Exploring the "Slushy" Feeling: Navigating Burnout Post-COVID

by Kim Wright and Christy Shi Day

The COVID years were marked by a relentless onslaught of challenges, compounded by the surfacing of deep-seated racial injustices.

Our nervous systems are wired to respond to stressors by fighting, fleeing, freezing, or fawning.

If you were looking at the immediate response to the pandemic from this lens, you would have noticed that groups of people reacted in different ways but usually responded in one of the four ways that reflected their default reactive style.

When the lockdowns were over, we were expected to go back to the office and many companies tried to return to the way things were before.

However, you might have noticed that there was still a residual of our previous states.? “Normal” life wasn’t normal anymore. Some people fought the return to work.? Some quit their jobs.? And some went back reluctantly but without any enthusiasm. ?(The quiet-quitting phenomenon comes to mind.) Some workers showed back up like good little soldiers, minimizing the impact on themselves and focusing on the good of the company.

As we emerge from the long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us find ourselves grappling with a peculiar sensation – a feeling that we are calling being somewhat "slushy."?

The urgent emergency may have passed but the residuals remain. not in a state of emergency but also not in a state of vibrancy and resilience.

This state of being can manifest as a unique form of burnout, one that feels different from what we've experienced before.? We, individually and organizationally, are going through the motions, doing what we must, but rarely generating anything new or exciting. ?Wading through the slushiness takes all our energy and there is none left over for extras.? We are watching our steps, afraid of what might happen if we slip. We are stuck in a state of limbo, unable to fully engage or disengage.

In times of crisis, our responses become part of the crisis itself. We must transcend the immediate challenges to effectively address the underlying issues.

Yet, as a society, we have not yet fully transcended the combined crises of COVID-19 and racial injustice.

Our nervous systems, which have a remarkable capacity for co-regulation, may be picking up on each other's signals of distress, further amplifying the sense of being stuck in a slushy state.

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?So, does any of this ring true for you? Are you also feeling the lingering effects of the past few years, not quite frozen but not entirely solid either? Can we navigate this uncertain terrain together? Can we explore these questions with a sense of curiosity and openness, knowing that by acknowledging and understanding our collective experiences, we can begin to move forward toward healing and resilience?