De-Stress For Success with Isabella Ferguson
This podcast is about finding calm. I talk to the experts and bring you evidence-based practical methods to help you destress and live purposefully. In my early 40’s, I bowed out of a 20 year legal career “to spend more time with the kids”. However it was more than that. Decades of running on high anxiety and drinking to cope had had its toll on my nervous system and I was burnt out. I didn’t know it at the time, but from there I started years of recovery and ultimately stepped into a new way of living. I went to rehab, retrained as a counsellor and coach, created a successful counselling practice, became a motivational & corporate wellness speaker, took up painting and now support others to destress for success.
https://isabellaferguson.com.au
De-Stress For Success with Isabella Ferguson
Burnout - Don't Struggle in Silence
Today, I talk about burnout, what it is, what the tell-tale symptoms are, what professions are more likely than others to get it, how to pre-empt it and how to manage it. Burnout is often a silent struggle. For anyone teetering on the brink, or if you're simply invested in safeguarding your mental well-being, let this discussion guide you towards understanding, support, and ultimately, a reclamation of your vitality. Remember, recognising the signs is just the first step; reaching out, setting boundaries, redefining what a successful life looks like to you and crafting a support network can illuminate the road to recovery. This episode is about arming yourself with the tools for rebalancing your life.
ISABELLA FERGUSON
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Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of De-Stress for Success. Before I kick off, I received a lovely email from Maria. She said Isabella, how do you know when you're stressed and what do you do to cope with stress? We hear from all of your guests what their answers are to this question, but we never hear from you in relation to these. So good question I know when I'm stressed, when I start to withdraw, I stop exercising, I start to eat a little unhealthier and I go a little quiet, stop connecting with mates.
Speaker 1:The way that I de-stress is to pretty much re-empt that mode. So I've got a pretty strict routine. Bursting the morning, I will either go for my very set routine run that I do all the time it's only 5Ks and I just simply do that or I jump on the peloton for 20 minutes if I'm a little bit tired, or 30 minutes and it is an absolute mood changer. I can be a bit fatigued, grumpy, beforehand and afterwards I am positively bouncing. Today I'm talking about burnout. I'm exploring what burnout feels and looks like, what the subtle signs are that may go unnoticed, and discussing strategies for both managing it and recovering from it. It shares some common traits of stress, but in reality, it's very, very different. Burnout it's a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged and excessive stress, often related to work or caregiving responsibilities. It's characterized by feelings of cynicism, detachment and a sense of ineffectiveness or a lack of accomplishment. Burnout can manifest as a result of chronic workplace stress, demanding job expectations, a lack of control over your work or an imbalance between work and personal life. You're likely going to feel overwhelmed, fatigued and struggle to meet the demanding responsibilities of life, and it's actually recognized by the World Health Organization as a serious health condition that can have a massive impact on your well-being and your ability to perform across most aspects of your life. In my work and my own experience personally, it can feel like your brain has powered down, like you can do the simple things to keep yourself alive and safe, like stack the dishwasher, get the kids to school, maybe make their lunches, but more complex tasks like email life, admin, key work, performance tasks, are impossible. I've heard it said, your brain is like it's in a fog, your limbs are heavy. You're all a shadow of your form of self.
Speaker 1:There are some common contributors to burnout, and they include, firstly, excessive workload being consistently overworked, having unrealistic job expectation, facing unmanageable workloads. So it often includes the long work hours, tight deadlines and a lack of resources or support. Or a lack of control. Feeling a lack of control over your decision making, uh processes at work. We feel like you don't have autonomy, and it can lead to this feeling of helplessness and frustration. Or a lack of recognition and rewards at work, not receiving acknowledgement for your efforts and achievements, feeling undervalued in the workplace. These can contribute to burnout also. A poor work-life balance, unclear job expectations so, with this lack of clarity in your roles and responsibilities, it can lead to confusion. This can lead to stress, where you're uncertain about what's expected of you. It can lead to a sense of inadequacy and frustration. Or mismatched values, misalignment between your personal values and the values of the organization that you work for. You can feel disconnected and the purpose or the mission of your work can diminish your motivation. A lack of social support can also lead to you feeling isolated, either in the workplace or personally, and this can contribute to burnout. Job insecurity is another one. Fear of job loss or constant uncertainty about the stability of employment can lead to a persistent state of anxiety and stress. And look, last but not least, by any means, because it should really be one of those categories that should almost come first here. It's caregiving overload, and we'll touch on this a little bit more. More.
