Powerful words spoken by Dr Dina Glouberman during her ‘Joy of Burnout‘ workshop this week.

I repeated them to a friend, over a socially-distanced sandwich, who exclaimed; ‘What do you mean? Without hope we have nothing!’

In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me

Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine

Because I alone chose it – I own everything about me

My body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions

Whether they be to others or myself – I own my fantasies

My dreams, my hopes, my fears – I own all my triumphs and

Needing to be a step ahead and out-smarting others is exhausting but some of us feel unsafe unless we have ‘out-thought’ and are therefore ready to ‘out-maneouvre’ others.

While training as a psychotherapist a colleague shared with me that whenever she had to write an assignment she used to stick a photo of her as a child on the frame of her computer screen. Whenever she got stuck or started to feel anxious as to the task she faced she would look at the photo and say – ‘don’t worry darling, I’m the grown up now, I’ve got this’.