Dealing with burnout or know someone who is?
It is not uncommon to experience burnout at some point in your life, especially for women who may have a demanding job and attempt to juggle family, work and other responsibilities. But when you feel like you are burning both ends of the candle, feel depleted, overwhelmed, exhausted, like you want to quit everything, it’s time to take a close look at your life. Burnout is a symptom. You feel trapped, stuck in an impossible situation and can’t seem to figure out how to make it better other than quit your job maybe, which may cause you more financial stress.
However, it’s likely not the job itself as much as what is going on inside. In fact, a peer of yours could be with the same job and daily responsibilities yet not experience burnout.
Of course, this is not to say that a 55 hour job does not contribute to burnout and lack work-life balance.
If we dig into a little more of what work-life balance means, it means you are spending enough time doing things that are important to you and that replenish your energy so that you feel balanced and fulfilled.
With that in mind, burnout is tied to two main things.
- You are not in alignment with your purpose. In fact, you could have the odd job that requires you to work 14 hours a day but someone can actually thrive on it as long as it is in alignment with their purpose.
You probably wonder what that means. There is something deep inside of each human being that is seeking expression and if it is being suppressed, not being let out, you will experience burnout. Take the example of someone who is a painter at heart, but they have a job in finance. They may or may not know at this point that painting is truly their passion but because it is not being expressed and that their current job is placing demands on them – they are being drained. Everything is energy and when you do not replenish what makes your cup full, you start burning out. Why? Because your subconscious, your emotional mind is craving something but it’s not being nourished.
On the flip side, if you are in alignment with your purpose, you feel energized. You are doing what you love and the hours required do not really matter. You don’t consider it work, as it is just your passion.
In order to overcome burnout, spend some time establishing your purpose, a meaningful goal for yourself that excites you and makes you happy, something you would really love to do, no matter how far-fetched it is and unrealistic it may seem. It does not matter if you have no clue how to make it happen. When you have a meaningful goal you are pursuing (vs. hoping life will hand you something not too bad), you feel happy to work towards something that is important for you, a dream of yours. It keeps you going no matter the challenges and it awakens a side of you you didn’t know was there. More importantly, you feel in control of your life. You are not the toy of circumstances or events that occur to you, you create your own circumstances. When you experience burnout, you feel like a victim of all the pulls you are experiencing. When you are aligned with your purpose, you are in the driver seat.
- The other key element is attitude. Of course, a positive mental attitude is key. But it’s not just looking at the glass half full vs. half-empty, because that’s hard to do when you feel burnt out and it requires a lot of practice to train yourself to look at the world that way. It starts with the attitude towards yourself, your future, the world, understanding what you are truly capable of and that you ARE in control and have the ability to create your own reality. In fact, we become what we think about. So we must train our thoughts to bring more good things in our lives.
If you would like to learn more on how to make burnout a thing of the past, come and join me on next free webinar.
You can register here!
#nurses #healthcareworkers #teachers #educators #hrprofessionals #managers #mentalhealth #burnout #fatigue
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