Stephanie is the embodiment of the modern career superwoman who has monumental goals and has worked hard to build a successful career. She enjoys work, having purpose, but claims there’s, “too much work to do it well.” All this got worse during the pandemic. Stephanie saw her calendar stacked up with more meetings, her inbox swelled with more email and workday lengthened by 48.5 minutes. She was almost feeling “some level of burnout.”

But burnout isn’t just a result of being overworked. It’s also rooted in cultural belief that work isn’t just a means to a paycheck, but a path to purpose, meaning, and character. The solution, says Stephanie, “is to reprioritize life above work.” For many this means working less, because drowning in email is not the purpose of human life. Instead, we should build a meaningful existence–one worth walking away from the desk for, and establishing boundaries for how work fits into life.

Figuring out the meaning of life

Historically, work-life balance has largely been out of our hands. Most people don’t have much choice about whether, or how much they should work. For Stephanie, this imbalance manifested in “feeling tired all the time. I wasn’t sure if it was work-induced or health-related,” says Stephanie.

Of course, a good life is marked not only by the ability to do what you love, but also the ability to be a good person, which is why corporations from John Deere to Kellogg’s, Google to Netflix, are creating a movement–to redefine what work-life balance means.

Identifying the source of Stephanie’s fatigue

Stephanie used to be an avid runner and skier, but work priorities took time away from these activities, leaving Stephanie feeling hopelessly out of energy. “I used to have no energy and felt tired all the time. My two Cocker Spaniels were terribly frustrated with me due to lack of walks and attention.” Stephanie saw a Thrivelab ad on Facebook and made the call. “I am thankful for the Nurse Practitioner I spoke to who had faced some of these challenges herself.” Once Stephanie got her hormone levels tested, “the Nurse Practitioner went out of her way to accommodate my busy work schedule and took the time to give me an individualized pathway into wellness.”