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I am sitting down with Marina Pearson in today’s episode of The Agile Business Athlete. We talk about the causes of burnout, values, red flags, and non-negotiables.
Marina’s background
Marina is currently settled on the east coast of Spain due to her love of nature and need to be surrounded by it. As she discovered though, just being in nature wasn’t enough to centre her – she still needed to do a lot of internal work.
A geographical cure doesn’t exist, and without reflecting on our own habits, the cycle will continue to repeat. While in Bali 6 years ago, Marina was running retreats for women. Finding she couldn’t keep up with the work she was doing, she found herself pregnant and took it as a sign to slow down. She was completely exhausted and spent months dealing with sickness but ignoring those health red flags. It was then she realised she needed to get checked out and actually take care of her body and her son.
Listening to your red flags
The experience led Marina to begin communing with her body, actually inhabiting it instead of just living in it. Looking back, Marina used to use work as a way to avoid feeling. It was also a way to gain validation.
Values & non-negotiables
Now, her non-negotiables for life are that she will never go back into an office. The work she does has to fit around her lifestyle, not the other way. Now Marina is preparing for what’s next, and something she finds helpful is going out and rowing. If you don’t take time for yourself, you won’t look after yourself. It takes time to learn what to prioritise and to learn new habits.
