#042 Special Focus on Seasonality | Amy Martin

Amy Martin, guest · [01:38]I guess you could say I've been taking unconscious breaks from work in terms of burnout, and I've experienced that three times in my professional life. Once a period of chronic fatigue syndrome, and then a mental health breakdown, and finally a period of thyroiditis, which turned out to be stress-related. I sort of thought, well, why am I doing this? Why do I keep doing this? You know, is there a way to plan for this to kind of make sure that it doesn't take me by surprise again, really? Shame that I've done it three times and only come to that realization. But I started to look at, oh, why was I doing it? And I think some of that is down to kind of being a woman and never feeling like I can rest as a, as a mom, as a woman, there's always things to do, and I, and I work as well. And I guess I wasn't listening to my body. And I was working as a, as a veterinary professional, you know, putting my patients first all the time. And I think I, I was cut off at the neck, essentially, and not really listening to the signs and, and symptoms from my body that I was burning out, tending to sort of intellectualize it and brush it away in, instead. And, I guess looking around thinking, oh, who's going to tell me I can have a rest? But actually that had to come from me. And so what I've been doing through my research project is some autoethnography really into how, you know, how can I listen to my body better? How can I take periods of rest? And, and rather than a sort of sabbatical or an extended period of rests, like your other guests have been taking, I wanted to build it into the everyday. So what I've been doing is I've been looking at my hormonal cycle, my menstrual cycle, as a way to map my energy and realizing that as I go through that hormonal cycle, I definitely have dips in my energy where I can't do as much as I would, as I would normally do. And taking that as an opportunity each, each month to make sure that I, I get rest and, and knowing that that's coming up, being able to plan for it and plan my work around it. So that's been the first part of my research. And then I've been starting to think, well, okay, if these cycles apply to me, then do they apply to other people? And how, you know, what about us socially? And if you're in a different cycle to me and in a different season than me, what is it that our interactions might be like, our relationships might be like? And obviously then through my organization development lens, what does this mean for us at work? So that's it really in a nutshell and kind of using the metaphor of the seasons to talk about where I am in my cycle, because it's quite a taboo subject, so I don't want to kind of walk in and lead with that, but you know, leading, coming in and leading with, I'm a bit, I feel like I'm, I'm wintering today, you know, maybe that would be a good way of, of opening this conversation with people who may be experiencing their own seasonality.

Amy Martin, guest · [11:51]Yeah, I, yeah, I have applied it, and, and it has to be a real conscious effort, doesn't it, really? You know, in the same way that eating healthily and, and, and exercising have to be a really conscious effort. And what I realized is that I didn't know how to rest either. So because I hadn't rested for so long, I'd just burnt out, which is not really proper rest. I didn't know what, I didn't know what to do. But actually as an introvert, I really, really love retreating with a book and being quiet and being on my own. So I've done quite a bit more of that. I've done journaling. and I've also taken up Yoga Nidra, which is essentially, I've done yoga for years, but actually I'd never thought about just lying on my back before and, and doing yoga that way. And that's been fantastic because when I've not been able to switch off, I can, there's a process I can harness to actually switch my mind off and, and rest properly. And asking others really for what, for what I need. So instead of looking to them to give me permission to rest, I've said, at this moment, I really need to retreat and, and rest. And would it be okay if you did X, Y, and Z so that I can achieve that? And that's been a huge help, you know, because people don't realize you need help unless you ask for it. But, you know, again, I had this, issue where I, you know, I didn't think that I should be asking for help. People needed to notice that I was struggling. And actually, you know, it, it comes from me. I have to be, you know, adult enough to ask if I need, if I need some help. So those are the principles that I've kind of taken forward with me from this, from this research project. And then obviously tracking my menstrual cycle. I know when I need to rest or when it is likely that I will need to rest. And also when I need to go to bed earlier and get more sleep and not stay up and watch the TV and, and that kind of thing, you know, like actually really planning for bedtime and having really, really restorative sleep, is something that's become really important. I have to extrovert for my job quite a bit and kind of knowing that as an introvert, I will need that recharge time. You know, making sure that if I've got something that I need to do where the extra version is required, planning in the downtime afterwards instead of just charging into the next thing.

Amy Martin, guest · [15:51]Yeah, I found the season, the concept of seasonality a really interesting one to kind of talk to my coaches about. You know, it's just a kind of opening conversation that I kind of explain a little bit about what I've been doing and, and my cycle awareness. To say, and that might, might not apply to you, but are there any cycles that you have in your life? And, and sometimes people are like, oh no, I definitely don't have any cycles. And then you see the kind of cogs whirring and they start thinking and they're like, oh yeah, there is that thing and this is where, you know, and, and then off they go. So yeah, it's been really interesting to kind of discuss different cycles with, with people. And then as, as I said, with the, the overlayer then of the metaphor of the seasons, it means that we can then have conversations, you know, just a, just a simple check-in. What season are you in today? Then you sort of get a sense of, of where people are. And then you can ask a few more questions about that and providing they're happy to. To share, then you can, you can be curious about what that season means to them, because the other thing is, that I've discovered is that, you know, someone says winter, it's not necessarily negative or that they, you know, dislike winter. There's lots of people that love rest and retreat and, and the sort of wintering, to use the Catherine May terminology, and it can be nourishing and wonderful. And yes, it can be hard as well, because Catherine talks about periods of grief and periods of illness and that kind of thing. So yes, it can be hard, but also winter can be very nourishing. So it's important to really be curious and inspect what people mean when they say that they're in winter or summer and, and use that seasonality metaphor.

