Latest / The Purpose and Progress Podcast Show / Quieting Burnout: The Science-Backed Power of Creative Self-Care with Alexandra Reid

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Quieting Burnout: The Science-Backed Power of Creative Self-Care with Alexandra Reid · The Purpose and Progress Podcast Show

0:00
Alexandra Reid:: Things that add up really quickly. I often talk
0:02
about the frog in the water, and you start cranking up the
0:05
temperature. And suddenly, the poor frog, he's in the boiling
0:09
water. But if he jumped into it initially, he would jump right
0:12
out. But the problem is when you crank up the pressure slowly,
0:15
that's when the burnout sort of sneaks up on you. And what's
0:19
interesting after the women go through this program, and I've
0:21
worked with both one-on-one and with groups. And one of the
0:25
biggest successes is saying they have time again. And it's not
0:29
like time is a magical thing, right? We all have 24 hours a
0:32
day, 60 minutes. What's interesting is how you spend
0:35
that time, and how you choose, and that's the key thing.
0:39
Choosing, awareness, and intent. Where do you spend that precious
0:44
time?
0:48
Dr. Jim Price:: Hello, I'm Dr. Jim Price, and welcome to The
0:52
Purpose and Progress Podcast. This is the place where we
0:56
explore how purpose can guide our actions, and how growth can
1:00
become a part of our everyday lives. On the show, I talk with
1:04
amazing guests, from educators and creators to everyday people
1:09
with extraordinary stories about the challenges they face, the
1:13
lessons they've learned, and how to keep moving forward. My goal
1:16
is to share conversations that inspire you to live
1:19
intentionally, embrace growth, and take meaningful steps to
1:23
your own purpose. Let's get started.
1:30
Welcome, everyone. Once again, this is The Purpose and Progress
1:33
podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Jim Price, where we share
1:36
motivational stories and inspirational stories about
1:39
amazing folks from all industries to share their
1:43
journey. We always see the success of someone, and we look
1:47
at the glamor and the glitz of success. But sometimes, a lot of
1:50
times, we don't know the backstory to how a person has
1:53
reached success, which always can be actionable steps. Steps
1:57
that take time to build over time. So today is no different.
2:01
We have a wonderful guest. She is a creative wellness coach,
2:05
business owner, and former research scientist who helped
2:08
high-achieving women, particularly those in STEM,
2:11
rebuild purpose and resilience through creativity, mindfulness,
2:15
and reflection. After experiencing burnout during the
2:19
pandemic, she discovered that simple, pressure-free drawing
2:23
helped her slow down, rebuild self-trust, and reconnect with
2:26
joy. Today, she shares practical, science-informed
2:30
strategies for managing burnout, setting boundaries,
2:34
strengthening self-leadership, and making meaningful progress
2:38
when the next step feels unclear. Her approach shows that
2:41
progress is not always about doing more. It can begin by
2:45
learning to listen to yourself again. And today, we have Lexi
2:50
Reid with us. How are you doing, Lexi?
2:53
Alexandra Reid:: It's great to be here. Thanks, Jim.
2:55
Dr. Jim Price:: This is so great to have you on the show. We talk
2:56
a little bit beforehand about parenting never stops and stuff
3:01
like that. How that goes and everything like that. So it's
3:06
definitely great to have you on the show today to share with the
3:08
audience some motivational things and stuff like that.
3:11
That's what we do. So I think we start off with asking like, when
3:16
do you feel like your journey started? And what influenced
3:19
that for you?
