In my previous blog post on adrenal fatigue which you can read here, I discussed what adrenal fatigue is, the lifestyle components that can lead to adrenal fatigue and some actions you take to start feeling better. The next question you may have is, how long until you start feeling normal again?

As much as you’d like to hear that there’s a quick fix unfortunately there just isn’t. Adrenal fatigue often takes a decade or more to develop so it’s going to take your body a while to recover from what it’s been put through. I know for me that certainly was the case.

If you’re a high achiever and you’re used to striving and pushing through you will no doubt find it very frustrating that on average, recovery can take anywhere between three months to two years.

Each person who suffers from adrenal fatigue has their own variation of the patterns of adrenal fatigue so recovery time is also going to differ. Majority of people will have an excellent chance of recovery but if you want to avoid having a relapse you must avoid the temptation to live on a constant ‘adrenal high’ – the rush of continually pushing yourself to the brink or taking on excessive responsibilities.

Which as a high achiever, is really easy to fall into because it’s all you really know and you’ve been so used to thriving on that way of life. You’re also probably thinking – if you’re unable to continue working excessively and pushing yourself to the brink, how are you going to be able to achieve all your goals and be the successful person you want to be.

This is where the self-awareness and discovery part of the recovery process is so important because you need to change your mindset (you can read more about this here).

You need to uncover the fear and limiting belief system that is driving you to think that, unless you’re working excessively you won’t achieve your goals. Or, if you remove the fear and limiting belief system then what will you use to drive and motivate you to continually push yourself.

When you’re no longer being driven by fear, what will change is that you won’t be living in fight/flight mode 24/7 and rather than you relying on an external drive and motivation to push you, you will now be relying on your inner drive and motivation which is so much more powerful.

Your inner drive is connected to your true essence and your personal WHY. When you start living on purpose, life becomes easier, it flows better and you start loving life again. Plus, you end up achieving more than what you were before without having to work 24/7. You can still remain extremely active but you can do this in a more balanced and sustainable way that works for you.

You can start your self-awareness and discovery journey by:

• Checking in regularly to see how you feel on all levels body, mind and soul
• Asking yourself what it is you need
• Building the trust back and listening to your body and what it’s telling you. When it’s feeling tired you let it rest rather than continuing to push yourself
• Bringing greater awareness about how you are operating in all areas of your life – are you operating in a way that is normalised in our society but that is not serving you
• Be kinder to yourself and start treating yourself with respect and most importantly love.

You soon realise the importance of implementing the BEING mode into your life – taking the time to check in with yourself, to rest, restore and replenish – and you see just how powerful a part it plays in helping you achieve your goals.

Plus, when you do this as well as the other actions listed here, you’ll not only be much happier but you will have amazing energy levels and living an abundant life in all areas not just in your career or business.

The test however, will come when you start feeling like your normal self again. As a high achiever, it can be very easy to switch back into your old ways especially when the world we live in celebrates the qualities of doing and hustling and devalues the concept of being.

Although you can still remain extremely active in your doing and achieving mode, it is imperative that you listen to your body and the signals it is giving you. When your body is telling you to rest, you need to rest! If you don’t you are going to end up back at the start and this time a lot quicker because you’re not able to endure stresses that you previously would have with ease.

If you do find yourself falling back into your old ways or you’re experiencing excessive stresses make sure you take some time to recover. After you’ve experienced a stressful event and the alarm reaction is over it can take your body 24-48 hours to recover.

During this time your body is less able to respond to stress and you will feel more tired and have a desire to rest. You will also probably be feeling tense and have tight muscles as well as the other symptoms mentioned here. It is imperative that you give yourself the time to rest.

Instead of going to the gym after work that day to do a high intensity workout switch it up with a restorative yoga class or maybe a gentle walk by the beach or in nature, a warm bath and an early night. Also eating rooted vegetables that night will be good to help you stay grounded.

Also, check in with yourself and be aware of the actions you’ve been taking lately:

• Have you taken on too many responsibilities, saying yes to everything when you should be saying no?
• Are you doing things because you think you should be or you’re letting your perfectionism get in the way?
• Is your inner critic running wild and rather than dealing with it you’re throwing yourself into your work to distract yourself from what you really need to deal with?

Practising self-care during stressful times is so important because if you continue to push yourself like you previously have you’re only going to end up back at the start and all your hard work in recovering from adrenal fatigue will have been for nothing.

If you know you have a busy couple of weeks coming up with work or perhaps you’re launching a new product then make sure you include self-care into your day.

It may be a:

• short meditation
• a gentle workout or yoga session
• legs up the wall yoga posture
• going into the bathroom and spending 5 minutes just concentrating on your breathing
• 15 minutes in the afternoon with no technology and just being still

Just make sure that you are doing something during the day to go within and to rest your body. Then once the busy period starts to slow down schedule in some longer self-care practices so you can really rest, restore and replenish your body, mind and soul.

You have the POWER to CHOOSE whether you say YES to taking on additional responsibilities, to wearing ‘busyness’ as a badge of honour, to putting additional pressure and expectations on yourself, to putting other people’s needs before your own or to allow yourself to be driven by fear and your inner critic.

These choices are all under your control and you have the power to make the necessary changes. If you’re willing to do the work, to be patient with yourself and to agree to a new way of life then you have the power within you to get your life back on track and feeling amazing again.

Right now you are one choice away from a new beginning – one that leads you toward becoming the fullest human being you can be – Oprah Winfrey

What choice will you make?