If you’re like me or literally every one of my peers, you are experiencing or are teetering on the brink of burnout. We’ve been in the workforce for a decade or two now, we’ve started (and sometimes ended) relationships, we’re parenting, we’re becoming managers, we’re buying houses, we’re paying bills.

We aren’t taking care of ourselves, we aren’t taking time for ourselves, we’re over-extended and don’t know how to extricate ourselves from all the responsibilities.

We’re in the phase of life where we just get through it and plug along. We shoulder the harness and find what joy we can in the mundane because that’s all we have for the time being.

A good friend of mine resigned from her corporate C-Suite job a year or two ago. The company had been bought out and the new management was revamping everything and making her job far more complicated and stressful. After about six months of trying to make it work and sleepless nights trying to catch up and handle it all, she just threw in the towel. They gave her a severance package and sent her on her way. And she had the BEST next few months.

She found herself again. She remembered what a full night’s sleep felt like. She ate well, she went outside every day, she caught up with friends and took road trips to visit people and places she’d missed. She didn’t race back into finding a job and instead focused on finding herself and what was right for her. I was so incredibly jealous.

I realized, in talking with her and seeing her find her sparkle again, that I’d lost mine somewhere along the line too. I realized that I wasn’t having any fun in life, just getting through it. But I have a whole company and can’t just quit and restart again later.

I did take a step back though. I focused on adjusting my work to things with a more flexible or remote schedule. I turned down a lucrative contract for work that was creating too much stress in my world. I found manageable ways to pivot without throwing in the towel. And for about six months, I worked significantly less than I had the prior years.

It showed. I found the time to start dating. I found the time to take walks with my dog and get fresh air every day. I found the time to start cooking and eating at home. I actually set up the home office I’d been intending to for two years but never had the energy to finish.

I know we can’t all go on our Eat. Pray. Love. journey. But we can find ways to cultivate a more balanced life. I now do as many work calls from my dog walk as possible. My clients are usually amused by it. I work from my home office at least two days a week because I love the quiet of the empty house and gentleness it brings to my day. We save a lot of money by eating at home more and working out in our basement instead of a gym. I’ve barely put any miles on my car this year because I’m not driving to three different courthouses every day.

And don’t get me wrong, my income reflects my professional pause this year. It was intentional and I absolutely recognize what a luxury it is to be able to absorb such a loss. But the mental and emotional and physical health I have found in that pause is more beneficial than any amount of money. As I am ramping back up to a more full-time workload this year, I know that it is because I choose to. I have had the opportunity to reflect on the work I want to do, versus just pushing ahead full steam. I have been able to cultivate habits and a lifestyle that are more sustainable than they have ever been.

I have found peace.

Again, I know this particular version is not possible for a lot of people. But there’s usually something you can do. You can take five minutes before bed to journal. You can daydream on a morning run or commute. You can take your lunch with you to work and go for a walk outside on your break. You can find ways to connect with yourself if you think of it. Connection with yourself is the key to this all. Once you’ve identified the things you wish you could change, you can find small and incremental ways to make those changes.

Find your peace. Find your sparkle. Find a tiny bit of time for yourself.