3:21
Alexandra Reid:: Yeah. It all depends which part of the
3:23
journey you want to pick up. There could be the part where I
3:25
loved doing art as a child, but I also loved doing science. And
3:30
when I was heading off to school and university, my parents
3:33
really thought probably a sure bet to go into science rather
3:37
than fine art. So that being said, I did science for a number
3:39
of years. Did the academic ladder, the bachelor's, the
3:43
master's, the PhD, the postdoc. So I did the academic ladder,
3:47
and from there, I kind of moved to working for a not-for-profit,
3:51
working with the federal government. And then lastly,
3:54
working in a corporate environment. And that's where I
3:57
hit the burnout that you mentioned. So I was working for
4:00
a medical device company. And during the pandemic, we landed a
4:04
large government contract to build emergency ventilators. So
4:08
this was the early days of the pandemic. We'd all just been
4:10
sent home. I had two kids at home. One just started high
4:13
school. One just started middle school. I was working 24/7 from
4:18
my bedroom being on Zoom calls, all of that. Trying to juggle
4:23
homeschooling kids. I was in quality and regulatory affairs,
4:27
so we were the ones basically approving these ventilators from
4:32
design all the way to prototyping. And yeah, it was
4:36
before we had the vaccine, so we wanted to get these out to the
4:39
public. Like tomorrow, basically. So there was a lot of
4:43
pressure, but we also knew we were being regulatory. We were
4:47
the last ones to basically say, yeah, these are safe to use on
4:50
people. And so there's a lot of pressure. And for me, up until
4:55
that point, I had a studio at home, I did a lot of art, I used
4:59
to do jewelry, and I found during that time I couldn't even
5:03
go into my studio and start. I would stare at my supplies like
5:07
I was just feeling so numb from everything. I was numb from
5:11
work. I was numb from juggling family. And for me, somehow
5:17
getting back to my creativity, I had to start really slowly, baby
5:21
steps. I just started doodling on these endless Zoom calls
5:26
during the meetings, and I was never a big doodler before. I
5:29
was an artistic snob, doodling's not my thing. If you're not
5:33
making a real painting, why bother? But I started realizing
5:37
that my breathing was slowing down, my shoulders were
5:39
relaxing, and so I started investigating art therapy, and
5:43
that led me to mindfulness, and that led me to positive mindset
5:47
and to coaching. And so I started first doing these
5:51
exercises myself, and then developing it into a curriculum.
5:57
That's what led me down the path of creative wellness. Then I
6:03
basically started the entrepreneurial journey, and
6:06
working with women in STEM. So Science, Technology,
6:09
Engineering, and Math. Very much my background, and working with
6:13
women in all stages of life from early masters, beginning grad
6:17
school, beginning a med school, all the way to mid-career
6:20
crisis, life crisis and beyond. And what does retirement look
6:24
like? What do I do? What if I start a new job? 5th or 6th
6:29
careers down the road. So yeah, that's the broad sweep of how I
6:33
got going on this particular journey.
6:35
Dr. Jim Price:: Wow, that's amazing. We talked about the
6:37
pandemic because I know exactly how that was. I'm a school
6:39
counselor. So during that time, I have to do social groups. They
6:44
were supposed to log in at a certain time for social group.
6:46
And a lot of times, they wouldn't log in. You wouldn't
6:50
see anybody, and the principal come and check just to see
6:54
what's going on, and there'd be no students. I'm still waiting
6:56
and stuff like that. I could totally connect with that.
7:00
There's such a disconnect back then. Many people went through
7:03
so much during that time. This is just amazing how that's been
7:08
a few good years ago now, and it seems like it hasn't. But with
7:12
all the social distancing and everything, that's an amazing
7:15
aspect of how you share that. The creativity, connecting the
7:20
creativity through situations of crisis, in a sense, and using
7:26
that to regulate and have things even out for you in that way.
7:30
That's amazing. I also wanted to, in terms of maybe any
7:34
obstacles or challenges, I know you mentioned the burnout and
7:36
stuff like that, but can you maybe go into that a little bit?
7:41
Give the audience a little bit, people are feeling burnt out,
7:44
and maybe some things that they could do to kind of maybe curb
7:48
before they get to that point and stuff. Maybe things that
7:52
they could do for themselves.
