THE LONGEVITY INSTITUTE
When Success Leaves You Running on Empty
Executive wellbeing begins with making space for the person behind the position.
Your phone is on flight mode. Your mind is still in the boardroom.
By Dr Anushka Reddy, HPCSA-registered physician and clinical lead, Vivari Wellness | The Longevity Institute, Johannesburg
Somewhere between takeoff and your first coffee, you find yourself replaying a difficult meeting, planning tomorrow’ s presentation or wondering what is happening in your absence. You may be thousands of metres above the office, yet you have barely left it.
For executives, entrepreneurs and business owners, this constant connection can become a familiar way of life. Responsibility follows you home, travels in your hand luggage and occupies the quiet moments that once belonged to you.
The question is: when did you last feel rested?
The demands of leadership are rarely confined to working hours. There are teams to support, pressures to manage and decisions that affect other people’ s livelihoods. Being dependable can become being permanently available.
You continue to perform, but the effort required feels greater. Patience wears thin. Sleep feels less refreshing. Even a holiday can become an exercise in answering emails from a different location.
These experiences deserve attention, rather than another promise to slow down when things settle.
At Vivari Wellness, within Vivari Hotel & Spa in greater Johannesburg, the executive burnout programme creates space to step back and examine how you are living, working and recovering.
Its approach brings a medical perspective into a setting designed for comfort, privacy and rest. The starting point is the individual: their concerns, their routines and the pressures they carry.