Beep. Beep. BEEP. 🚨

What is the most obnoxious alarm sound for you?  Alarm clock buzz?  Ambulance siren?  Smoke alarm battery?  

If it wasn't so obnoxious, loud, and persistent, would you respond?

This morning I had a test of this very question.

I arrived early at my office with a full list of tasks.  You know that feeling, where you know the list is longer than the time available, but you hope for a rift in the space-time continuum to make it possible anyway?  😂

Well, that rift did not show up this morning!  

Instead, I heard a piercing, high-pitched beeping before I even entered the corridor to my office.  My head began compaining immediately, and with no one else around, I reluctantly went to investigate.

I found the culprit - the Fire Safety Box with a light blinking next to the word, "TROUBLE".  (How descriptive, right?!? 🤣)

I'll spare you the details of the sequence of emails, text messages, and phone calls that followed.  🤪

What I will share is:

1. A very helpful person walked me through applying a code to silence the beeping until the root cause could be addressed.  

2. This knowledgeable person also indicated the source of the problem began over 90 days ago!  

3. In total, it took only about 20 minutes to acknowledge and silence the signal.

4. If the noise hadn't been so unbearable, I very likely would have ignored, forgotten, and postponed dealing with it for another time (when it could no longer be delayed).  🫣

Do you already know where I'm going with this? 😉

The reality is, if you're busy hustling to make a difference while leading a full, busy, meaningful life, it can be easy to skip over the early signals there's a problem.

Hence why one of the most common questions I'm asked in podcast interviews is, "What are the early signs of burnout or compassion fatigue?"

These early warning signs are there...but when they are early (and more subtle) you likely brush them aside, ignore them, and hope they'll go away. It's tempting to postpone the response in favor of prioritizing other immediate tasks - you know - those that involve tending to others' concerns, requests, perceptions, or needs, cleaning up the kitchen, or getting lost scrolling on your favorite app...

At least until the intensity of the signal drowns out everything else, and it becomes unbearable, if not impossible, to postpone and ignore.

The potential costs of delaying attention to your own needs are too great...severe health crises, relationship deterioration, and persistent changes in thoughts and moods that affect your work, impact, and quality of life.   

Without attention, what starts as a gentle nudge of a signal escalates into the blaring alarm...🚨 

And what may have been amenable to simple attention and intervention develops into expensive healthcare, prolonged leave from work, injured (or ended) relationships, and depletion that leaves a person feeling like a shell of their former self.

It's not that what you're pushing so hard for isn't important.  (Clearly when you're striving to improve the systems, communities, and workplaces you inhabit to be places of safety and opportunity for those you care deeply about, there is tremendous and legitimate urgency!) 

It's that what you're working toward is so very important, it can't afford to lose you...and you can't afford to sacrifice yourself. 

So whether you're trying to decipher the early signals or trying to find the code to turn off the blaring alarm, consider this:

How loud and obnoxious does the current signal need to be to get your attention?

What would help you tend to it sooner?

How can you integrate the awareness, resources, and support to recognize the earlier signs, access the key code, and know you're not alone as you respond?

You matter.  You make a difference.  I'm so thankful you're here.

**If you recognize responding to these signals would be beneficial for the wellbeing and impact of yourself or your team, please reach out.  We'll schedule a call to connect about options - with no pressure or obligation.