7:55
Alexandra Reid:: Yeah. So a lot of the women I work with, and
7:57
obviously this applies to men as well. I feel like women face a
8:01
lot of other, what they call invisible labor. There's a lot
8:04
of times that the women I work with are in very high positions
8:08
of power, and so they feel like they have to mask their emotions
8:11
and just be one of the boys. And so a lot of times, it's not
8:15
letting themselves be themselves at work, and so that extra
8:21
burden of carrying that weight as well. And so when I talk to
8:26
them about beginning to work with me or just what problems
8:30
are they facing, and I ask what their number one obstacle is for
8:34
working with me, and it's always that perceived lack of time or
8:38
one more task to do. And what's interesting is after they go
8:42
through, it's a 12 week program called the Creative Reset, and
8:45
it's been shown that you kind of need 12 weeks to build new
8:48
habits and start getting rid of bad habits. And burnout is
8:52
basically a series of bad habits that lead you into taking on too
8:57
many things at once. Not being able to say no, overcommitting.
9:01
Just a lot of things that add up really quickly. I often talk
9:05
about the frog in the water, and you start cranking up the
9:08
temperature. And suddenly, the poor frog, he's in boiling
9:12
water. But if he jumped into it initially, he would jump right
9:15
out. But the problem is when you crank up the pressure slowly,
9:18
that's when the burnout sneaks up on you. And what's
9:23
interesting after the women go through this program, and I've
9:25
worked with both one on one and with groups, and one of the
9:29
biggest successes is saying they have time again. And it's not
9:33
like time is a magical thing, right? We all have 24 hours a
9:36
day, 60 minutes. What's interesting is how you spend
9:39
that time, and how you choose, and that's the key thing.
9:43
Choosing, and awareness, and intent. Where do you spend that
9:47
precious time? And by doing a lot of these exercises, we do a
9:52
lot of self-reflection and also discussion, whether it's
9:55
one-on-one with me, and we go quite deep into the topics. Or
9:58
in a group, and we have that shared commonality of, oh, I
10:02
feel that way. Oh, that's a different way of looking at it.
10:04
So both shared experiences and different perspectives. That's
10:09
the biggest obstacle. And yet the big success is getting your
10:13
time back to yourself to choose how do you want to spend it.
10:17
Dr. Jim Price:: Absolutely. I think the audience definitely
10:20
can resonate with time because a lot of people say, oh, there's
10:24
not enough time to do everything you need to do on a typical day.
10:27
And I always see that too. A lot of people sometimes get caught
10:30
up with the rigors of everyday life with their own situations
10:33
that they forget to get back to themselves and do something for
10:35
themselves, do some self-care things for themselves, and break
10:39
up the monotony of all the responsibilities of life. Bills,
10:43
kids and families, cooking dinner and all those things that
10:48
entail everyday living and stuff like that. So I think those are
10:52
fabulous points. I think the audience will definitely be able
10:54
to utilize and stuff. And sometimes, people, like I say,
10:57
self care is important too. And people do forget that aspect of
11:01
things to do those kind of things, so thank you. In terms
11:04
of your program, talk a bit about the program just a little
11:09
bit more. Give our audience a gist of, I know you touched upon
11:13
it, but just for the audience, members who may want to be a
11:17
part of getting service and stuff in that way.
11:22
Alexandra Reid:: Yeah. So actually, there's two aspects.
11:24
There's the creative reset, which is that 12 week program. I
11:27
should let people know there is a taster on my website. They can
11:30
try it for five days, and it's a very similar experience. You're
11:33
basically given a video, and it's me demonstrating an art
11:38
therapy inspired exercise, a creative wellness exercise, and
11:42
it can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 10 minutes to do the
11:44
exercise. So they're meant to be quick. That being said, you can
11:48
also spend as long as you like. Because sometimes, I find people
11:51
actually really get into what they're drawing, and it can be
11:55
as simple as just, I say it's like the level of doing
11:57
pictionary. Like it's stick people, it's drawing what means
12:00
something to you. It doesn't have to look like a finished
12:02
piece of art. It's really more like a visual journaling. So
12:06
it's getting what's swirling around in your head onto paper
12:10
that allows some objectivity. Once it's on the paper, you can
12:15
look at it, you can share it, you can put it away, and then
12:18
come back to it. So as part of the Fuller program, there's two
12:23
activities each week. And each week is themed. So maybe we'll
12:26
look at what we call energy zappers. What's draining your
12:29
energy? Who's draining your energy? Setting boundaries
12:33
Looking at things that light you up, things that fill your cup.
