Managing Midwifery Burnout

Managing Midwifery Burnout

Have you ever wondered why so many health care professionals, particularly midwives get burnout? It is so sad to me that average career of a midwife is around seven years. Many midwives are divorced and have little contact with their children. Why is this profession push women to want to serve each other, but lose themselves and their families in the process? 

I personally had professional burnout about three years and was very close to suicide. It was a very dark time in my life and really appreciate having an amazing support system to help me through it. It made me go back to the basics of life and finding my soul purpose. I loved supporting women and realized the massive educational deficits with business ownership I had (ran a birth center / home birth practice for 4yrs). I took business and financial courses to change the course of my life. This knowledge is now passed along to midwives all over the world. If I hadn’t gone through that rough patch of life, I wouldn’t be where I am today. 

Whether you are wanting to be proactive and prevent burnout or in the middle of the deep dark hole, I am here for you! Struggles in life make us stronger, more creative, and fight for what we really find most important. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Things do get better when you take action and make change. If you don’t like where you are at, do something different and change habits. Find your soul purpose and live it! Life is too short to be keeping a job you don’t like just to pay bills. You can make money doing ANYTHING you love and creating value for others. 

Look at your career path, family structure, financial assets, and community resources. Reach out to other midwives for help and advice. Many midwives have went through burnout or harder times in life. It is very difficult to be available for women all the time and put your family and self second. Join a group practice. Start exercising, eating well, and sleeping eight hours a night again. Meditation is great for the mind and soul. Getting enough water is essential with a busy schedule. If we don’t give our body the proper fuel, how do we expect it to keep up with our dreams and goals in life?

Make a vision board and imagine if money and time were no object, what would you and be? Think creatively about how that dream can become a reality. If you want to be a millionaire, you need to create income streams that support that goal (business, real estate, working extra hours, saving money, living within your means, and knowledge).

If you want to start a birth center, write down strategic plan to make that a reality. Figure out the barriers present and how you can over come them. Don’t have the money? No problem. Make strong business plan that shows how financially profitable your birth center will be and there won’t be any issue finding a business partner, investor, or bank to loan you money! Think about your current life situation. What do you like about it and not? How do you decrease doing what you don’t like and increasing time for your family, hobbies, and passions again? What are past time you used to do and loved, but time seems to limit those opportunities? 

Start making a schedule of life and cutting out non-essential things draining your precious time. Do you really need to check Facebook and emails five times a day? Do you need to watch TV every night before bed? Do you really need to play that addicting game on your phone any down time? Those are precious minutes that really add up with time for self care, personal development, and achieving your life dreams. 

Burnout doesn’t have to be the end of your midwifery career. It is a milestone in life of changing course and creating something new with your talents and skills. Life is a journey and we only get to travel it once. Remember that and do what makes you happy. Change habits, routines, and current challenging situation you are in. We are all here to help each other. Create amazing things in this world and be proud of your life!