We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gillian Thomas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gillian below.
Gillian, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
In 2020, I was completing burnt out and dissociating as a result, while I was employed as an attorney. It got to the point where I quit my job approximately 1 month before the world shut down. I had no idea what I would be doing next. My plan was to begin to build my Wholistic Health Coaching practice given that I am a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I wanted to help women like me, who are working in a system that requires us to be like men, which goes against the grain of who we are as feminine beings. Leaving corporate America allowed me to get the deep rest that I needed so that I could remember who I am and be able to articulate what I want. As a burnt-out attorney, I was in survival mode, unable to define for myself what I wanted from my life instead of being in the space where it was easier for me to say and think of what I didn’t want. For instance, I wished I didn’t have a job/career that took so much of my time. But I was completely unable to say with specificity what it would look like if I had a job/career that was less demanding. While I was recovering, I was led to write Thriving Through Chaos: A Manual on how to build resilience and thrive by taking responsibility for our lives and tapping into our inner guidance. In the process of writing, I was led to the people, places, and things/tools from whom I learned how to overcome the burnout I had experienced, and how to avoid burnout in the future, by following the basic steps that I write about in the book. It began with truly understanding that I, and every other human being, create my reality, and that everything that’s happening to me is simply a response to what I put out. The other important aspect of overcoming and avoiding burnout was learning the importance of my personal astrology and my inner guidance for helping me to thrive in the scenarios that burnt me out.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My soul’s mission is to help my clients release survival mode by healing their traumas so that they thrive. I am a certified wholistic health coach, author, certified reiki master, and energy healer. I grew up in Guyana, South America. As a child, I always felt as if I should be a psychiatrist or psychologist. I came to find out that this is literally in my birth chart, along with a possible career as an attorney. So, it is no coincidence that I had those inklings. I immigrated to the United States as an adult and ended up becoming an attorney. I am the antithesis of what people expect an attorney to be. I am calm, super patient, and an empathetic listener, all of which I use in my coaching practice. I have written Thriving Through Chaos: A Manual – Be On Your Spiritual Grind So That You Bounce Back Quickly From Life’s Curve Balls (and Pandemics Too). I own a business called Be Boundless, LLC, through which I offer my coaching and energy healing services. I am currently working on expanding my offers through Be Boundless that are tailored to helping my clients release survival mode and thrive. It is no coincidence that life has led me to this point. My experience with burnout had to happen because I had to learn how to heal myself and begin my healing journey, so that I am prepared to help the people who are patiently waiting for me to help them to heal and be boundless. I never expected that leaving my job in 2020 allowed me to remember why I am here and to develop the confidence to walk that path. At this point, I am not certain where my journey is taking me because we never know until we get there. I am excited and happy to be on it and to help people to remember how to heal and thrive. Stay tuned.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. I have always been a good listener. At a certain point, I learned to be an even better listener through asking questions instead of jumping to conclusions or becoming defensive in certain situations. This doesn’t mean that I am the perfect communicator. It means that I don’t talk a lot. However, when I speak people listen because what I have to say is impactful. When we listen instead of rushing to have our say, we have time to think and know when and whether it makes sense to respond.
- The ability to take full responsibility for yourself. I have always had the ability to take responsibility for the outward me who makes mistakes. Remembering how to take responsibility for the inner me is next level. It took me some time to wrap my mind around the idea that each individual creates their reality. This means that we are ultimately responsible for ourselves. It therefore makes no sense to be complaining about what other people are supposedly doing to us because we are the common denominator in these scenarios. Fight the urge to find someone or something outside of yourself to blame for how your life is going. Take some quiet time and work on yourself. It will be miraculous how the people, places and things around you adjust for the better just because you chose to work on yourself.
- Recognizing that your triggers are helpmates. Anything that triggers an emotional response in me indicates that I have a trauma that needs to be healed. The key is to go inward and ask yourself questions designed to understand why someone saying/doing something in a particular way makes you angry or frustrated or shameful or whatever. Getting to the root of why that emotion is occurring reveals the trauma so that you can heal. Once you’re healed, you’re no longer triggered.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
One of the things that I learned after I left my job in 2020, is how to be spirit-led. I was reminded through attending Spiritual Ascension University, that I have a supernatural team or Spirit Team that I can call on. Most of the time, I beat overwhelm by checking in with my Team before I do anything or when I’m going through something. That’s the secret to thriving through chaos. When what I am being guided to do seems overwhelming, I rely on my Team for guidance on how to get IT done. Same for job-related stress. I might be guided to a person or a book or a video that talks about how to do the specific thing I am guided to do. Or the situation would be handled with minimal effort from me. Recently, I have learned to speak out loud about the overwhelm I might be feeling. Not only do I feel relieved, but answers come to me quicker.
I also might take a nap. I might be working on a project and cannot get past a certain point. Taking a nap helps to clear my mind and I usually come out of it with the answers that I am looking for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beboundlessllc.com
- Instagram: @the_wholesome_life_coach
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@gillianthomas41
- Other: linktr.ee/the_wholesome_life_coach
Image Credits
IG: @crystallinealchemyproductions (the photo of me standing) Selwyn Collins: the other photo.
