My Well-Being Ultimatum Story...

In 2013 I found myself secretly feeling like I was the "world's only burned out yoga mom." At the time, noone was talking about how burnout can impact those of us in helping and healing professions too. So I couldn't understand why I was feeling so burned out, when I actually loved (and still love) what I do as a yoga teacher, yoga therapist, and coach.

The good news was that at this time I was also pursuing a PhD in health communication -- which gave me the time, space and structure to research this problem. I soon discovered in my well-being reserach that people like me who love what they do are the most vulnerable to both burnout and compassion fatigue. So I decided to apply what I was being trained in (evidence-informed public health intervention design) to create a program for a population of one - me! My goal was to create a program that could get me back to thriving -- without feeling overwhelmed. I called it a Well-Being Ultimatum -- because it was and still is about making a personal commitment to taking care of myself no matter what work or life is asking of me (whether it is the good stress of success or the bad stress struggle and hard times).

After a few years of following the program in my own life, and sharing it with my yoga therapy and coaching clients, I saw and felt how it radically changed how my clients and I were (and still are) living and working. What was true in theory was also true in practice; it wasn't just working for me, it was working for anyone who I shared it with.

I then decided to write a book to share the Well-Being Ultimatum concept and program with the public so that the world would have access to the same simple, strategic, scientific and systemic framework for centering (not balancing) their work and life. I knew I wanted to write a book that was relevant to people's lives and that was short-and-sweet -- because I knew that the people who really needed to read it would probably be too busy to do so.

Sure, I hoped the book would do well (as any new author does), but I had no idea where that book would lead me. Since writing the book in 2015, I have trained 100's of coaches and graduate students on 5 continents to use the book's framework in their own lives and in the work they do, and I have been personally invited to share the book with leaders and teams in the public and private sector (including the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Pan American/World Health Organization).

So as we all prepare for the coming year, I wanted to share that this resource is available to you. If you or someone you know is feeling burned out and aren't sure what to do about it, or you are looking for strategic ways to protect your Self and your team from feeling drained from compassion fatigue, languishing and/or burnout, I hope you'll explore this site to learn more about how you (and your team) can make your well-being ultimatum too with me
Namaste! - Suzie Carmack