Three Ways to Prevent Burnout
In my last post, we discussed some of the signs and symptoms of burnout, an increasingly common mental health threat in our modern lives. Burnout comes with feelings of anxiety, depression, cynicism, escapism, exhaustion, and sometimes even physical illness.
If you are experiencing stress as a result of your job, caregiving for family members, parenting, or other life stressors, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Let’s talk about three ways to intervene early to prevent burnout from getting you down.
Practice regular self-care
Self-care is more than bubble baths and Netflix (though by all means, enjoy those when you can)! In their book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, authors Emily and Amelia Nagoski take a deep dive into the research about what kinds of self-care are critical to preventing burnout. Chief among them is exercise.
I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book as it’s chockful of practical help on the topic of burnout. But, I know that if you’re reading a blog on burnout, you might not have the time or luxury to read a whole book. Understandable! If you can’t, then check out Brene Brown’s hour-long podcast with Emily and Amelia to get the Cliff notes version (which is still fabulous).
Evaluate and tune up your boundaries
A major contributor to being overworked can be feeling over-committed. Many of us struggle to say no when we are asked to do things, even if we don’t have the time, energy, or money to do so. And these commitments add up fast. Beyond work there’s the request to attend the birthday party, host the family for the holidays, cover for the colleague who calls out sick, not to mention all the usual parenting, cleaning, cooking, and adulting we already don’t have time for.
Learning to say “no” may be the key you need to save yourself and make life manageable again. Learning to listen to your body is essential in developing boundaries. Feelings of exhaustion, anger, resentment and dread are all clues that perhaps you have said “yes” when in your heart of hearts, you wanted (or needed) to say “no.” It takes courage to honor our inner voice.
Warning: this tip is not for the faint of heart—establishing boundaries is hard! No wonder so many of us are burned out. Therapy can help immensely with learning to honor your inner voice and do the hard work of establishing your boundaries.
Develop your life outside of work
Another crucial practice in reducing and preventing burnout is to replenish your soul with life-giving hobbies, relationships, and time spent outside of your responsibilities. I find it fascinating that the word “recreation” can actually be broken down into the words “re-creation.” When we allow ourselves to get lost in gardening, dancing, playing an instrument, doing improv comedy, swimming, or even stamp collecting—whatever floats your boat, including boating!—we are re-created by the joy and playfulness of life.
You might have heard of “flow state,” which is a state of being where we are in a pleasant flow of doing or creating that we don’t even notice the passing of time. We just feel alive and at peace. This kind of emotional and neurological state of being has so many positive benefits for our mental health. What can you do to get back to being childlike again and explore a flow state?
therapy to help with burnout in tacoma, wa
If you’re suffering from burnout or want help to prevent it, therapy can help. I provide online therapy in WA state to help clients to rebalance their lives, support them to do the difficult work of establishing boundaries, and figure out how to make time for things that bring them joy. If you’d like to see if we are good fit to work together, give me a call at 253-365-0403 for a free 15-min consultation.