Petro du Pisani, host · [19:59]I, I'm just thinking back to my corporate life and how my days were jam-packed with meetings from sometimes six in the morning to six at night. And people would take a little fifteen minute sliver in my calendar and just put something in there. And there was absolutely no regard to what my energy levels might be for the day. So I'm wondering how, how you actually bring that into a conversation in, in your corporate life to say, you know, what, my energy levels are quite low today. Perhaps we can move some of this to tomorrow. I don't, for me, it's almost, I can't even think that I could have had that conversation. Yeah.

Amy Martin, guest · [20:36]And that's, I guess that's what I'm hoping to do with my research and my organization development practice really is, is to start to have those types of conversations in busy organizations where it has to be done now. Does it really, or can we, can we plan a bit better around that? And I'm not suggesting that, you know, I'm going to say, oh, you know, today I'm premenstrual, so I can't do any work. I'm, I'm not suggesting that we, that we do that. What I'm suggesting is that I plan to do the more gentle work in that season rather than be, as I said before, extroverted and in all the meetings and back to back everything, you know, maybe I can do the deep work, the reflective work, the data analysis, that kind of thing on those days. Because I will feel that that's a little bit more gentle. And genuinely, I find interaction with other people difficult during that period. So it's, you know, it's more, it's harder for me to have really good conversations in that, in that time because I, you know, I'm, I'm kind of stressed and irritable and I don't sleep very well. And so actually damage limitation says that I'd be better off having that conversation in summer anyway, because, you know, maybe I'll have to repair some of the damage if I have that conversation at, at a different time. And, and I would hope that if we can open this conversation in organizations, that it will really help leaders and managers to kind of have those conversations with their, with their teams, because I don't think we're going to change the corporate narrative, you know, the directives that come from above, but actually the day-to-day interactions between ourselves, we do have more jurisdiction over that and we, and we can choose our work more kindly as long as our direct kind of leaders and managers Attention to us as individuals and, and help us with that. It'd go as far as to say what's stopping you from putting a yoga nidra in your calendar at lunchtime.

Amy Martin, guest · [24:29]I'll try not to go into a huge bibliography of all the things I've been reading. but yeah, in particular, related to our last point, Tricia Hershey's book, Rest is Resistance. I don't know if you've come across that one. but she, she talks about, you know, we, we have ownership over ourselves. And, and actually, you know, we need to take control of that. We need to take periods of rest because nobody is going to do that for us. So we have to take control of that. and she talks about, you know, even people from underprivileged backgrounds, you know, taking a sabbatical is a huge privilege, of course, but actually, we can all take periods of rest. And it doesn't have to be a sabbatical. It can be something, something different, something that looks different depending on, on each person. So, so that was a fantastic, read. And then, Wild Power by Sanjeev Woolitzer and, Alexandra Pope. Book about the menstrual cycle awareness. And you mentioned the menopause, and I think it's really important that this conversation needs to start earlier, I think, that the menopause. you know, why should we wait till then when it gets really bad to kind of, you know, start to talk about what women, women are experiencing in, in the workplace and, you know, maybe some menstrual cycle awareness for all of us from an earlier age would be, would be really useful and helpful. Certainly for people that, you know, suffer with menstrual related conditions as well and, and really have a, a difficult time. And then Quiet by Susan Cain was the third one that I came up with, which again, as an introvert made me feel seen that, you know, I'm not shy. I love relationships. I love being around people, but actually I need to go away and plug in and recharge. And, maybe if I'd known that about myself a bit earlier, maybe I could have avoided the periods of, of burnout. we'll never know, but, that's Kind of what I aspire to do now is that always think about recharging, a bit like an electric car, you know, think about where you're going to recharge.

Amy Martin, guest · [27:21]can we go out into our workplaces, into our homes, into our relationships and, and talk about the concept of, of seasonality and, and cycles and try and open up some conversations because I think we need to know each other individually in order to collectively do a good job at work. So I think it's really important to start having these conversations and, and really finding out, you know, what people's needs are and then taking responsibility for ourselves as well in order to, you know, take that rest that we deserve.

Petro du Pisani, host · [27:54]It's almost like we have to become kinder and really notice what's happening to ourselves and the people who are around us, and especially if you're like a, a team manager or a team leader, is to really notice if people have periods of more energy and less energy, and maybe then ask the question, you know, what's going on today? I'm noticing that you might not be as energetic as you normally are, so is there anything I can help you as a leader to make your day easier or give you different work? So I think it's, it's almost like heralding in a new way of leadership as well, if you're in that sort of environment. Yeah.

Amy Martin, guest · [28:32]And then what's really important as a leader is if we are not doing that ourselves and looking after ourselves, we can't slow down enough to notice. And I think what I noticed as a busy leader is that I didn't have time to notice my team and notice how others were, and therefore I wasn't as astute as I should have been at kind of supporting them, but it starts with you. Yeah. Support yourself first and look after yourself first, and then you can be more present for the other people in your life, whether that's colleagues or family members.