This is my god-daughter Zaniah. Isn’t she cute? And doesn’t this photo make you smile big?

When her mama sent me this picture I stared at it for a good while because it got me thinking about all the dreams and aspirations and silly fun I used to have when I was young. Doesn’t this picture make you think back to the days of being a little girl? When you had a crazy big imagination and just wanted to have fun for no reason at all. Just for the sake of having fun? Girls just wanna have fun! LOL I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you. An old friend of mine reminded me the other day that she and I used to play “voodoo doctor”, where we’d make mud pies in ice-cube trays and TV dinner containers and prescribe each other the appropriate amount of medicine. LOL Seriously!? Only kids can come up with sh*t like that!

I often wonder when that stops. When we start to “grow up” and begin taking ourselves and the world around us too seriously. We start to worry about what others think of us and our bright imaginative spark dims a bit out of fear of judgement. For me that happened 22 years ago on this day when my dad died in a plane crash. I was 11. Suddenly there was no more room for childish fun because I now had to deal with adult problems – death, trauma and a sense of never-ending sadness. However, it was not all gloom and doom back then, ironically the experience of death at a young age taught me innumerable lessons about living. Ultimately, my point is that when we “grow up” (whatever age that may be), we forgo spontaneous, for-the-hell-of-it fun, and our big dreams and creative ideas slowly burn out. What is up with that?

Part of the problem is that having fun seems irresponsible in this age of constant busy-ness. Who has time for pleasure when there is so much work to do, people to take care of and bills to be paid. I know all about this because I have been there. In fact I spent most of my 20’s in this perpetual slow burn. I was married, and not happily-ever-after kind of married. I had no sex drive – yes I’m taking it there. I worked ridiculously long days (16 hours you say?) in TV Production – don’t believe the glitz and glamour stories darlings!  And there was never ever enough money. In addition to that, the city I lived in sucked. Sorry Orlando, it had to be said. All of this led to what seemed to be an eternal state of burnout – not just physical, but mental, emotional and spiritual. Ladies, this is not a good state of mind to be in…

Living the way I did in my 20’s does something far worse than strip the fun from your life – it burns out your adrenal function. That is no good because happy adrenals are the key to radical hormonal health, your sparkly healthy glow and your ability to live your purpose. In fact, adrenal issues are probably the most common reason women suffer from low energy, a sparse sex drive, burnout and bad moods. I often wondered back then, if I felt that bad in my 20’s, what would life look like in my 30’s and 40’s. Yes, the future seemed rather bleak.

Fortunately for me, I took a step back and listened to the quiet internal voice that we all have – it was a mere whisper by then – and I took my power back. I got out of Orlando, went back to school, transitioned out of TV Production (that was tough) and found the courage to end my marriage (even tougher). One of the main things that helped me do all of this was addressing my hormonal issues and my adrenal dysfunction. Luckily my career change to holistic health and wellness helped fuel my fire, or at least what was left of it!

So, my question for you is this:

If you are feeling that slow burn or you’re just plain burnt out, how can you effectively meet your day-to-day responsibilities, much less rock your personal mission on this planet?