12:37
And some of these are names of activities that we do. There's
12:40
an exercise called Batteries, and this is very simple. You
12:43
basically draw a series of rectangles and put little tops
12:47
on them, make them look like batteries. And each of these
12:49
rectangles represents some aspect of your life, whether
12:52
it's your career, whether it's your home life, whether it's
12:54
self care. Maybe it's spirituality. Some aspect of
12:58
your life. And basically, you just scroll, is it 50% full? Is
13:03
it quarter empty? And then maybe draw some things or write some
13:08
words. What's ever easier of, what are some ways that you
13:12
could increase that battery or decrease it? Maybe you're
13:17
finding that you're spending too much time on career, and maybe
13:20
you want to shift that energy towards family. So it's a very
13:23
simple drawing exercise. But the thoughtfulness and awareness of
13:28
things that come out of doing that by taking time to reflect,
13:32
where is your energy going? Where would you like it to go?
13:35
How can you change those various aspects? And then we get into
13:39
different habits. How do you work towards setting those
13:42
goals? Because what I like about creative wellness coaching, as
13:45
opposed to pure art therapy, is coaching is very forward
13:49
focused. It's about working towards a goal. Whereas therapy
13:52
is more dealing with things in your past, and it's still very
13:56
valuable. But I like the positive, moving forward aspect
14:00
of the coaching side of things.
14:05
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14:41
I love the drawing aspect. Because with drawing, you could
14:44
become comfortable, and you can do it without feeling any bias,
14:49
or any judgment upon anything. And then at the end, you have a
14:53
visual representation of what you're experiencing, and able to
14:59
figure out what that visual representation really means and
15:02
stuff. I love that aspect of doing it that way. Sometimes,
15:06
people get more meaning out of visual things. It's good to have
15:11
therapy and talk too. I think that's a good thing too. But
15:13
having that visual representation definitely brings
15:16
a different dynamic to the whole experience in terms of trying to
15:20
overcome maybe cases of burnout, or stress, or anxiety, and all
15:25
of those things. I love that aspect of that whole component
15:28
on how it fits that together. Thank you. If you were to give
15:34
your own personal advice about taking that first step, some
15:39
people are so afraid to take the first step there, they feel like
15:42
they'll overburden themselves by taking that first step toward
15:46
trying to rectify a lot of these things, whether it be anxiety,
15:49
stress, burnout and all those things. What would you give our
15:54
audience, any advice to get them to understand about taking that
15:58
first step in that way?
16:01
Alexandra Reid:: Well, definitely one of the first
16:03
steps that I would say is try to give yourself a different
16:06
perspective. Maybe go to a cafe and just take some paper and a
16:10
pen, go sit outside. Sometimes, just that change of scenery
16:14
literally is something that will shake you up. It's not like
16:17
you're at home and you're thinking, I should be folding
16:21
laundry, I should be doing the dishes. It's not like you're in
16:25
the office thinking, oh, I should be answering the next
16:28
email. Sometimes, just literally that change of scene is enough
16:32
to sort of reset your brain a little bit, and then you can
16:35
start spending that time and self awareness of, okay, I just
16:39
want to think about things in my life right now without all this
16:43
external pressures being thrown at me. So I would say that's the
16:47
simplest thing. Take yourself somewhere else, and spend time
16:50
with yourself. Just let yourself think about your life, and try
16:54
to get that comfortable with yourself again. A lot of times,
16:58
as you said, we're autopilot dealing with all the things on
17:02
our to-do list, and we forget to check in with ourselves. How am
17:06
I actually doing? Am I doing what I want to be doing right
17:09
now? If I'm not doing it, what needs to change? And yeah, I
17:13
think that's the simplest thing. Take yourself on a date and go
17:17
somewhere nice. And maybe bring a pen, some paper, and you can
17:20
start almost just doodling these thoughts out for yourself.
