This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Natalie Holloway, a 37-year-old cofounder of Bala, based in Los Angeles. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
The first time I recognized I was experiencing burnout, my husband and I left our advertising jobs and traveled without any set plans. This trip got me out of the nonstop grind mindset I’d functioned in for too long.
I came back to corporate work refreshed and inspired in October 2016. Our company, Bala, was supposed to be a side hustle, creating cute wrist and ankle weights inspired by our travels. We never imagined it would take off the way it did. I went full-time on Bala in 2019, and my husband joined in 2020.
After building the business for five years, we had to lay off our entire team due to the post-COVID-19 fitness industry downturn. I felt immediate burnout knowing the work that was ahead of me, but this time, I couldn’t take a year off to recover.
Having experienced burnout in multiple stages of my career, I now understand what it looks like, and I can navigate it effectively with the right tools and tactics.
I fell into advertising and burned out quickly without realizing it
After college, I landed a job in advertising and fell in love with that career path. As my career progressed, I would often stay at the office late into the night and miss 9 p.m. dinner reservations. I felt creatively inspired by what I was doing, but the hours were so long that I began to wonder what the point was.
My husband, whom I had met at work and just started dating, suggested that we quit our jobs to recover and travel, and I said yes. We were both experiencing burnout, and I didn’t even realize how bad it was until that moment.
We spent several months saving money and planning before leaving our jobs in March 2016.
We came up with the idea for Bala Bangles on our recovery trip
It was so freeing to leave with no real plan, but also scary. We didn’t have jobs, we didn’t have an income, and our résumés were not being built. But we did finally have the mental space to slow down, look around, and feel inspired.
One day, we were taking a yoga class in Indonesia, and the class was too easy; we wanted to work up a sweat. After the class, my husband, Max, had the idea for wrist and ankle weights that look like cute bracelets. We decided to try creating them when we returned.
This trip taught me that detachment is what helps the most when I’m feeling burned out, and that’s the easiest to achieve through time away from the source of my stress.
We came back and our side hustle became our full-time jobs, but then we had to rebuild again
We got back and both got new jobs in advertising, but started working on Bala on the side. We never thought it would be our full-time jobs, but it started growing.
Once we were carried in stores and had enough orders coming in, we felt we couldn’t keep up with both our corporate jobs and Bala. I left my advertising job first, and my husband followed a few months later.
Courtesy of Natalie Holloway
Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and the fitness industry experienced a surge in demand. However, after the pandemic, the fitness industry experienced a decline, and we had to lay off our entire staff.
I was pregnant and felt like I didn’t have enough stamina to take on the work of 30 people. It was a really demoralizing time, and the burnout hit me immediately because all of our hopes and dreams were on the line.
The second time I experienced burnout, I had to confront my mindset
I was determined not to let burnout destroy my health during my pregnancy. This time, I focused on and learned the value of how I speak to myself.
During my second experience with burnout, I learned that giving myself a mantra helps ground my anxiety. Sometimes it’s something like ‘I’m calm, present, and have an abundance of time.’ Repeating this helps when I’m feeling overwhelmed and burned out.
I can’t control when stress creeps in, but I can control how I talk myself through it because my head is my reality, and I’m trying to create a positive one.
Courtesy of Natalie Holloway
When we started rebuilding the business, my husband and I decided that no matter how long it took for the company to recover, we were determined to see it through to the end. We had to prepare for a marathon, not a sprint.
We’ve started regrowing our team back to its original size.
These small changes have made all the difference
I started working with a life coach, and that’s really helped. They’re helping me understand what’s on my to-do list that aligns with my values, which will give me energy, and what doesn’t align with my values, which will deplete my energy.
Although we can’t travel to cure burnout as we once did, I now take mini recovery trips, either for a weekend, a week, or a month, when I can. We sometimes visit Joshua Tree as a family to escape from LA, unwind, and mentally reset.
We also spend every July in Lakeside, Ohio. We don’t make any plans. It’s just our kids and us. We still do some work, but we’re able to meaningfully downshift our lives in a way that recharges us.
I always have my mantras going now, and I’ve learned how to feel comfortable being kind to myself. I realized that burnout is inevitable, but it’s about how I handle it. I try to prevent it by reminding myself that I’m working toward the long game.
