As we travel along life’s path our journeys often feel smoother than others. There are times when the path is clearly lit ahead and we quite merrily dance along and then there are others when it feels like the light bulb blows and we are left in the dark.

It is important that we look at the experience at these times, what lesson is it showing us? If we take a moment to peek back at our life from where we are today, I believe we all see a number of similar experiences being repeated, it is when we do this that the realisation comes to us that we often find at times we followed the same path out of it. It is my belief that if we don’t learn the lesson then similar experiences will come in different ways until we do. The art is to learn the lesson we are being shown, thedeal with it differently second time around so we stop the repeat button going on again.

Once we have indeed seen a new light, a new way forward, an improved way to handle a situation the pathway clears for new experiences to occur. We will be exposed to new events, new encounters and new adventures; we will be able to embrace these with the knowing that we have learnt how to deal with the old so we can rejoice and move on.

Over recent times I found myself in the state of burnout again. To be honest I thought over the last sixteen years I had mastered the art of dealing with the very things that caused me to dip the last time however following a series of events in my life (which is what the doctor put my last burnout down to) I found myself in a similar situation, I literally found myself exhausted and what with the physical situation with my bad back / leg I crumbled under the weight.

The realization of being in the situation again came as a bit of a shock, however it was a necessary shock that bought things to the point of the light going on and the start of changes that needed to happen to move forward.

The first of these steps was to read my own book (Made it Thru the Rain), as my mum told me one day, read your book dear, you wrote it’ and you know she was right. I took time to read it as a reader, not the author, I completed the exercises and I embraced the actions I took sixteen years ago however slightly differently this time as I knew a brighter path lay ahead, I also knew the choices I had to make were necessary to preserve my energy as I move ahead.

Over the last month I have taken my own advice, stepped back, slowed down and looked at embracing the things that give me joy, if they don’t, I am moving away from them. It feels refreshing and has indeed left me with renewed energy. I have made a conscious decision that this time I will be putting in new self-care regimes, it was in fact the lack of self-care on both burnout occasions that led to episodes happening.

So remember life is the only place where experience comes before the lesson, take time to learn from what happens and once you change how you handle the outcome, the path will light up again going forward and you will most likely wake up to non-repeated experiences.