17:24
Dr. Jim Price:: I think that's good too. Because sometimes,
17:26
that self care aspect intertwines with that. Even with
17:31
myself, I count some kids and all that stuff. So by the time I
17:33
get home, I need at least like 45 minutes of quiet time. No TV,
17:39
no radio, no anything. And for me, that's my cool down time
17:43
where I'm able to just relax and get things back in order. Then
17:48
once the time is up, then I'm able to, or I'm ready to get
17:51
back in. My mom used to live with me, she's a likes to talk.
17:55
So she would be home. I get home, and as soon as I cracked
17:58
the door and almost put my foot in, she was ready telling me
18:01
everything that happened when she got up to get breakfast,
18:03
first meal, she ate for breakfast, everything like that.
18:06
So I said, you got to give me at least half an hour, give me 30
18:10
minutes, and we worked it out and everything like that. But I
18:12
think that is so important to be able to do those things. And
18:15
getting out in nature too. Nature has a way of rejuvenating
18:19
people in a way when you put yourself in another environment.
18:22
So I think those are great points and valuable points that
18:26
our audience can definitely utilize in terms of taking that
18:29
first step. How can our audience be able to connect with your
18:35
service and connect with you in that way?
18:39
Alexandra Reid:: Yeah. Easiest thing? Internet. My website is
18:42
called mindartwellness.com. As I mentioned, that taster little
18:48
challenge is there to do the five day creative reset. Also,
18:51
there are a series of blogs that I've written with different
18:54
creative exercises. That if you're more of a reading and
18:57
like the slow process, that's a nice way of doing it too. I also
19:01
have links to all the other podcasts that I've been on, and
19:05
so you can get different flavors of things that I've talked about
19:08
before as well. So there's a lot of resources on my website at
19:12
mindartwellness.com.
19:15
Dr. Jim Price:: Excellent, excellent. I know our audience
19:17
definitely got some valuable gems in terms of not just, when
19:21
you think about therapy, when you think about the holistic
19:25
view, the holistic perspective with visual representation too,
19:28
to be able to really dive into issues, concerns, whether it be
19:32
stress, anxiety, whatever it might be, burnout, things of
19:36
that nature, the things that can really help gravitate you toward
19:40
a higher level, not just understanding yourself, but
19:43
working through those issues, concerns and stuff like that.
19:47
This has definitely been a fabulous discussion, Lexi. And
19:50
I'm so happy that we got a chance to connect and have you
19:54
on the show. I always like to say, motivation is key. Growth
19:58
happens all the time when you put in the action, actionable
20:01
steps, and stuff like that. And this is a perfect example of
20:05
that action, taking action, and utilizing actionable steps
20:09
toward recovery and healing, internal healing, whether it be
20:13
trauma, whatever. So we always continue on that journey. Life
20:16
never stops growing, the development, and you're always
20:20
able to learn as as long as you're alive and stuff like
20:23
that. So continue to be motivated. Continue to want to
20:24
Thank you for joining me on this episode of The Purpose in
20:27
grow and nurture your own self personally. And that will, in a
20:31
sense, impact others around you too in a positive way. So once
20:34
again, this is The Purpose and Progress Podcast Show. I'm your
20:38
host, Dr. Jim Price. And like I always say, stay blessed, and
20:42
stay prayed up. Take care, and see you next time.
20:48
Progress Podcast. I hope today's conversation gave you insight,
20:52
inspiration, or a fresh perspective to help you move
20:55
forward with purpose. If you enjoyed the episode, please
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subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could
21:01
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Remember, your purpose is waiting, and progress never
21:14
stops. I'll see you next time.