📍 You know, there's moments where you wonder, should I just keep pushing and be disciplined, or is this really a moment to pause and rest? This is the episode that will answer that question for you.  Welcome to Sustainable Success, the podcast for emotionally intelligent professionals who want to lead with value and integrity without abandoning their sensitivity or falling into burnout.

My name is Sheridan Ruth. I'm a somatic therapist, a burnout coach. I have a background in yoga psychology, and I'm currently studying my masters in Western traditional psychology. So here we get a little bit of the spiritual, a lot of the science, and a lot of practical ways to rebuild nervous system capacity, make clear decisions, and feel like yourself again without needing to go run away to Bali for three months.

 So burnout often can feel like laziness and discipline is often Hmm mm. Sometimes when we feel like we're being lazy, we're actually just burnt out, and sometimes we use discipline as a very society approved way to abandon our needs.

Sometimes you use laziness to do the same thing. In this short episode, I'm sharing the one question that I ask my body when I am trying to decide if I should follow through and push through and show up, or if I really do need to just step back and do less. This is for anyone who is walking the line between ambition and exhaustion.

And I'm making it as I'm in the middle of packing to go to Europe for a couple of weeks. I'm going to Berlin and Greece and then over down to Dubai. And I've been also like studying for my exams and trying to have a bit of a life balance as I'm supporting my clients and going through all these transitions.

And I've originally wanted to free record a whole bunch of podcast episodes for you all. And then step away for a few weeks and go completely off grid. Mm. Life has been different and it hasn't happened the way that I thought it would, and it's had me thinking a lot about how we often speak because we are afraid of silence.

We post or we move forward, or we push or we pushed. Shall we email? Because we think that we should, we think we should be, we should stay consistent. And we do this in our relationships instead of an awkward lull or a void, we fill the space with noise. And sometimes we have this feeling in our body that if we don't do that well, then we'll disappear or we won't be seen, or it, it just feels really uncomfortable.

It feels awkward. But what if silence or nothingness or stillness or the void is the most powerful thing we can offer? I was at a Christmas party at the end of last year, and one of my friends was taking a year off from his job. He's a really, you know, well paid job and he could have had any job that he applied for, but he said, you know what, I wanna sit in the void and do nothing for a year to figure out what's next.

And. His nervous system had gotten comfortable with this. Understanding that resting doesn't mean disappearing, doesn't mean you lose momentum. It's oftentimes a deepening.

For me, this next chapter has been a lot about trust, trusting the richness of quiet seasons, of being more intentional when I'm doing the washing, um, spending more time doing cooking foods, spending a lot less time creating and teaching, and. For me, it's also about taking three weeks off, and I do this every single year.

There's always a trip in the middle of the year for me. Um, but a lot of the time I, I work more or Hmm. It's different because I've been doing more outward and so, or I keep the podcast going. This podcast has had two episodes a week for years, but I've decided to do less because while I be away. From the microphone.

I will be deeply integrating some of the changes that have been happening, which I'll tell you about in a second. But I wanted to leave you with a couple of questions for you. In these moments when you are wondering, should I keep going, should I push through, should I be disciplined? Should I push consistency or should I stop and pause and regenerate?

I am gonna share three questions, but. There's gonna be one main one, which is the biggest act that the, the biggest, most important one that I would recommend that you ask yourself.

1 Question to Know When to Be Disciplined vs When to Pause (Burnout & the Nervous System) The question is, is what I'm going to say, a contribution, does it add and bring value to the space? More that stillness or silence could, or am I compensating for something that I haven't paused to feel? In other words, when do you feel the urge to speak, to avoid being forgotten or to make sure that you're seen?

When have you felt the power of your own stillness or the discomfort on it of it,

and what might be lying in stillness, in silence, in the deep bones of your body that you have been avoiding listening to hearing that you have been avoiding saying either because it is uncomfortable or because you don't know how. Because it would be something new. 'cause it would ask for a different version of yourself because it might be scary, even if it is what you would call success, because it is uncertain.

And we all know that your body avoids uncertainty at all costs because uncertainty equals death on a very primal, evolutionary level.

Because if you are. Pushing forward, contributing. Staying consistent because you have something very important to share, very important and valuable. Continue, go lean into the discomfort of staying consistent. But if it is out of a fear of being forgotten, a fear of doing it wrong, a fear of something else, pause.

Go deeper into your stillness. Go deeper into the softness. Go deeper into the void. And find the wisdom there. You can use the guidelines in my book, somatic Intelligence for Success, a lot around pillar two, where we talk about how, or I teach you how to get in contact and, and, uh, discern the messages coming from your emotions as well as those intuitive voices inside.

I'll link that below. But now the juicy stuff, what's happening with me? What am I talking about when I say things are changing? I've been reflecting a lot over the past 18 months since I arrived into Australia, and I've noticed that my capacity for. Leadership for holding people has expanded considerably.

I think it's a culmination of getting the book out, kind of birthing that out and being like, okay, cool. That's done As well as maturity in my work and probably a lot of nervous system regulation and honestly I think great, a great space to be in and some really good relationships, which means that my mission has become more clear and expanded once again.

My work began as a tool to support entrepreneurs unintentionally actually, but I felt considerably called to widen the field and to explore the entire act of work itself. I spoke about this a little bit when we launched the book, but it's been almost a feeling in knowing that I myself had been ignoring because it felt scary, because it felt true and.

The more that I've leaned into that discomfort of, oh my gosh, what could be on the other side of this? I've been exploring with different individuals and in my own work how to stay grounded and intuitive and true in systems that do not make space for that offices with bright lighting or patriarchy or capitalism.

That seems like it goes against. A lot of what feels natural and true for you, or how to be a mother while you're also working. How to carry spiritual intelligence or innate body-based intelligence and nervous system awareness, and a sensitive body and self-trust into meetings where the man in front of you doubts you or interrupts you.

Or a team that has a diverse amount of neuro types and personalities, walks of life and cultures and moments that stretch you and ask you to be much bigger than you feel. So my work. So the ai, the group programs, the academy, my coaching will continue to evolve alongside this, and I can feel that it's no longer about regulation or productivity or business, even though those things are a part of it.

It's more about being a woman who has to hold so many things and still wants to stay connected to who she is and contribute to the world and wants to figure out how to be ambitious, but, and have purpose and, but also soft. So thank you for being here at the beginning. Thank you for being here partway through and there's so much more coming and I can't wait to share it with you.

If these questions land, feel free to pause the episode and journal them out. Go back or revisit some past episodes as you continue listening. I've got a really good one that should already be at now on motherhood and ch. Like, oh gosh, it, I haven't recorded it yet, but I've organized it, um, with a wonderful woman who supports women who are mothers and wanna be ambitious, but like juggle a thousand things and build their own businesses.

I'm really looking forward to recording that one, so I know that it'll be out before. This one, you can go back and listen to it. Until then, I'll be back. I can feel that while I'm away, something is gonna sit, something is gonna land. I can just feel it. And I'm really curious and excited to share it with you when I know it.

And until then, trust your silence. Trust your seasons. Send me a message to lemme know this resonated and that we're holding it all together. And I'll speak with you soon.