Are you burning out?
Here are my therapeutic musings…
🧠 I’ve been reflecting on how many clients approach me when they’re on the brink of burnout.
Personally speaking, I know the very real struggle of trying to juggle a demanding work life with attempting to look after myself and find time for ‘fun’. Ironically, I haven’t always succeeded in doing this. I’ve experienced stress and anxiety, which eventually led to burnout. And saw me ending up in a psychiatrist’s office.
What I’ve learnt is that SOMETIMES IT TAKES A CRISIS - we resist making changes until there’s no other option. Until life (and often our health), brings us to our knees.
But it needn’t get to that point.
So what exactly is burnout and how can you recognise the signs before it’s too late? For starters, it’s a very physiological phenomenon. It’s a sense of being all dried up. That you have nothing in you to give. Think of it like an engine with no fuel or back up reserve. I literally felt that my brain was fried, and struggled to put a sentence together. I felt misunderstood. I couldn't derive pleasure from anything.
Certain personality types are certainly more predisposed to experiencing burnout than others (but it can happen to anyone). These individuals tend to be overachievers and perfectionists, who take on too much and don’t ask for help. As a society, we often praise these people for their superhuman prowess, which only exacerbates the problem. If you are that way inclined, know you are more prone to burnout. Take stock of the way you lead your life and make some interventions TODAY. Don’t let it get to the point where it takes months, or even years to recover.
📢 Ask yourself: “Do I have three or more of these?””
Cognitive symptoms: Difficulty concentrating, brain fog, struggling to make decisions, feeling overwhelmed, Low mood
Behavioural symptoms:, irritability, avoiding others, lack of motivation, turning to substances, over or under eating
Physical symptoms: Stomach issues, sleep disturbances, headaches or dizziness, muscle pain, chest pain or a fast heartbeat, decrease in sex drive
💡The revelation: Recognised by the World Health Organisation as an “occupational phenomenon”, I’ve found that it doesn’t just come about as a result of a stressful job, but for two main reasons:
When there’s been just one too many stressors after another.
When we’re living out of alignment.
What do I mean by living out of alignment? Well, we have two worlds: outer and inner.
Imbalance occurs when these two worlds are in conflict. When your behavior, relationships, career choice or life decisions don’t reflect your core values. For example, you might find yourself living in the wrong climate, or country. Or chasing a promotion that you don’t actually want. Or always saying ‘yes’ to demands placed on you without considering your own wishes first. You may not be listening to the stirrings of your soul.
Start to notice when you feel energized or drained. It’s ok if this comes as a surprise to you. Allow yourself to evolve. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give ourselves is to ask: “Is this still the right path for me?”
💛 Product I’m loving: When we experience stress over a prolonged period of time, our HPA axis (The Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis) is impacted. The HPA axis is a major neuroendocrine system that controls our responses to stress and regulates many body processes, such as digestion, the immune system, mood etc. When it’s deregulated, we produce too much cortisol, which leads to anxiety. When I was facing burnout, the thing that helped me most was taking this hormone saliva test under the guidance of a registered nutritional therapist:
https://regeneruslabs.com/products/cortisol-awakening-response
This “stress test” measures your cortisol levels upon waking and then at several points during the day (you just do the test over the course of one day) to get a snapshot of your HPA axis. Once I was armed with this data, the nutritionist was able to prescribe me the correct supplements to bring my cortisol levels down and help regulate my adrenal glands.
Thanks for being here,
