If you are struggling with burnout, stress and overwhelm, and self-care seems like the last thing on your to do list, let me and my handy snooker table analogy help you to step back and get on the road to recovery.

Picture a snooker table.

There’s your table, and at the end of the table is that little triangle of balls, all packed together and ready for the game to start.

I want you to imagine that you are inside the triangle of snooker balls.

You’re right in the middle, you can’t move for balls. They’re all around you, and you can’t see around them, over them or between them. You can’t see the rest of the table, you certainly can’t see the pockets.

These balls are all your stuff. Your stress, your worries, your fears, your to do lists, your work, your kids, your inner critic and the rest. And when you’re in here, in the triangle, right up against it, you can’t actually deal with any of that stuff effectively. It’s all just too much.

What you need, is a cue ball.

The cue ball comes along to break up the triangle. A good break will send those balls spreading out out across the table and suddenly, even though the number of balls hasn’t changed, you can see each one more clearly.

You can step back and get objective, and start to see how to put them into pockets. 

Your cue ball can be any number of things, depending on what works for you. Ultimately it’s a simple practice that allows you to step back, have a moment to breathe, and get perspective and clarity. And the more you can do this thing that helps you stop and pause and break up the triangle, the less you’ll find yourself trapped inside it in the first place.

The cue ball is great for breaking up the triangle when you’re stuck in it - and it’s also good for breaking it up before you get in there at all.

Your cue ball might be; a few minutes of breathing exercises, a walk outside, a meditation practice, a journaling session. It might be simply a few moments sitting, being present, grounding yourself and and connecting with your breath.

It doesn’t have to look a certain way, it’s more about the intention behind it.

So take a moment, this week, to think about your triangle. Think about your snooker balls, all that stuff that overwhelms you. Try a few different cue balls and see what works to help you step back, pause, breathe, and give yourself some space.

And don’t just do it once. Do it every day. It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel the overwhelm in the moment when you do it - get ahead of it and break up the triangle anyway.

Over time, you’ll feel it less and less. And not because the break itself makes any of the balls go away, but because the clarity that it gives you allows you to see the whole table and start working your way through addressing those things.

One ball at a time.

Mx