Reignite, from burnout to small business owner

During 2023-2024 I experienced something that I didn't think I'd experienced before. Or at least I couldn't come up with a word for it. Early in 2023, I decided to move back to Finland after ten years of living in England. I moved back in with my parents at the age of thirty two, to save up and travel the world. The idea was for me to use one of my "expensive degrees" and to find a corporate job, that would hopefully pay well.

I spent the first few weeks catching up with my friends and family, having fun and tucking into my savings. A few weeks turned into a few months, and the novelty of me moving back had passed. My friends had continued on with their lives in the ten years I was away, so they had lives to get back to, which was completely understandable, but I found myself totally alone.

I decided that this was the time to really start applying for jobs, but none of the opportunities I looked at really appealed to me, or just didn't quite feel right. The ones I did like, either felt way out of my league or were asking for too much. But I applied anyway, after all it was only meant to be temporary. So I kept pressing send, kept rewriting cover letters and CVs. Weeks went past and I heard nothing but rejections. I went on a course for unemployed people, because I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. Still nothing. I went on a course to deepen my knowledge in communications. Not a peep. Months began rolling by, rejection after rejection. I started feeling hopeless. Each application I sent, a piece of my soul left with it. Eight months had been and gone, with only one interview coming from the hundreds of the jobs I applied for.

I felt like a failure. I was irritable, constantly crying, and emotionally all over the place. I felt lost and disconnected, I could barely recognise myself. That's when it hit me: I was experiencing burnout. "But how?" I asked myself. I hadn't even been working? It was in that moment that I decided to stop my job search for a moment. Things were getting pretty dark, and something had to change. I decided that the next morning, I would wake up for sunrise and go for an ice dip & sauna. In Finland, in the middle of winter, the sun rises pretty late in the day, so I knew I could manage.

I woke up that morning, as I had planned. I didn't want to get out of bed, but I forced myself to. I got myself ready and headed to the public sauna, about ten minutes from my house. As I stepped into the ice cold ocean, for the first time in a LONG time, I didn't think about anything. Not job applications, or how bad I was feeling. I was just present in the moment, watching the beautiful pink sunrise and feeling the cold on my skin.

It was the push that I needed, the gentle nudge at the top of the hill to get the ball rolling. I began slowly doing little things that I knew would make me feel better. I attended yoga classes and moved my body in other ways. I started journaling, joined a swim club and made beautiful new friends. These small acts of kindness towards my self became integral parts of my weekly routine.

This was when I decided to start teaching yoga again, at least until I "found something better". What started as a once a week substitute position quickly turned into a bunch of regular classes. The more I opened my heart to full time teaching the more opportunities started flying my way. As my love for teaching reignited, I found myself forming a vision. Everything that had been draining me was rooted in the expectations of others, I was doing what I was "supposed to do". It was time to build a business of my own - and thus At Home In My Skin was born. I spent a year building up the courage to officially register the company and really make it happen.

Fast forward to today, and I've published my first program, tailored for those who have maybe found themselves in a similar place to where I was at the beginning of our story. "Reignite" was born from my burnout, a four-week journey to reconnect with yourself. If you feel as though you've lost your spark, this is the gentle nudge to encourage your first steps towards re-finding yourself, your own act of kindness towards yourself, that perhaps you didn't realise you needed.

If this story resonated, you can explore the program here.

Remember, you're not alone.

Love,

Jade x