I have a big keynote talk in Las Vegas in a little more than four weeks, and I woke up today convinced that all my slides are crap. My intro is bad. And I don’t know how to get out of my story the learning objectives.
I know it’s headtrash.
I know it’s my ego trying to keep me small.
And dang it, it’s annoying.
So I put in a call to my therapist.
Hey. It’s Carrie Severson. I’m starting to have some stupid doubt creep up about this gig in Vegas next month. I’m struggling to find the right thing to say, and even though I have big prayers out, I could use some support. Have any earlier time for me?
After Gavin’s cancer and my caregiving experience, I don’t wait long to ask for help. The team of people I have around me for things like talk therapy, spiritual coaching, and even podcast producing are all really smart. I love them dearly, and I trust them all completely. And when I am in my own way and even start to spin in the slightest, I reach out to someone on my team to help me find my way back to center.
Because the truth is, I can talk about burnout recovery all day long. I burned out before it was a buzzword, and people questioned if it was an actual thing. I burned out more than a decade ago for the first time and had to trailblaze my way out of it.
Now, after caregiving burnout, I’m taking stages at healthcare conferences and sharing not just what that experience did to me but how family caregivers are mirrors of healthcare heroes, and if I can crawl out of it again, so can medical professionals.
Now, I just have to delete a bunch of slides that they don’t need and go back to square one on my keynote.
After my therapy call, of course.
