Imagine Josie: works fulltime, is socially active, takes care of her sick mum and likes playing tennis with her friends at the tennis club. She finds her work challenging: high demands, high workload. She has just accepted a new position. Her department is going through some changes which could threaten her position. In the back of her mind the financial stress of the mortgage is often nagging. She likes to live up to the expectations and she feels very responsible, in her work as well as in her relationship and towards her mum. She sets high standards which are hard to achieve. Lately she is feeling tired, stressed, more anxious than usual, she doesn’t sleep well, and she seems to get into arguments more easily. She hasn’t felt like socialising lately and has been turning down invitations to find herself on the couch in front of the tellie. She comes in to our practice to ask for strategies in how to improve her levels of energy, her mood and her anxiety.
It is quite likely that Josie is suffering from a burnout. The symptoms of a burnout are as follows: extreme fatigue, sleeping problems, concentration problems, feeling stressed all the time, irritable and even small problems can feel impossible to solve. Usually people suffering from burnout feel like their problems and stress have spiralled out of control and they feel helpless and defeated. They can’t see a solution anymore.
A burnout is caused by long term exposure to stress. When the body initially is exposed to stress it will try to shift to a higher gear to provide some extra energy to cope with the stressor. This mechanism is called the ‘fight-flight response’. Due to the release of stress hormones your body will shift to hyperactive mode which enables you to fight the stressor to return to a normal state once the stressor has disappeared. When you are exposed to a long term stressor (such as work pressure) your body doesn’t get the chance to revive and return to the original state. This results in exhaustion and sleeping problems because of the disturbance in homeostatic balance.
Not everyone is likely to suffer from burnout symptoms. People who are self-critical, perfectionistic, responsible and high achievers are more at risk of developing these symptoms. They tend to work even harder when the body is providing signals that it can’t handle the levels of stress and responsibility anymore. Often people become even more focused on work and allow relaxing activities and their physical fitness to drop off. All of this is contributing to the negative cycle ending in a burnout.
The way to get out of this negative cycle and improve your symptoms can be captured in one keyword: Balance. Balance in your work hours, in your social time, in relationship / family time, in physical health time and in ‘you’ time. This requires some reflection: what is important to you? What gives you a sensation of reviving? Walking the dog? Running on the beach? Cooking? Coffee with friends? Reading a magazine/book? Yoga class?
A practical strategy to start your improvements is to set up a diary in which you plan time at work as well as outside of work. You need structure! Book in the things you would like to do with a timeframe attached to it. Make sure you are making a realistic planning. Plan activities that you feel would bring you back in balance as well as down time to relax and de-stress. It will be easier to leave work on time or stop working from home if you’ve got other things planned on those moments.
Besides practical strategies to overcome a burnout, coping with personality traits and habits in a more positive way will help you to prevent a new burnout to develop. Unfortunately there is not a simple trick to instantly change this. Making a list of your good qualities as an employee and putting next to them the pitfalls of these qualities (such as good quality: responsible, pitfall: solving other people’s problems) can create awareness of when you are shifting your quality into a pitfall. This process can be challenging as we all have our blind spots when it comes to our own performance and habits.
One last tip: one problem that is often raised in consultations with people suffering from burnout is their inability to say ‘no’ because of their fear of the consequences. Questioning yourself ‘what would be the worst thing that could happen if I would say no?’ could help in putting your fear into a better perspective.
While writing this, I am fully aware that solving symptoms of burnout often require more than the strategies mentioned above. If you recognise the symptoms of burnout or you feel like you’re getting close to them and you would like to receive professional guidance in how to overcome and prevent these symptoms, give us a call to make an appointment to start your process towards rebalancing your life and work situation.
It is quite likely that Josie is suffering from a burnout. The symptoms of a burnout are as follows: extreme fatigue, sleeping problems, concentration problems, feeling stressed all the time, irritable and even small problems can feel impossible to solve. Usually people suffering from burnout feel like their problems and stress have spiralled out of control and they feel helpless and defeated. They can’t see a solution anymore.
A burnout is caused by long term exposure to stress. When the body initially is exposed to stress it will try to shift to a higher gear to provide some extra energy to cope with the stressor. This mechanism is called the ‘fight-flight response’. Due to the release of stress hormones your body will shift to hyperactive mode which enables you to fight the stressor to return to a normal state once the stressor has disappeared. When you are exposed to a long term stressor (such as work pressure) your body doesn’t get the chance to revive and return to the original state. This results in exhaustion and sleeping problems because of the disturbance in homeostatic balance.
Not everyone is likely to suffer from burnout symptoms. People who are self-critical, perfectionistic, responsible and high achievers are more at risk of developing these symptoms. They tend to work even harder when the body is providing signals that it can’t handle the levels of stress and responsibility anymore. Often people become even more focused on work and allow relaxing activities and their physical fitness to drop off. All of this is contributing to the negative cycle ending in a burnout.
The way to get out of this negative cycle and improve your symptoms can be captured in one keyword: Balance. Balance in your work hours, in your social time, in relationship / family time, in physical health time and in ‘you’ time. This requires some reflection: what is important to you? What gives you a sensation of reviving? Walking the dog? Running on the beach? Cooking? Coffee with friends? Reading a magazine/book? Yoga class?
A practical strategy to start your improvements is to set up a diary in which you plan time at work as well as outside of work. You need structure! Book in the things you would like to do with a timeframe attached to it. Make sure you are making a realistic planning. Plan activities that you feel would bring you back in balance as well as down time to relax and de-stress. It will be easier to leave work on time or stop working from home if you’ve got other things planned on those moments.
Besides practical strategies to overcome a burnout, coping with personality traits and habits in a more positive way will help you to prevent a new burnout to develop. Unfortunately there is not a simple trick to instantly change this. Making a list of your good qualities as an employee and putting next to them the pitfalls of these qualities (such as good quality: responsible, pitfall: solving other people’s problems) can create awareness of when you are shifting your quality into a pitfall. This process can be challenging as we all have our blind spots when it comes to our own performance and habits.
One last tip: one problem that is often raised in consultations with people suffering from burnout is their inability to say ‘no’ because of their fear of the consequences. Questioning yourself ‘what would be the worst thing that could happen if I would say no?’ could help in putting your fear into a better perspective.
While writing this, I am fully aware that solving symptoms of burnout often require more than the strategies mentioned above. If you recognise the symptoms of burnout or you feel like you’re getting close to them and you would like to receive professional guidance in how to overcome and prevent these symptoms, give us a call to make an appointment to start your process towards rebalancing your life and work situation.