If you think you're crazy, you may be right. You're not alone.
"I'm not insane," Donna Carlson writes, "I'm fully aware I'm crazy. It's time we talk about the realities of depression and burnout in the workplace. Then we can admit that we're crazy, as usual, and set our brilliance free."
Donna has a recurring record of success and self-sabotage in the workplace and in close relationships. Every crash has been linked to the crazymaking voices in her head she calls "the monkeys." Those cheeky, sarcastic, wily monkeys in your mind can make you crazy with their constant chatter: You'll never be good enough. You're alone. What's wrong with you? Why can't you think/be like other people?
The monkeys can be your greatest source of wisdom and they can be a thief, trying to kill your opportunities, steal your confidence and destroy your dreams. "I used to think if I could cage the monkeys, they'd lose control over me. Then a friend showed me an even better way," Donna says. "I've learned to pay attention to what the monkeys are telling, then let them know I've got it from here."
Through candid conversations between two close friends in different stages of life-one a mom in her early forties locked in a high-pressured career, the other a retired CEO-Donna:
- Explains how monkeys can undermine workplace success and damage relationships.
- Demonstrates how monkey messages are often rooted in childhood trauma.
- Provides language to discuss the monkeys and their impact on mental health.
- Presents a tested prescription for neurological well-being called the NeuroRx.
- Underscores the ineffaceable value of community and friendship, Fridays at Five.
Join this journey. Make a new friend. Together let's create more humanity in the workplace.
About the Author
Donna Carlson has provided customer relationship strategy and marketing for multinational and boutique organizations since 1989. She studied for a Master of Arts in Global Leadership to cultivate a whole-life leadership program for women that she started teaching in 2018, after three years as a Strategic Business Partner for the Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs. Her pandemic shift in 2020 was a chief executive role starting a new Chamber of Commerce in Estes Park, leveraging that customer relationship strategy to triple membership in two years. For an encore she led member development in Colorado Springs in 2022 before creating a consulting program that provides customer relationship strategy and brokering wellness services in the health and wellness industry.
She lives in Colorado Springs with her husband Jeff and their only son-Riley, the eternal puppy-just looking forward to the next time their three brilliant adult daughters can visit. Find Donna @crazyasusual67 on Instagram or DonnaCarlson360 on LinkedIn. Visit www.crazyasusual.com to learn more about speaking opportunities and working women connecting on Fridays at Five in your city.
