Burnt Out, Overwhelmed and Running on Empty? Listen to This.

0:02Maria Hatzistefanis:I wish I could sit down and tell you that I figured it out early on and it was a smooth ride. There was a time years after I started Rodial that I was parking outside my home. I was in my car and I felt completely burned out. On paper, I was doing really well, but inside I felt empty. I felt I was in this treadmill of running the business and then going back home and taking care of the family, almost like a robot. And that was a point that I thought, this cannot go on. I need to be more in control of my life and live it the way that really makes me happy. And that factor of how can I be, you can't be happy every day, but how can I be happier and have moments of joy every single day?

1:02Maria Hatzistefanis:I need to work on that. I need to structure that. It doesn't happen automatically. So I had to work on it. I had to work on different systems. and I'm very much about putting routines in place and slotting in that me time, that time with the family and you have to slot it in. You have to manage it like a CEO diary. It's so true. And the minute I started doing that, my life changed and I feel more in control, but it took work. And so tell us about that because I think that experience, I've had it of I look successful on the outside I'm ticking these boxes there'll be people listening I'm in this job I've got this house I've got these kids but I'm not feeling that sense of joy or excitement or connection or presence how did you get that back I know you also discovered spirituality in this time tell us about that

2:01Maria Hatzistefanis:it's hard to talk about spirituality in a general concept i think for me it's what are those moments that i can inject into my daily life practically so i'm going to give you an example it's very recent so i have two two boys they're at university right now so they're living their lives and they were back for Christmas and New Year's. We had our family holidays together and I'm the organizer of the family, meaning I'm planning everything from the meals, from booking fun things to do as a family, whether that's going to the movies, go to a nice restaurant, go to the theater. I booked everything.

2:46Maria Hatzistefanis:And I don't know about you, you have girls, but with my boys, they are the best boys ever, but they complain and sometimes they're not happy. And, you know, why are we doing this? And why are we doing that? And then at the end of it, you know, I've put all my energy to do everything with the family. And at the end of my holidays, I'm burned out. I've done everything for them. We had some great family moments, but I feel that I was drawn in so many different directions. This is nonstop 20 days with the family. And when they went back to university, a friend of mine organized a two day breathwork.

3:28Maria Hatzistefanis:I love breathwork. And it's not something I've done before. It was last weekend. And so I said, you know what? I don't know what this is about, but I'm going to go and do it. How did you find it? I loved it. As I said, I've done breathwork through yoga, through meditation that involved something else. This was pure breath work. And I felt at the end of it, there's a relaxation piece of 15 minutes. Everything became very clear in my mind. And I started thinking clearly and a few things that were bothering me. Immediately, I started finding solutions. And I came back and I felt re-energized. I could throw myself back into family and work and everything that I'm involved with.

4:19Maria Hatzistefanis:So I feel for me, it's finding whether that's a weekend retreat, whether that's a yoga class and meditation. I started meditating before COVID and that helped me a lot. And it just finding elements of what I call spirituality, whatever that looks like. I'm not very good at sitting down and meditating by myself. I like to be in a group environment where I get the group energy, where I get someone to guide me. So I'm always on the lookout for where is it that I can join and do an hour here, half an hour there or even a weekend. And I think for us mothers, we need that because sometimes you're burned out from work.

5:08Maria Hatzistefanis:Sometimes you're burned out from the family responsibility. 100 % That was the episode I hoped you loved it If you did, please make sure you subscribe and I will see you next time