Hi, I’m Tessa Lynn
A former RN who has been burned out more than once! Always on a journey of self-discovery, I have learned that my burnout was caused in part by my high achieving personality, my hormonal imbalances (hello PCOS) and also due to undiagnosed ADHD.
If that sounds anything like you, or you’re still wondering the true cause of your burnout, I am here to help!
At first, I didn’t even know what burnout was! No one around me could see that my complete lack of interest in my hobbies and career, my strained relationships and mental exhaustion were a sign that I needed help.
At this time, I was an interior designer and finishing up at university. The long hours, the insatiable clients, the never-ending to-do list… it all came crashing down one day. All of a sudden, I felt the passion I once had, as well as the creativity, was like a figment of my imagination. Clearly, I had made a mistake and interior design wasn’t the right path for me! That’s what I told myself, at least, as I did a 180 on my career plans and left my decade-long passion for design behind.
From there, I got so lost and confused. Everything I had worked towards was now for nothing. I went searching for answers. I needed a framework to understand myself better and became committed to improving my health literacy. I committed to a BS in health promotion where I studied humans, why we make the decisions we do and how it affects our health. I dove into the social, cultural and psychological aspects of behavior change, obtained my bachelors and started helping others on their wellness journey as a health coach.
Now, after several years helping others as a health coach, I noticed two major themes in my clients:
Many were confused by what their medical provider wanted them to do, or whether they should be making any lifestyle improvements in the first place! This lack of supportive communication and education from some medical providers seems to add to our problems, not heal them.
Others were too stressed and burned out to focus on other health-related goals and therefore most of my coaching revolved around helping clients manage their stressors and build resiliency to the grind that is life! There’s not a lot one can expect to improve if they’re constantly stuck in survival mode.
I was inspired by the first phenomenon and went to earn my RN license with the goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. You know - so I could provide that supportive communication and education my clients were missing. I was determined to ACTUALLY HELP my patients by combining my coaching and medical expertise. I wanted to be the practitioner that supported my patients through lifestyle modification and a holistic approach, not just through insurance approved medication protocols.
And that didn’t quite go as planned either! I worked for years, mostly in psychiatric hospitals. I got to work closely with nurse practitioners as an RN and was able to see that wasn’t going to make me happy in the long run either! After all, insurance doesn’t prioritize preventative and holistic care, and they certainly don’t prioritize stress management or burnout. As a psych RN, I also became acutely aware of the main drivers of mental illness- lack of support, trauma, nervous system dysregulation, physiological imbalances and stress.
That’s when I realized I need to focus on the SECOND phenomenon where the real determining factor for one’s success is their resiliency to stress and potential burnout! So, I am back at it, in the coaching seat once again - determined to prevent other high achievers from wasting their full potential being stuck in burnout, for good! I get so excited seeing millennials finally come out of automatic mode and constant stress and back into living an intentional life!