This is what will build the foundation of the better life to come or to be created by you, with you starting prioritizing that time for yourself, whatever it might look like for you. Even with the five time, you can start five minutes a day. You can start with that and build it over time and see what else you can do, not just meditation, but being in creative mode. But you have to start feeling, start bringing those type of feelings in your life, and this is how you naturally attract something better. That will come over time and again, like it's not gonna be overnight, but you have to start with something, start small and believe this is very important thing. You have to believe that you deserve it.

Nikisha:

Yes, that's such a good point. Yes, I agree with you so much, anna. I thank you so much for sharing all of this, because you and I are on the same path, helping others to see the value in themselves and realizing how amazing they are as humans. Right? No matter the agenda, no matter the sexuality, no matter the race, you are valuable, no matter what.

Nikisha:

And being on the journey that you are on and sharing your story and how you started your journey was so pivotal, because sometimes people don't realize what burnout is, they just burnout. For them might be like I'm tired, but they don't know why they're tired. They don't even understand that. And it's good to give of yourself. We all wanna give of ourselves but the question is how much do you have within you to give? And if it's zero within you, don't really have much to give and that's where you're burnout again. So, once again, thank you. I would like you to share how people can find you. We will add it to the show notes and if there's something you wanna offer them, anything, you have the floor, go ahead.

Anna Brook:

Sure, you can find me on Instagram. It's abroke1111. And all of the information on the Instagram in terms of the businesses that I do. And you can also follow the link. It's reviveme. Reviveyoume, the website where you can schedule a free consultation with me and I can see how it can help you. And maybe you can schedule a next time to get more into depth of what is it that's bothering you and how I can be of help and service to you. And you can also find me on LinkedIn as well. It's Ann on Broke, and I would love to connect with you and see how we can create a better world together.

Nikisha:

So good, Anna. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for your information and if you wanna speak to Anna more, you find value in what she's sharing. You wanna know more about her story? Please definitely look in the show notes. We'll have links, so you just click it and it'll take you exactly where you need to go. We wanna make it really easy for you. It's about simple steps. Anna, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

Anna Brook:

Thank you for joining me. Thank you so much, nikisha, that was a pleasure.

Nikisha:

Have a great Thursday and have an amazing day.

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