Victory is an embrace of grace
Confession time: I am a burnout survivor. I was stuck in the rat race for a very long time– moving from one burnout cycle to the next…
You see, for as long as I could remember I have had an insatiable appetite for helping others. I was the kid that set tables at community gatherings, sold lemonade to fundraise for the church, and stayed late at school to clean and work night shifts.
My passion for public service and social justice launched me into a career of politics. I became a nonprofit executive and quickly learned that deep and meaningful transformational work takes time, strategy, and a whole lot of resources. I was impatient for change and so I took on more. When I was told that not everything could be perfect, this only made me more hungry to do the impossible.
What started as passion quickly became burdening and full of pressure. Instead of waking up to the pleasant smell of coffee, I needed it to get through endless checklists, meetings, and donor presentations. It was like what once gave me so much joy now left me tired; physically exhausted; critical and controlling; anxious and depressed; and most of all kept me in a false prison of isolation. Even with countless colleagues and peers sharing in a similar burnout experience to my own, I was stuck with a nagging limiting belief that said my situation was unique and all on me to get myself and anyone who depended on me out of. I was saying yes to all my nos and no to all my yeses and I eventually lost sight of why I was doing it all. As I continued to push my needs to the side, I also began to fall out of touch with my inner circle and missed out on one too many life moments.
And then suddenly and all at once, things changed. I was at the airport, awake at 2 am waiting for a connecting flight for an early morning start. I remember editing a grant proposal on deadline while sending emails and pushing out payroll and thinking to myself, “This has got to stop.” I closed my laptop.
It was that decision that created enough space and stillness for Him to do His work. A recognition that if I tried to be in three places all at once, I wouldn’t barely be at one. That trip distanced me enough from the hustle and bustle of grind culture to begin the most important journey of my life. I was ready to get off of the hamster wheel and take flight. From that moment onward, I have taken one baby step forward in faith every day to make leaps and bounds in transformation.
The reality is that burnout is more common than ever. The average person experiences burnout at least once by the time they are 32 and grind culture thrives off it. When burnout goes unmanaged or unregulated, especially over long periods of time, it can alter who you become, what you stand for, and even impact your overall health and wellness. The reality that most serious physical ailments and diseases will cite stress as one of its underlying causes. My concern was that the very interns I was training to be our future community leaders and politicians would be thrust into a failing system that persistently demanded more of them at their own vitality’s expense. I couldn’t stop asking the question, “Who supports the ones who support others?” How would my peers and colleagues continue to work for social change if the sacrifice meant giving up their own capacity for living with thriving health, wellness, and families?
In wondering about all of this, I found my very own balance. Thousands of hours of prayer, research, training, yoga, meditation, and exploration later…the reclaiming abundance llc that exists today came to fruition.
By God’s grace, we are renewed in purpose and filled with all of God’s work, tasks, and assignments. However, it is also important to remember that working harder does not guarantee success and it is actually the fast lane to burnout. You will not arrive at peace of mind because of doing. The “rat race” will ask you: to keep pursuing, push your inner circle aside, and become blinded by money, power, and fame. God has the power to level the playing field at any time and grace asks for patience + humility whereas the race will ask for popularity + partiality.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul addresses the church in Corinth and advises of the Word he was given by God:
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Grind culture positions us well to believe that it is brute strength and willpower that ensures achievement + success. There’s an unsaid notion that if you do more, you will be more. And yet, our Heavenly Father loves us in spite of our weaknesses. We do not need to do more, be perfect, hide our weaknesses. We simply need to be + come as we are. He has always got our back; He has us fully covered.
Grace is a process of developing an awareness and accountability to the needs of the moment with presence and mindfulness. When you are able to meet yourself with grace, you are being kind and merciful with yourself and what you can handle in your process right now. Meeting yourself with grace is a process that: embraces devotion, creates cultures of care for yourself and others, and enables you to connect + experience deeply. Grace feels like a place of peace filled with ease and harmony.
Here’s how you can move through the process of grace:
RELEASE CONTROL
This means releasing needs to manage and control every mental, emotional, and physical aspect of your life. Control goes hand in hand with a rigidity and tightness that make way for tendencies that can severely limit your perspective.
LIMIT EXPECTATIONS
As much as we may want something to go a certain way, it is His plan over us more than our own understanding + plans. Surrender is a powerful act of humility and worship to God. When you surrender your expectations, you are able to shed your ego's preferences, you are able to move from a place of goodness and purity. This attitude and expanded heart posture gets translated into all of your thoughts, actions, and words. Ease, rhythm, and nourishment flow in.
GET CURIOUS
By getting into the mindset of wondering why and how things work or why they are the way they are, you are opening up space for hope, dreaming, imagination. This is the breeding ground for creativity.
SHIFT THE PERSPECTIVE
Remember your why and keep service first, always. Freeing yourself from getting out of your own way opens your being into full connection with yourself and all that is around you. You have a reason for being and breathing and everything and everyone around you was meant for you to bask in and share that blessing with others.
STAY PRESENT
This builds contentment with your current reality. It relieves any lingering guilt + shame tied to the past or any speeding to where you are not right now.
True strength lies in imperfection + the capacity to embrace grace. When you embrace grace, it becomes easier to live, work, and connect with others in ease. Doing so allows you to let life come to you and get out of the way of its flow. You can only take action if you notice life's cues and window of opportunity.
If you’re ready to redefine strength through grace + let peace flow in, you can schedule a 1:1 complimentary consultation here.
Kim Yamasaki is a Christian wellness coach who supports her clients in cultivating space + stillness in the mind, body, and Spirit through collaborative processes of co-creation. She provides services that create space _ stillness for deeper connection: spiritual wellness coaching for burnout, home organizing, and yoga. Her methods are affirming, grounding, and nurturing – all interlaced with playful creativity. She is a native Angeleno with Japanese and Chinese roots.
This article was originally published for the “selah space” newsletter, reclaiming abundance’s care package for go-getters that is released on a monthly basis. “Selah space” offers content to support readers looking to for greater balance by living, loving, and learning deeply to be their most calm, confident, and complete selves. In the Bible, selah means “to pause or to reflect.” It appears most heavily in the Book of Psalms and Habakkuk as musical notations at the end of verses to draw attention back to what was previously expressed.