4 Things you probably hadn’t considered with Preventing Burnout
Dread, dread everywhere. And exhaustion too. You’ve hit a limit and it no longer feels like the work you do is meaningful or worthwhile. Maybe you’re starting to resent work or the people at work, or maybe you resent yourself for letting it get to this point.
Whether we like it or not, our capacity to give is finite. We have our limits and we need boundaries.
“if you dont decide to rest, your mind and your body will decide for you.”
Burnout symptoms can appear when our personal limits are not adhered to and when our boundaries are crossed one too many times.
Prevention is certainly more preferable than treatment and response.
So here’s four things to consider when trying to opt out of hustle-culture and prevent burning out in the first place.
1. What types of rest are you giving yourself?
Now I’m not just talking about more sleep or massages booked, although these can form part of your physical rest.
Other important types of rest include:
Mental rest: Can you leave work at work, or do you find that your shower thoughts are usually work related or that SOMEHOW the work-hat just finds its way to the top of your noggin when you’re with family, friends or alone trying to have some me time.
Social rest: Is FOMO getting in the way of you being able to see friends and family when YOU have capacity to, rather than when the invitation appears?
Sensory rest: Are we avoiding crowded and loud spaces when we want peace and quiet after a bustling day? How much time are we spending on our devices?
Emotional rest: Do you allow yourself to delay responding to that friend’s message a few hours or a few days later when you’ve got no emotional reserves left? Are you being selective with you you’re spending time with, ensuring that those you do see are going to be considerate of your emotional state?
2. Can you distinguish a ‘Circuit breakers’ from sustainable change?
“I’m exhausted, I need a holiday!”
Sure. But what happens when you get from Fiji or Europe? Unless you’ve started to seriously think about longer term habits, chances are it only a matter of time before the cycle repeats itself and we end up in the burnout zone again.
Holidays, weekends away and time away from the source of stress are important to be able to reset things, but they alone are ‘circuit-breakers’. It is more effective to map out more sustainable habits than engage in this type of ‘911 self-care’
3. Where is your Joy?
As the all-knowing great American philosopher/Queen Billie Eilish once sung
“Things I once enjoyed, just keep me employed now”
Has the hamster wheel of life, the routine of existence become the norm? Are you working to live or simply living to work? Do you even know what bring you joy anymore these days? When was the last time you prioritised those things… Not because you think you should be doing them, but because you actually want to?
4. What makes it hard for you to say ‘NO’ to others?
Do you fall victim to the guilt-monster within? The voice that convinces you to place other people’s needs before yours. The voice that confuses other people’s sense of urgency with your own.
Maybe the inability to say no runs a little deeper and you’ve tied your sense of worth to how helpful you can be to others. Perhaps there is now the pressure to maintain the status quo i.e. I’m the go-to person, I’ve always said yes so I have to continue saying yes. It’s who I am.
Burnout is more common than we’d like it to be. Often times there is a cycle of people-pleasing and ‘pushing on’ that can be deeply ingrained which can create a sense of conditional self-worth.
If you’d like some support with building a more sustainable way of working, please feel free to reach out to me.
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