In 2023, I self-published a slip of a book detailing my experience of burnout.

The Ballad (as my family affectionately called it) brought many unexpected delights into my life.

• The writing helped me process my experiences of being a helper working through a global pandemic while parenting, managing a chronic illness, and moving to a new country. The writing helped me put words to so much of what I suppressed as I tried to be professional and caring and balanced and NICE. When I read the words I wrote I could transcend my day-to-day survival and discern connections and meaning. Like so many before me, I learned through this expression and reflection.
• Self-publishing was its own medicine: I had complete control over the production. When I felt stuck and helpless, I asked for help then found support in friends and artists who helped carry it those final miles.
• After The Ballad made my life better, it hit others’ hearts too. Amazon readers felt seen and heard, therapists reached out to say that it felt like I was reading their minds. Helpers felt less alone. The Ballad was widely praised as brutally honest, lyrical, and beautiful with endorsements by Oprah's Magazine 2020 Visionary and best-selling author Kelly McGonical and international trauma expert Dr. Robyn Walser.

The juicy conundrum of The Ballad is that I can tell you all the ways it wasn’t a success. It wasn’t traditionally published, it sold maybe a hundred copies, and I was not a success in so many ways. And yet….and yet.

And yet Kristen Phillips told me that there are so many ways a book can be successful.

My dreams came true:

• I wrote instead of complaining about writing
• I wrote instead of dreaming about writing
• and finally these words helped people feel less alone.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll reprint The Ballad of Burnout: a helper lost and found here in both audio and written form. I hope it is helpful to you or to someone you love. As my teacher says May this suffering continue to awaken compassion.

Let’s hang out

• Let’s connect on Goodreads and share our love of books.

  • I like Goodreads because (1) I can see what my friends are reading and recommending and (2) my account serves as a huge online library of all the quotes and highlights I don’t want to lose.

  • I just finished “She Said” by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey which ended with this powerful dedication: “To our daughters, and to yours: May you know respect and dignity always, in the workplace and beyond.”

• This weekend in Swellington!

  • North of 40: Mid-life Breakthrough withAnahera Gildea, Emily Perkins,Tusiata Avia hosted by Stacey Morrison

  • Glorious in her skin: Sandra Ciscneros in conversation with Tayi Tibble

• For helpers interested in deepening their practice of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): When ACT Isn’t Simple: An ACT in Practice Workshop with Dr Kerry Makin-Byrd, May 2024