What is Burnout and How Can We Address it?
By: Andrew Williams
Have you ever been in the middle of your day and just wanted to find a dark closet to go sit in? You know, shut the door and sit there in complete silence away from the world. Well, if you have I can tell you that you are not alone. Your world can feel overly stressful at times, especially around the holidays! If you are experiencing these feelings, then you are more than likely in a stage of burnout. Today I want to talk to you about burnout, the meaning behind it and ways to combat it in daily life.
The definition of burnout is the emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Just reading that sentence makes my body and mind feel icky. It also hits my soul deeply because there are times where that is exactly how I would define my life. Living in today’s world can bring you to the state of burnout quicker than ever before. How many friends do you have that have talked about just moving onto some land and starting a commune to get away from it all? Burnout is such a widespread commonality but most of us aren’t doing anything to prevent it!
Imagine your best friend coming to you with their shoulders slumped, head down, and asking you for help because they just feel so burned out in life. What would you do? Tell them to suck it up and get back to work? I sure hope not. Most of us would give that friend a hug and tell them we are here to help. So why don’t we do that for ourselves? Why don’t we take the time to nurture ourselves so that we can show up like we want to every day? Maybe we expect too much out of ourselves, maybe we feel like we don’t deserve self-love or maybe we just simply don’t know what we can do. No matter what stage of burnout you feel like you are in there are ways to help yourself and that is what I am going to show you.
Signs of burnout can be vast but there are common signs you can look out for such as exhaustion, isolation, escape fantasies (my brain’s preferred sign), irritability and frequent illness. We don’t have to wait until we are in these crises type modes to start combating burnout. We can make small changes in our lives that will build up to create a resilient body and soul. Let’s go through just a few ways that we can do that.
Prioritize self-care
Self-care is the single best thing we can do to resist burnout. It sounds so simple to say but is rather difficult to act upon in a busy life. The human brain is exceptional on coming up with reasons why we can’t do something, especially when it comes to taking care of ourselves, but it is such an essential thing to do. I bet If you sat down without distraction and wrote down all the things you like to do for yourself the list would be longer than you initially expected but are you actually doing any of those things? That is what I challenge you to do today! Sit and write all the ways you show love to your body and mind whether it is through physical activity, eating well, journaling, meditating, lighting an obscene number of candles and sitting in a bath until you look like a raison, etc. Anything you can do to fill your cup can change your mindset in life and help with burnout. I want you to plan on doing two of those activities this week. Go ahead and pull up your calendar and schedule them in so that you actually do them. And when the times comes - remind yourself how important this is to do!
Set Boundaries
Phew this one can be a difficult one for you people pleasers out there. But setting boundaries for yourself can be such a tremendous addition to your life. Setting boundaries can be external and internal which I recommend doing both. Not showing up to a party on a Friday night because you are too exhausted from the work week is a good example of setting an external boundary. Are people going to be upset or sad you couldn’t make it? Maybe, maybe not. But they will get over it and you will be rested to show up for yourself the next day. An example of an internal boundary would be to not get on social media while in bed before going to sleep. This is something my wife (your Get Greauxing Queen) and I started doing at home and it has honestly been wonderful. The doom scrolling before bed can prevent your brain from shutting down and even add stress to your body when you’re supposed to be calming within your sanctuary. Give it a try for a week and I promise your sleep will improve. Can you think of any boundaries you need to set with yourself or others or just learn to start saying “no” to more things? Write them down :)
Find Value
When you’re in the depths of burnout, there can be a feeling of dread. Questions such as “What are we doing all this for?” can creep up into your head and linger. Finding value within your life can give you a sense of pride and purpose. You might do this by finding value in your profession or in your personal life. Figuring out what you value in your life can simply be done by thinking about all the things that you are grateful for. I highly encourage you to journal and let your words guide you to what you value. Seeing the world in this manner can change your perspective on life and be such a powerful tool to beat burnout symptoms.
Communicate
This is the last one I will talk about today, but I promise it is by far the most important. Communicating how you feel to someone you trust is paramount. We are not solitary people. We constantly rely on others for help in everyday life and this should be no different. Just by expressing your burnout to a loved one can be relieving on its own but it also helps them understand what you are going through. Some might see this as weakness but it’s one of the best things you can do especially if you are in a relationship. I had a moment of burnout earlier in the year and I stayed silent for far too long. One day I just looked up at my partner and said, “I feel incredibly burnt out”. I said nothing more, no context, and the message was immediately received with love and compassion. We made some changes together to clear my schedule for a few days and find some R&R. It is ok to ask for help! If you feel like your partner or friend is getting burnt out and you see them struggling, maybe you can go to them and ask what they need or how you can help. We are not alone in this.
Burnout is powerful and intrusive. It can sneak up on us if we don’t recognize it quick enough and can take us down. But hopefully today you have learned how to detect it and how to combat it head on. Take care of yourself and take control of your mind so that you have the ability to live the life you want. Make uncomfortable decisions to make your self-love a priority and please communicate how you are feeling to someone. Chances are they are feeling something similar too. Thank you for taking the time to sit and read with me today. I am proud of you, and you should be too!
“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving. We get stronger and more resilient” – Steve Maraboli
