Feeling unmotivated, mentally foggy, fatigued, and stuck with an ever-growing to-do list? These are classic signs of burnout, and according to a recent study by Mental Health First Aid Australia, Australian workers reported the highest burnout rates in the world at 61%.
What Exactly is Burnout?
Burnout is a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion, often resulting from prolonged stress. It manifests through three main dimensions:
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Emotional Exhaustion: Feeling drained and overwhelmed, unable to meet constant demands.
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Depersonalisation: Developing a sense of cynicism and detachment from work and other aspects of life.
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Reduced Personal Accomplishment: A decrease in productivity and a sense of failure, both professionally and personally.
Burnout can erode a person's sense of well-being, leading to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Addressing burnout requires a holistic approach, incorporating stress management techniques, self-care practices, and changes to create a healthier, more balanced environment. However, when you're burned out, the last thing you probably want to do is figure out how to escape the burnout spiral. Recognizing and managing burnout is essential, and Brave Spaces offers a comprehensive self-paced program that can be accessed for $75 to help individuals tackle this challenge.
Simple Steps from Brave Spaces to Identify Burnout and Overwhelm
1. Recognize and Acknowledge Your Current State
The first step involves developing a heightened awareness of your present state and understanding what is happening in your life. You can introduce the concept of "The Observer," a mental framework that helps you step back and objectively assess your emotional and mental state. This practice is crucial for identifying signs of burnout and understanding its impact on your life. This could be as simple as taking yourself on a walk solo or sitting in a quite space at home and just tapping into how you’re feeling.
2. Create Simple Self-Care Practices
Prioritizing self-care is fundamental in managing burnout. Because trying to integrate the addition of too many new things at once could exacerbate the problem it’s important that this is kept simple. A question to ask yourself could be ‘what’s one small thing I can do today to show myself kindness and compassion and bring joy?’. This could be 10minutes outside to take in the warm winter rays, or it could be a lunchtime walk for 10minutes and sitting on a swing for a few minutes. You could even write a go-to list of 5-10 simple things you know bring you joy and calm and then pick one from the list each day depending on what feels right for you. Overtime, as you have more capacity you can develop self-care practices that cater to your mind, body, heart, and spirit. This comprehensive approach ensures all areas of your well-being are nurtured and supported.
3. Set Boundaries
One of the major challenges in giving yourself space and capacity to deal with burnout is the lack of clear boundaries that could very well be a large part of arriving at a place of feeling burnt out in the first place. It’s normal to initially fear that setting boundaries will lead to conflict, so you might even want some help from those closest to you to identify which boundaries are most needed and to start implementing strategies to uphold healthy boundaries across various areas of your life. This could be with certain family members, with friends or work colleagues who may be – perhaps unknowingly- be placing certain expectations on you that you need to pull back from.
4. Stay on Track
The final step is to ensure that whatever progress you’ve made after a certain period of time, and whatever new habits, practices ,and boundaries you’ve established are integrated into your daily routine and sustained to prevent burnout from reoccurring.
Moving Beyond Burnout with Brave Spaces
Brave Spaces Moving Beyond Burnout is designed to take the guesswork and overwhelm out of combating burnout. This 5-module online program provides practical strategies and expert guidance to help individuals understand and overcome burnout.
For $75, participants can access and revisit the program as often as they like for 365 days, making it a valuable resource for building resilience and restoring balance in personal and professional life.
Ready to thrive again? Click here to begin your journey toward overcoming burnout.
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