Burnout and Boundaries
This is such an important topic, and one we tend to gloss over. We need reminders about it a few times a year, and what better a time to be reminded than right now as many of us are slowly returning to work in some capacity.
Stress can be functional and even helpful to us as humans to make us productive in the work space. It is normal. However, chronic stress is different. Chronic stress is that negative feeling we experience about the goings on in our lives, that feeling that doesn’t seem to go away. It causes us to feel anxious and depressed. It impacts our cortisol levels, which have a knock on effect on our sleep. It decreased our dopamine, which directly impacts our happiness. And it even reduces the size of certain parts of the brain, like the hippocampus. Stress negatively impacts our higher order thinking, our ability to concentrate and our memory.
Burnout is the direct result of chronic stress left untreated. It is a feeling of utter exhaustion, depletion and the loss of our sense of self (depersonalization). It is negativity and cynicism. And it is rock bottom for many people.
If this is where you are, please reach out to someone nearby.
There are little changes we can make to our lives that can help to avoid burnout from occurring. With support and a few tweaks to our routines and habits, we can also prevent the on-going cycle of work to rest to work to rest…
In a recent podcast interview with Caitlyn de Beer on The Unpodcast, I speak about burnout and how we can begin to make some of these little changes.
Click here to find the episode. It is a quick 30 min listen and I love listening to these whilst I am running.
Episode 51 on Caitlyn’s site.
If you are burnout, please reach out to someone you trust, or contact me and I can refer you to someone in your are. You do not need to walk this tough road alone.
Bookings:
If you are a corporate business person looking for someone to share on this topic with your employees, click here to contact me. Online sessions are available until lockdown is lifted.
If you are a teacher or on school management and would like to book this topic, click here to contact me. Online sessions are available until lockdown is lifted.