Work Stress Zombie

For the last six months I’ve been back to working a corporate job and LOVING it. I never thought I’d find a job working for the “man” while following my calling, but I have. I’m one of the lucky ones. I love what I do, I’m well paid to do it, and my work is rewarding.

But even so, I can fall prey to work stress zombie mode.

WorkZombie

The last few weeks I’ve been sleeping as late as I can, getting up and stumbling to work,  zoning out on tv in the evenings, going to bed, getting up, going back to work. Rinse and repeat. I’ve started to feel like a zombie, carrying out the same meaningless actions over and over. I started to lose touch with my friends, my teenage son, and my joy in life. Like many of the clients I talk to each day, if someone had asked me what I was doing for fun, I’d say something like: “whaaaaaaa?”.

Zombie.

The other night, I actually dreamed that I was a zombie. Yep, raggedy clothes, rotting flesh, the whole deal. My biggest fear? That I would turn my son into a zombie too. I felt so sad that he might share my fate. Those feelings really made me stop and look at how I am spending my time. I like to think maybe this was Spirit showing me a really good reason to make a change — because the last thing I want for my child is to think that there is no meaning to life, or to the thkid_zombieings that he does on a daily basis. Worse yet I don’t want him to grow up thinking that work stress zombie mode is normal
The dream made me realize I need to get back to my life — the life I have outside of work. I just finished a book and there are steps to take to get it published. There’s an unfinished watercolor of a beautiful sycamore tree, a piece of outdoor furniture I’m painting for my garden, new flute pieces to learn, learning French for next year’s trip to France, and a whole circle of interesting friends to reconnect with. All these things are just as important as my work.

I can’t tell you how many people I talk to every week in my job who are struggling with this “work/life balance” thing. Their job demands so much from them, and they have so little energy for anything else.
The result?
ZOMBIE.

So what to do? I started following my own advice and taking my life back. Whenever I talk to someone who’s struggling with this, my first questions are always:

  1. “What are you doing to take care of yourself?”and
  2. “What do you like to do that gives you pleasure?”

I started my rehabilitation by sending a few texts to arrange time to spend with friends. After a lovely Friday night dinner and a few glasses of wine with one of them I got inspired and rearranged my living room. Wow did that feel awesome! And suddenly I felt I could breathe again. Now those projects that I want to finish don’t seem so daunting and I’ve got a whole weekend stretching out in front of me to play with my art, hang out with my son, and even go look at art at a local street fair.

For now I’ve let go of my inner zombie so the vibrant and vital me can re-emerge. I’m reconnecting to my cat, my friends, and my garden. I’m remembering what it’s vibrantly-alive-forestlike to bloom.

 

I’m happy to report I’m feeling much better, NOT A ZOMBIE IN SIGHT (brains…..) wait, what was that?? LOL, just kidding.

All My Love,

Kypris 🙂

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Click here to join the Facebook Shamanic Support Circle, a closed group of therapists and healers supporting each other.

If you’d like some help getting out of work stress zombie mode,  you might like my new book, Shamanic Stress Relief, due out in a few weeks, or for nurturing spiritual shift, check out my Shamanic Clarity and Balance e-course. If you’re interested in one-on-one support, you can click here for a free phone consultation with me.

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