Jim Young’s burnout story began when he was prematurely anointed “man of the house” at nine years old. Because Jim’s single mother was stretched so thin, Jim ended up taking on a great deal of responsibility around the household. He was taught at a young age that just doing without asking questions was the ideal template for masculinity. This mindset eventually led Jim to severe burnout in all areas of his life from his work to his marriage to his personal wellbeing.

After hitting peak burnout, Jim decided to quit his job and start rebuilding a life that he loves. Now, Jim works as a men’s burnout coach, providing men with the tools and support they need to regain time, balance, energy and fun in their lives. Jim explains that financial privilege does not prevent burnout, nor does the privilege of being a white male. Instead, the paradigms that we have been taught to exist within as a result of our gender, race and/or financial status often play a massive role in our burnout stories.

Tune into this week’s episode of FRIED. The Burnout Podcast to hear more about how Jim defied the masculine template he had grown up following and rediscovered the joy in his life. Learn about the dangers of emotional gold digging, the importance of honoring our values, and why we should always find a way to fit our work into our lives rather than the other way around.

Quotes

• “My strategy as it evolved over time was to just do little things all the time that were good for me and discover. Half of the time, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was just discovering the next thing that I needed.” (14:35-14:45)

• “My marriage ended, and I thought I was a failure as a man. So, I had all of this shame, and I didn’t want to talk to anybody.” (16:56-17:05)

• “Emotional gold diggers…[are] men who only get emotional support from one person in their life: their spouse.” (17:45-17:56)

• “You could make as much money as you want, you could be financially set forever and still be in burnout because you still have to win, you still have to compete, and you have all of these people clawing at you and those people are suffering and struggling because they’re stepping on each other.” (25:19-25:33)

• “I needed to feel like I am present to my kids….Not honoring that value was just so expensive to me.” (29:48-30:05)

• “There are so many men out there...who want to support each other. I’ve seen that from guys who have never done any of this work and guys who have been doing men’s work for years stepping in and just showing up for each other. Because one of the things that men can do is show up.” (50:35-50:52)

Links

https://www.thecenteredcoach.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jimproviser/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thecenteredcoach/

Gratefulness.org: https://gratefulness.org/

Sympónia Men: https://www.symponiamen.com/

The ManDate Show: https://www.mandateshow.com/

The Better Man Conference: https://bettermanconference.com/

Evryman: https://evryman.com/

The ManKind Project: https://mankindproject.org/

XOXO,

C

If you know that it’s time to actually DO something about the burnout cycle you’ve been in for too long - book your free consult today: bit.ly/callcait

https://caitdonovan.com/freebie-values

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