Back from the brink of burnout

How's everyone doing out there?

Look, I know.

It’s been… a while (by my former standard, anyway). Please accept my apologies - and, I suppose, my humanity.

I did it again. Got a bit too excited, took on a few too many things at once. Tried to fly too close to the sun, essentially. Then extinguished my own flame real quick.

Who’s been there before?

I certainly have. Many times. So many times, in fact, that I’m beginning to wonder how many more times it will take to really learn ~the lesson~, you know?

Anyway. I’m back, my loves. And I’m happy to say I missed this platform. I missed free writing for the simple sake of expression and connection, rather than marketing agenda.

My nervous system got absolutely fried a bit of a workout last month, juggling my last course intake with a hen do in my hometown, subsequent cold and rather ~demanding~ client work (the joys). But! I’m happy to say she’s back to baseline after a number of Chinese massages (like, three in one week…), sauna sessions, nature walks and social media hiatus(es).

Yes, all those tried-and-true health and wellbeing methods actually work. Who knew? Everyone but me, apparently.

More importantly, how are you all doing out there? I feel like I’ve said this pretty much every month this year, but can we believe it’s already June? No? Nor can I.

I can believe that Musk and Trump’s bromance has disintegrated, though. Such egos could never co-exist for long. But I digress.

I know we’re all sick of hearing and talking about it, so I won’t spend much time here - but it really feels like AI is everywhere now, right? Since Google launched its Veo 3, eerily realistic-looking videos are all up in my feed.

The copy is everywhere, too. Historically, I loved a good ol’ em dash, but that lengthy line has now become a giveaway…the shameful, dreaded scarlet symbol of what pretty much everyone seems to be doing, yet nobody wants to admit. I’m still using them occasionally, anyway. SUE ME!

What a time be alive/in the creative industries, lol. And yet, my position on AI remains to embrace it as best we can. WBU?

Speaking of creativity, a new idea has been niggling at me for a while. I’m not entirely sure what it is yet — she’s yet to fully crystallise. I have two corner pieces of the puzzle but I’m still looking for the others I need to fill in the rest.

The pieces I do have are creating something *hyper-personalised* for early-stage female founders to provide the guidance, support, tools & network we all need. The how remains mostly a mystery to me, but watch this space.

As for this actual space — The Living Lab — I’m very keen to keep building and creating here. I’d love it to become more of a collaborative platform, where we hear from all voices <3 If you’d like to contribute - you can respond to this email and reach me directly to chat further.

On the ‘Make it a Good Monday’ weekly bulletin, her next iteration is TBC. I’ve toyed with putting it completely behind a paywall, or making it a monthly rather than weekly send. Transparently, sending it each week for free alongside my client work has become quite a bit to juggle (did I mention I’m back from the brink of burnout? Try and say that sentence quickly, ha ha).

As ever, I want this newsletter to be one that brings you joy to receive — so I’m very open to hearing your thoughts/feelings/suggestions on where to take her, and what to include next.

I know you’re all very busy and important and I’m pretty much just rambling at you at this point so I’ll wrap this up here.

Sound off in the comments if you’ve experienced the brink off (or full-blown) burnout this year and/or if there’s anything you’d like to see in the next newsletter and/or just anything you’d like to sound off about in general. She’s a safe space <3

All my love xoxo