What it Looks Like to Rebuild After Burnout

Courtney Spencer glanced out her window to see construction workers outside in the middle of July, working in 100-degree heat…

And she was jealous. 

Any one of them probably would’ve traded places with her in a second to be in her air-conditioned law office, and yet she wanted to be free like they were instead of tied to a desk. 

That’s when it started to occur to her that something was wrong. 

Courtney was a classic type A overachiever, who had graduated college with a double major and a 3.9 GPA. On the outside, her life looked great. She had a successful career, she was married, and she had a daughter. 

But on the inside, Courtney felt so empty and was mad at herself for feeling that way. 

As a lawyer, she was working herself into the ground and saying yes to everything. 

PTO? Sure. Bake sales? Yes. Library committee? Absolutely. 

Eventually, she hit a wall. 

She got so sick that she dropped 30 pounds in 2 months. Even though her doctors could clearly see something was wrong with her, all of the tests were coming back fine. 

One day, Courtney was lying on her couch in the fetal position, minutes away from needing to take her daughter to swim practice. At that point, she was a skeleton of herself, eating half a banana a day, thinking, “How am I going to get through this?” 

She looked up to see her daughter’s face looking at her, scared. 

Something rose up inside of her and said, “Nope. She’s not going to have this legacy.”

From that day on, Courtney changed everything. 

She got herself a coach. She surrounded herself with a community. She redesigned her entire life. 

She became the queen of “no.” She got off social media for a year. She started putting clients on a wait list instead of accepting everyone. She quit her committees. She automated everything from dry cleaning to groceries to paying bills. 

She made her life very manageable and easy. Everything got cut except for God, family, and work. 

Through a more holistic approach, she figured out what was going on in her body. She had severe SIBO, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. 

It was a simple fix, but her stressed-out life and unhealthy diet were making everything worse. She had been switching between drinking 5 cups of coffee and 2 glasses of wine. The sugar from the alcohol was killing her and the caffeine was running her adrenals into the ground. 

It was time to rebuild, starting with her physical health. 

Courtney started eating healthier and bringing more physical activity into her routine to get herself back into functional shape. She practiced prayer, meditation, and journaling. She put systems in place to calm her nervous system down. 

She found her core values. With every request, she asked herself, “Does this serve my core values? Does this fit within my priorities?” If not, it was a no. 

Today, Courtney has a thriving, joy-filled organized life. She has her own law firm and coaching practice where she teaches other professional women the tools she learned so they can create their own fulfilling lives. 

Courtney encourages people that if she can transform her life as a middle child and chronic people-pleaser, then anyone can do it. 

Because she realized she wasn’t serving anybody by trying to do everything. 

She teaches her coaching clients that every yes in their life is a no. If their marriage and their kids are a yes, then they will have to say no to other opportunities to protect their time with them. 

When you walk around out of congruence with your own self and your own values, you're always going to feel out of whack. 

She tells her clients, “You don't have to be the one to do everything to save everybody. You can't. So let that go. Do what you can do and have a life that's what you want, what you dreamed of, what you're entitled to.” 

I hope Courtney’s story inspires you to take a step back and ask yourself some honest questions: 

• Who do you want to be spending your time with? 

• How do you want to spend it? 

If what you're doing right now doesn't fall within that spectrum, then it's time to start making changes so you can get there. 

If you want to talk through these questions with a coach, there are so many of us out there who would love to chat with you! Our whole goal is to help you protect what’s most valuable to you and call you forward into the life you were meant to live. 

Here’s where to find Courtney: 

Website: https://courtneyspencercoaching.com/

Facebook: Courtney Spencer Coaching

Instagram: @courtneyspencercoaching