Yesterday was a tragic day in Nashville. We had a shooting at an elementary school with 6 victims lost.
School shootings are commonplace in America, but that doesn't make them any less shocking and painful, especially when they hit close to home.
I was leaving my son's 5th grade science fair as the news broke, and all of the parents were standing in the parking lot, refreshing our phones and peering up at the sky to see if life-flight helicopters would be landing at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, just a couple of blocks away.
If you've been following this newsletter for a while, you know that gun violence prevention is an issue close to my heart. I've been a member of Moms Demand Action since 2015. Just a couple of weeks ago, I attended a hearing at the TN legislature where our representatives are advancing several bills to further reduce gun regulations in the state. Currently, in Tennessee, anyone over the age of 21 can carry a loaded handgun without a license, permit, or training of any kind. They are trying to lower that age to 18 and expand the law to include all firearms, not just handguns.
But that's not what I'm here to tell you today.
As all of us deal with the acute stress of events like this shooting—and more routine ones like work, politics, family demands, and (in the case of TN and many other states) legislation that is actively dismantling our rights to healthcare, self-determination and safety—I think it's important to understand that the pressures being placed on us as individuals are frequently unreasonable.
My article for Forbes this week is about burnout. One of the most pressing points I make in the column is that much of the advice you'll see on the topic of burnout is to focus on self-care. Self-care is crucial for healing, but it also puts a heavy burden on you to "fix" your feelings of overwhelm when many of the causes are not your fault and not directly under your control.
I had no idea how this week would unfold when I wrote the article, but the timing seems appropriate. I hope understanding where burnout comes from, how to recognize it, and a few specific ways to alleviate it can help—at least a little.
I am also considering creating a new cohort for group health coaching in the coming weeks. If you'd like to be part of it, please click here to add your name to the list and check the box for group health coaching. I will be in touch soon with details.
Thank you for being part of this community. Your questions and the replies you send to these emails inspire me, even when you're just writing to say, "Holy crap, how is this happening again?!"
Quick reminder: If you find yourself sitting still, scrolling through the news with your heart racing from adrenaline, the quickest way to ease the anxiety and slow your heart is to move, physically, to take a walk or clean the kitchen... anything physical will give the adrenaline somewhere to go.
I hope this newsletter is always a safe place for you.
Sarah
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