Speaker 1:Burnout can affect individuals in all professions. It doesn't discriminate. There are certain jobs and work environments that are more commonly associated with burnout, and here are some of them Healthcare professionals so doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, caregivers so looking after family members, parenting children with special needs. Feeling stressed and emotionally on edge and unsafe in your own home, it can lead to you really feeling like you're in survival mode and you're just operating on this high level, prolonged, chronic stress. This category can really lead to burnout. Emergency services personnel, social workers, educators Of course it's the corporate executive and managers, so it's also those professions, like legal professionals, where just the pressure of decision making, the responsibility of the success of the work that you do, can really lead to an intense emotional toll. So clearly, burnout doesn't discriminate.
Speaker 1:Burnout isn't just about being tired or stressed. It's a multi-dimensional experience that affects every aspect of your being. It can feel like a relentless exhaustion that seeps into your bones, a persistent feeling of being overwhelmed by even the smallest of tasks, and you may find yourself questioning the purpose and passion that, once fueled your work, you can feel disillusioned. Recognising the signs early, taking proactive steps to address them, is often crucial in preventing and managing burnout. In fact, recognising that you in fact may have burnout is the first step towards recovery. It's a recognition that what you are experiencing is beyond your everyday feeling of fatigue, that it's not going to go away by itself and it's not your fault.
Speaker 1:A lot of people who suffer burnout have those personality traits that like to do things themselves, don't like to burden others, like to just keep on going. So this recognition is often very hard to face for people that are suffering burnout. It's an acceptance that you're not being lazy or unmotivated and it's something that's quite different to what you felt before. That needs proactive help and change. So let's look at the signs.
Speaker 1:The signs may manifest physically, emotionally or behaviourally. Physical signs include persistent headaches, fatigue and changes in sleep patterns. Emotional indicators may range from heightened irritability to a pervasive sense of cynicism. Behaviourally, you may have noticed increased absenteeism, withdrawal from social activities or a decline in productivity. You may feel a loss of motivation, decreased enthusiasm and passion for your work, a reduced sense of accomplishment, diminished feelings of competence and successful achievement. And here's another one depersonalisation. So a common trait is that you start treating people's objects rather than individuals with emotions, developing that sense of emotional withdrawal. The physical sides can be quite debilitating Sleep disturbances, difficulties falling asleep and disrupted sleep patterns, that fatigue that we mentioned earlier.
Speaker 1:Even after you've had a rest, you can have gut issues as well. Digestive problems, stomach aches, indigestion or irritable bowel syndrome commonly show up in people that are suffering burnout and due to all of these factors, your immune system can be weakened, leaving you susceptible to illnesses and infections. Have you noticed, for instance, when you're on holiday, you are the one that gets sick. Suddenly, when you're calm and able to relax, you're the one that is hit with all the colds. Or even just every winter, when it comes around, if there's a cold going around, it's you that seems to always get it. Change is an appetite is another one, and, of course, compromise mental health, so an increased vulnerability to mental health issues like anxiety and depression. One common thing that is often overlooked when it comes to burnout is increasingly using unhealthy coping mechanisms to try and de-stress or numb out or to sleep, and alcohol is a big one that people often use to cope with burnout, often not recognizing that it fuels burnout. So people who are in this burnout phase often are also in an alcohol and burnout cycle, and I have to say that using alcohol to cope with burnout really exacerbates your path to chronic stress and burnout.
Speaker 1:Managing burnout is about addressing both the symptoms and the root causes. So, first of all, establishing boundaries is crucial. Learning to say no and prioritise your time is really important. I have to say, this can be a really hard task If you're, I guess, often characterised by going the extra mile, doing the hard tasks, keeping the peace, being a yes person, a people pleaser or the one that takes on that caregiving role in your family. If this is how you've been operating for a long time and this is how other people see you as operating, you've got those inner and outer expectations to keep going. So it can take a lot of work, confidence building, role playing and experimenting with various ways to establish boundaries. I really could do a whole episode on this alone.
