"How my burnout became the beginning of Future Flow"

I felt completely empty, had no energy at all, there was nothing left....

"I remember very well how my burnout started. It was a Saturday night and I had gone to pick up dinner. Suddenly the lights went out. I felt completely empty, had no energy at all, there was nothing left. The car had to pull over. With no energy, I called home. On Monday I dabbled a bit more at work. The following days I stayed in bed. Totally exhausted. The doctor prescribed rest. Only months later the term 'burnout' was coined. The hardest part: you have no idea what you are in. What you hear or see no longer comes in. That was difficult: no perspective, how long will that last? I like to be at the wheel of my own life and now the burnout had taken over the wheel, and I bumped into the wall. Tough."

What was the cause? Too many things.

"In the preceding period, I was busy with too many things in my head at once. A close friend had died, another friend was undergoing an extremely serious surgery. Professionally, there was little stability, nor any new job in sight. I alone am responsible for everything that comes up in my life. In other words, there are no culprits here. It's just a cumul of too many things at quasi the same time."

You learn what is important in your life

"I learned a lot of (new) things during my burnout: slowing down, nature, meditation, yoga and enjoying the little things in life. The opposite of what I was in at the time. Staying calm is a big task, and telling what is happening to you. A new world opened up, for example picking up the kids from school (something I had rarely been able to do before). Or just doing little useful things at home like cooking, for example."

The book that changed my life : 'NLP at work' by Sue Knight

"Reading a book in full burnout was not an obvious thing to do, and yet it became clear to me page after page: the NLP topic appeals to me enormously, I want to delve further into it and who knows, maybe it will help me further out of my burnout. So I started the basic NLP Business Practitioner training with Sue Knight. Fantastic people I met there. That has helped me take back control of my life. Today I take NLP into my personal life and into my coaching."

The 'spark': becoming a freelancer in coaching

"The NLP and career coach courses were the trigger. I then realized what I really wanted: an independent activity in coaching. Step by step and with a clear plan in my head, I started my business."

Sports also helped me get out of burnout

"I linked the NLP training to sports. I had a big sporting ambition : to run a marathon for Fight Against Cancer. Preparing for the marathon gave me back energy, both physically and mentally. Sport also helped me to get out of burnout. And the NLP training, and the start-up of Future Flow, and the marathon. Maybe I did too much at the same time? Yet it has positively changed my life. Either you take your life back in your hands, or you stick with it."

How I now help a coachee with burnout myself?

"First and foremost, really listening to the personal story and doing so without judgment. For many people it can help a lot if someone really listens to them. Often during slow walks in nature. And of course asking a lot of questions. Everyone is unique and I firmly believe that we have within us all the resources we ever need. The path to our resources is unique for everyone. The trick is to find the unique path and find what works for the coachee. Offering possible solutions yourself as a coach extremely rarely adds value to the coachee. It is not an exact science."

Read more about my burnout coaching