Burnout is being talked about a lot right now amidst COVID-19. It can feel so sneaky that you don’t even know it’s there! Known for holding us back, sitting on our chests, or making us feel low, you may think it’s just that you need a vacation. After all, you’ve been working a lot lately. But what about when a vacation doesn’t fix it? What about when you find yourself returning from a break, not feeling any better about the work that is waiting for you?
It has happened to me. I’d take a planned break or vacation and not fully decompress. I’d take work calls and emails because as a small business, we’ve been told to stay responsive. I’d answer texts from clients about their appointments, because even though I’d shared I’d be out of town, they’d forgotten and I didn’t want them to show up at the office when I wasn’t there. I’d schedule meetings for right when I returned, sometimes going straight to the office after getting off the plane. I’d skip lunch and eat dinner late. I’d shorten my time away to get back to work. Can you see all the problems? I had such poor boundaries!
Poor boundaries because I had been taught to hustle to get results. I had been taught to be responsive, efficient, and constantly productive. I had been taught that rest was for retirement. I had been taught to wear the badge of busyness. When I found myself tired, irritable, and unhappy, I was told that my 20s were for working hard to make my dreams of work-life balance possible later. Later. How much later? I’ve known for awhile that I’m going to work for 50 years of my lifetime. I also know that I’m called to work as an ‘elder millennial’ because I’m chasing purpose and impact alongside some of my peers. I’ve tried to pep talk myself through burnout, telling myself I was kicking ass and taking names. And I was, until I realized I was driving myself into the ground.
Identify Burnout
What can burnout look like? It can be fatigue, irritability, depression, and numbness. It can be a loss of trust, working too many hours, and saying yes when we want to say no. For me it was all these things and more. My experience included avoiding the news and movies that made me think of work. It was increased criticism, controlling behaviors, and having a short fuse. It was me being unrealistic of deadlines, lost pleasantries in emails, and avoidance of socializing because it felt like too much work. Does any of this resonate with you? Perhaps you too are experiencing burnout.
Remove the Badge of Busyness
Burnout happens to all types of people and we can look at society as one piece of the bigger puzzle. As Americans, we’ve been encouraged to work full-time jobs with multiple side hustles. For some, it isn’t even a choice in needing to make ends meet. American culture has created the badge of busyness, celebrating how busy we all are as if it’s some sort of victory. Brene Brown speaks to this in one of her books on vulnerability, sharing how it doesn’t serve us to celebrate the badge of busyness and how instead, we need to revisit work-life balance as a part of our purpose. If we can slow ourselves down, perhaps we can pivot and reprioritize differently. By asking ourselves, “is this aligned with my goals or is this just busyness?” we can strategize our next move for the better. Removing the badge of busyness is just one strategy to achieving balance over burnout.
Are you ready for more strategies to tackle burnout? Check out our Balance Over Burnout on-demand course, offering 5 strategies to address burnout for both you and your clients.
Interested to learn if my burnout journey has a happy ending? Check out my new book Perfectioneur: From Workaholic to Well-Balanced. One Therapist’s Guide to Get You There for more on my story as well as additional tips to achieve your own work-life balance!