Today, we have Angela Mike, CNM & Pansay Tayo, Doula back from hiatus to talk about burnout, and pushing too hard. We are sharing about the realities of working as a birth pro and the sacrifices and toll that can take on us. How do we recognize burnout and carve out practices that go beyond self-care so that we can be sustained in this work?
Birth pros are at a high risk of burnout; we often lack the resources from our employers, our communities, and permission from ourselves to breathe, to pause, to take care of our needs. Studies recognize 40-58% of birth pros across the spectrum of roles identify with burnout, and we know this shows up in the way we provide care and support others. Continuing to live through a global pandemic has heightened both the demands on us, and lessened our outlets…where do we go from here?
Audre Lorde: “I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.”
If you’re looking for more resources on developing more awareness and intentionality around self-care, Shafia Monroe created a very in-depth and thoughtful framework for crafting and following through on a self-care plan here.
Music from https://filmmusic.io
“Gonna Start” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)