Burnout Recovery Journey

Post number 1 of a series about my burnout recovery journey. Just a quick note, I reference disordered eating in this post. If you’re not comfortable reading about that right now, please take care.

Feeling Great, it’s a Practice, Not a Product.

I’ll keep saying this til I’m blue in the face: There is no magic bullet. No single pill, vitamin, superfood, or tincture is going to make you feel all better. Like the alchemist of ancient lore, we’ve been trained to be reductionist. We’re looking for that one element that can transform us into solid gold. I’m here to tell you that we’ve got to zoom out a little bit and take in the whole picture.

Feeling great is a lifestyle.

I know this is cliché, but if you want to feel great I recommend cultivating intention and gratitude. Becoming “buzzwords” doesn’t diminish the reality that intention and gratitude are essential and valuable tools when you put them into practice. And fortunately, one gateway to mastering those powerful tools can be found right in your very own kitchen.

Developing intention and gratitude around cooking and eating will help you maintain a healthy relationship with food. It will also give you the patience required for this endeavor, because cooking and eating intentionally is an evolving and ongoing practice. It takes work. Every single day. Think of it as a marathon, not a sprint. This isn’t an Iron Man competition here- this is the kind of marathon you get to run with your friends by your side; enjoying delicious, guilt-free meals and the occasional glass of wine along the way.

This isn’t just a theory for me, it’s personal. Let me tell you how I learned all this the hard way.

My Health Awakening

When I was young, I was pretty healthy overall, but at a certain point my lifestyle choices whittled away at my vitality, and it felt like it took me forever to figure out how to feel good again. Much of my misery was self-imposed. I didn’t take the best care of myself.

In my 20’s, I wore myself down physically, mentally and emotionally with an extremely demanding career and a nasty little eating disorder. When I finally hit rock bottom, I was a frazzled mess, checking in and out of the emergency room like it was my second home.

I didn’t know what I had til it was gone, and by then I wasn’t sure if I would ever feel good again. But I decided getting my health back was worth a try. Actually, I decided it was worth refusing to give up, even through numerous setbacks. Eventually I completely reframed my understanding of what being healthy looks and feels like. I’ll be sharing those insights over the next several weeks through this blog.

Beyond Just Recipes—My Burnout Recovery Journey

I’ll be sharing everything I’ve been through because I’ve heard “a smart woman learns from her mistakes, and a wise woman learns from someone else’s.” It would be a relief to know that someone out there is spared from figuring it all out the hard way. With the help of this website, I want you to feel more confident not just about your cooking, but about the choices you make around eating in general. Just handing you a bunch of tasty, healthy recipes isn’t what’s going to create lasting change, if that’s what you’re looking for. 

**You’ve got to address the emotional components of your relationship with food in order to do some real healing.**

I’ve been through so much, and I’m here to share my burnout recovery journey with you. Your health and happiness are the most important things you can hold onto in this lifetime. They are worth more than gold.

Ready to read more? Check out part two of this three part series here. And if you are looking for help with disordered eating, follow this link for resources.