“It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Years ago, I had a defining experience with my leader on support and resilience. One morning, I came into my office only to see my boss standing in the hallway. I was immediately shocked and confused, as he was supposed to be on a flight to one of our production sites. I asked him what he was doing there, and he explained that he had gone to the airport at 5:00am, but the airline didn’t have a ticket for him. My blood pressure spiked, and a heavy wave of dread washed over me. I had forgotten to book his flight. Being someone who takes tremendous pride in her work, this mistake hit me hard, and I was visibly upset by my oversight.
He quickly came to comfort me, and we went into his office to discuss what had happened and reschedule his meetings and time at the site.
Now, you may think this reaction is disproportionate to the error but let me give you some context. At work, in addition to my core responsibilities, I was consumed with a massive floor planning project for 800 people. I was working extensive overtime, including weekends, to get the project done. In my personal life, I was a single parent and helping aging parents who lived three hours away from me. My mother had significant health problems and had suffered a heart attack the week before – she passed away later that year. Collectively, it was all just too much.
Fortunately, I was blessed with a great boss. As we sat at his table, we discussed how things had been going over the past few months with everything I was dealing with. Overwhelmed, I found myself in tears, and he awkwardly handed me tissues. Once I had calmed down, he looked me in the eye and said, “Hey. I want you to hear this. Our work here is a marathon, not a sprint. We will make it through this together.”
We adjusted my workload and developed solutions to help me balance my life during this demanding time. I took a holiday and regained the control I needed to be successful in all areas of my life. Accepting that not everything will be perfect all the time was also key to my recovery. His patience and support prevented me from falling into full burnout and helped me restore my productivity, enthusiasm, and love for my work. I’m still incredibly grateful for his caring leadership.
We all experience seasons in our lives when we are overwhelmed by responsibilities and trials. If we are spread too thin, it’s a simple matter of human psychology and physiology that we will eventually reach a breaking point where we cannot sustain all of our responsibilities effectively. I felt deeply ashamed when I reached that point of failure. I wanted to be someone who could handle everything thrown at her with ease and perfection—an unrealistic expectation. However, through this experience, I learned to be kinder to myself and to keep an eye out for my co-workers who might be struggling with life’s demands. Leaders who genuinely care about their people have positive impacts far beyond the workplace. Patience, understanding, encouragement, and care can make the difference between months of stress leave and being able to recover before that happens.