Speaker 1:Regular breaks, even short ones, during the work day, can make a significant difference. By this, it is, firstly, becoming aware that taking a break is not a selfish act. Rather it's an act of survival. So checking in a few times a day with yourself asking how are you feeling, how stressed am I? On a scale of 1 to 10 right now and doing something right there and then to release the valve to notch you back down that scale. Many people I work with operate on a scale of 8 or 9 all day, from the moment they wake up to the moment they walk in the door. But you see, stress is accumulative and you really do need to release that valve throughout the day before you walk in the door. Or else, like many people, you're walking in the door and you're grabbing a glass or a bottle of wine to try and de-stress. So here are some ways A cup of tea in the sun, breath exercises, a walk outside in nature with a mate, picking up the phone with someone you know is going to make you laugh An exercise. Or, as Professor Selina Bartlett, who's been on this pod a few times, says, finding a panoramic view and taking some breaths.
Speaker 1:Another tip is to check in with yourself. Talk. What do you say to yourself? Are you ruminating, catastrophising? Are you talking down to yourself? This can greatly impact your mood and behaviours. Try to be gentle. Talk to yourself like you would to your nearest and dearest, with kindness, compassion and motivating love. Look, often we have an inner dialogue that's highly critical, and often this is a trait of people that suffer burnout. This has been the thing that has led them to keep going, to motivate themselves, to be critical of themselves, to be perfectionistic, but it is this very trait that can lead to burnout. So it can be really helpful once again to check in, understand what is your monologue saying to you and potentially work with a coach or a counsellor on this.
Speaker 1:One task is another one, it's a skill and it's part of boundary setting. It involves seeking support from colleagues, trusting colleagues and fostering a collaborative environment. This lightens the burden on you. Another critical aspect of managing burnout is revisiting your goals and expectations, meeting realistic targets, celebrating the small victories and really trying to find purpose in the work so that you can reignite passion that the burnout has dampened. Sometimes this takes redefining what success looks like for you, and again, a whole episode can be done on this very topic. Regular exercise, of course, and mindfulness and relaxation techniques can never be underestimated or underutilized in this whole process towards burnout recovery, recovery from burnout.
Speaker 1:It's a process, it's not a destination. It's not often linear either. You can bounce back and forth a little, you can feel that your progress is not as you want, particularly if you're a person that has often sought immediate gain. Often people think that taking a break whether a vacation or a sabbatical is something that is going to provide that immediate fix to burnout. It's not, particularly not. If you go straight back into doing exactly what you were doing beforehand, you can find yourself straight back in that stress burnout cycle. Sure, a vacation is going to help with perspective, but it's not going to fix it.
Speaker 1:The average time that it takes for a person to recover from burnout can really vary significantly based on your individual factors, the severity of your burnout and the effectiveness of coping strategies and your support systems. While burnout is where individuals may see some improvement within a few weeks to a couple of months, with some regular, consistent, proactive self-care lifestyle adjustments and support, moderate burnout can take several months and it's often involves a combination of addressing workplace stresses, boundaries, implementing coping mechanisms and seeking professional support here. Burnout that's really characterised by profound physical and mental exhaustion and it really can lead to a more extended recovery period. It might take several months, but more likely a year, to regain full functioning and wellbeing. Chronic burnout that's where symptoms have persisted for an extended period and this is really going to take a more prolonged recovery timeline. Really addressing underlying issues and making significant lifestyle changes is likely to be necessary.
Speaker 1:Trying to get an early recognising some of these symptoms we've mentioned before you're forced to do so, is, I guess, the key take home that I'd really love for you to take from this podcast episode. Like acknowledging this science struggle and it often is silent understanding the signs, we can really be empowered to reclaim our sense of balance and purpose. Another key takeaway is to really reach out. Have someone that has been there, someone that's worked with people to help them with burnout, to really have that accountability and support of somebody walking alongside you, motivating you to recognise the signs and to make the changes, can be the game changer. I really hope this episode has been helpful to you. Burnout it's pervasive, debilitating, and it can take a lot of mental agility and hard work to really turn it around. Thank you for tuning in. I hope you have a great day.
