Solitude & Sereni.tea

I have been living with burnout now for almost 2 months. Well burnout coupled with cPTSD. I have basically withdrawn completely from life -social and otherwise. I have cut my teaching way back – from 25 hours a week, to 8 1/2 hours a week. I have shown up to work regularly, though I am not putting forth my best effort. I answer about 1 text out of 12 right now. I have managed to have kept most of my appointments but not without a great deal of anxiety – and I have cancelled things that I often look forward to, just because I cant seem to manage my life right now. What feels good – nothing. My most frequent activity is cocooning in bed. Bringing a book or my laptop and distracting myself for an hour before falling asleep at way too early of an hour. I usually wake up before midnight and am not able to fall back asleep. -until about 30 minutes before my alarm is due to go off. I have forced myself to go to 3 events in 2 months. Forcing myself means guilting myself in such a manner that if I stay in bed, it will physically make me sick I get so worked up.

I know this is unhealthy. I can feel how unhealthy it is. And so I have come up with a plan.

This blog was created as part of an assignment for the Women Leading the Way course for Minerva BC. I created a 90 day self care plan – not to cure burnout per se. But because I noticed that self care was lacking in a difficult time. That difficult time has returned (in a much more detrimental form) – and so I am going to return to what has worked for me in the past, with a few tweaks. I am presenting my self care plan for the first quarter of 2026. A plan created with the help of an AI assistant, who knows and understands my routine – and was prompted to help me create something beneficial that would make me feel better, and get me to interact with the world again. In the photo above you can see a little bit of my daily schedule. Each day has a different self care activity to promote variety and to reduce boredom. But there is routine. Because a routine is actually necessary to build new patterns.

Here is what my routine consisted of the last couple of days- and what was earmarked as a specific self care activity*

Friday (day off)

6AM Yoga*
6:45AM Journaling*
7:30AM Check bank balance and move money around/pay bills*
7:45AM Coffee @ Cafe Artigiano (light social activity)
8:15AM CreativeMornings Vancouver* (this is my biggest social activity of the month)*
10:30AM Walk through Emily Carr exhibit at VAG*
11:30 AM Lunch with S.
12:15PM-2:30PM Sea wall walk* – goal is to experience beauty, comfort, and enjoyment without productivity.

Orders of the day:
Pleasure – do one pleasurable thing just for you. No self improvement

Saturday and Sunday

7:30AM Journaling with coffee*
8:30AM Spa day appointment -pedicure and lash/brow tint*
11AM Writing workshop
1PM Long walk – notice beauty*
Afternoon – Gentle planning for the coming week
Late Afternoon – Gentle yoga and stretching – 30 minutes.

Orders of the day – be unstructured, slow, optional planning. Find spaciousness everywhere you can

I do have a structure I keep to – move everyday, write everyday, find gentleness, and hydrate and care for yourself. Everything else is optional.

During my journaling – which I prefer to do first thing in the morning (after meditation), I like to write by candlelight – and select a tarot card or 2 to see what if there is a message of the day. Today I received the Ace of Pentacles, and The Fool. The message received is – you have been given a gift. The gift of a new day. An opportunity to start again. Lift your face to the sun and take a step – pack lightly. Something great will meet you.

That’s what I have done. I lifted my face to the sun. I smiled, and the gift I received was the inhale of a breath that was easier than the one I took yesterday.

The first week of my self care plan is complete.

The road continues tomorrow.