Mental Health Strategist Empowers Clients to Ward Off Burnout, Anxiety
By Bari Faye Siegel
If you are like many intelligent, accomplished people, you’re so quick to jump into the rat race every morning you barely have time to think about what you are doing. You just go about your day by rote. You’re exhausted and overwhelmed, feeling overburdened and underappreciated both at work and at home.
But let’s be honest here, you’ve been doing it for so long that you’ve started to think
feeling burned out just comes with the territory. Truth is, you are waiting for the day
when someone starts to take on their share of the workload–or better yet, you wonder, when will they come to you and ask how they can help you. Right?
Here’s a secret…that day is never going to come. In fact, working yourself into a frenzy trying to exceed the expectations of others is not a rat race. It’s a hamster wheel.
Michelle E. Dickinson, workplace mental health strategist and resilience coach, said
most of her clients are so used to their chaotic daily routines they don’t even realize
what they are doing until they get a wakeup call during an initial consultation with her. (It’s free, by the way!)
“What’s at stake if you change nothing about the way you are living your life right now?
The answer is that you might not be alive to find out,” she said. “The stress you have
created and continue to create each day you don’t take care of yourself, may create
disease in your body. It’s a scientific fact: stress kills.”
Get Into the Driver’s Seat of Your Own Life
We all know we are each blessed with one life to live. Yet, Dickinson said, we live our
lives like we are starring in the movie “Groundhog Day.” Dickinson says the problem is that people don’t only fall into bed at night. They actually “fall into their day.”
Alarm blares and you hit snooze five times. At the last minute you jump out of bed, find clothing to wear, grab a cup of coffee and take off for work like you are being chased to the office. Meetings, meetings…another cup of caffeine…phone calls…and more meetings. Then, it’s errands after work, speed to get home and make dinner and fall into bed completely wiped out. Next thing you know, the alarm blares and you hit snooze five times.
Does any of that sound familiar?
If you can relate to this dialogue, it’s time to STOP. “Stop falling into your day like you don’t have a choice. Stop being passive about how you live your life. Stop thinking about what problems lay ahead and start actively LIVING your life–on your terms.
“It’s time to take action so you can start living your life from a place where you come
first,” the resilience coach added. “You can’t focus on yourself, on what is wonderful
about you and all that you have to be grateful for when you are constantly focused on meeting constantly moving expectations set by other people.”
It’s All About Mindset
Did you know that our brains are wired to scan every second of every day for
problems–always looking for what’s broken, anticipating challenges ahead? It’s true!
It’s no wonder we feel as though we are spending our days feeling as though there is always a problem to solve! We are literally going through life looking for those problems!
Tony Robbins is known for the saying: Where focus goes, energy flows. And where
energy flows, whatever you’re focusing on grows.
“It’s up to you to choose to focus on what you have that is going well. When you shift your gaze to abundance, all of a sudden, your focus on life changes,” Dickinson said. Not buying it? That’s OK. It takes time to shift your perspective and that is exactly what
Dickinson helps people do. Her work with others is based on the concept of resilience. Resilience comes from understanding you may not have complete control of what’s happening around you, but you have the ability to control how you react to it. You can use your life experiences to grow, use the adversity you’ve seen to “become a bigger version of yourself,” she added.
“Without the ability to bounce back, to be resilient, you could never truly appreciate your own strengths and talents. Adversity shapes us. I help people tap into the tools they already have inside themselves so they can unlock their inner power.”
Resilience Coaching with Michelle Dickinson is not a doctor and she does not offer medical or traditional psychological counseling. (Though, when appropriate, she will help clients make contact with a
clinician.)
Instead, her work is informed by her own life experiences and significant work with
Landmark and Tony Robbins. Dickinson knows this is true because she experienced
her own empowering self-discovery. She personally navigated depression and anxiety.
She grew up in a home with a bi-polar mother and knows what it feels like to love
someone with a mental illness.
Further, she worked a corporate job for 19 years. She fully knows what it feels like to be on the verge of burnout. “I learned no amount of giving will ever be enough without giving to yourself,” she explained. “I use my real-life experiences to help my clients. It’s my goal to encourage people to have conversations they otherwise would never have and discover the power they have within.”
She offers her services to individuals via Zoom and she works with larger groups in
corporate or organizational settings. She has corporate contracts through human
resources departments and says her clients come from all areas of life. She is taking on new individual and corporate clients. You can contact her at
michelleevdickinson@gmail.com.
Ready to Take Back Your Power?
Dickinson described one client who spent the first half hour of their first phone call
explaining why her life was so uncomfortable. “She listed all the illnesses she has had.
She ran down experience after experience where she felt herself the victim. It was a
long argument for why she can’t get past what she sees as her own limitations.
“I invited her to see those experiences as the very things that helped to shape her,
make her stronger and more capable of living the life she wants to live,” Dickinson said. The first step is acknowledging you may be addicted to the soundtrack of your life that runs on a loop–it’s about all your complaints and challenges.
“When you live in the State of Excuses’ there is no way to feel empowered. The first step, shift your viewpoint and you will shift your experience.” The second step? Embrace gratitude. Dickinson suggested taking time for yourself every single morning. Set the alarm to wake you up 15 minutes early and don’t hit the snooze button. Spend that time meditating and thinking about everything you have to be grateful for. (By the way, if you don’t know how to meditate, start out by listening to a guided meditation. Or go for a walk and take in the sights and sounds and smells of the world around you.) Too often, she said, people are so quick to focus on what’s broken or what feels wrong or they concentrate so much on thinking about what could happen that they “step over the good things to look for the bad things.” Third step: Decide how committed you are to creating change so you don’t crash and burn.
“I ask my clients, What’s the risk if you burn out completely? “
Michelle E. Dickinson
No job is worth your health. You are replaceable at work. You are not replaceable in life. Make the decision that no one else out there can make things better for you.”
While she will never tell a client what they have to do, there is one thing all her clients can rely upon. Dickinson holds her clients accountable. She will challenge you to do things that might not feel comfortable, encouraging small changes into your routine because baby steps compound into big shifts.
“I can help you make yourself a priority,” Dickinson said. “People don’t realize they have more control over life than they think they do. It’s just perspective. Once you get into the cockpit of your own life, you can excel in your job, do what you need to do for your family and take care of yourself.”
Michelle E. Dickinson, offers all prospective clients the chance to take a free Resilience Consultation. Schedule your free consultation by calling 908-338-5344. Find out more about her business by visiting careforyourpeople.com.
Love Infinity (aka Charity) is a global influencer on a mission to share the power of unconditional love with people world-wide.