Frogs In Hot Water - A Call To Action!

A metaphor about frogs

There is a metaphor that I think characterises our current employment culture. The metaphor describes how frogs will jump out of a pot of boiling water if placed in directly, but if you put them into cold water and increase the temperature very gradually, they will boil alive without noticing.

We live in a time when many individuals feel guilty for taking their lunchbreak or leaving work on time, because they fear their colleagues will judge them, or because they will judge themselves for not working/caring hard enough. Brené Brown talks about how exhaustion has become a status symbol – we feel that we must completely sacrifice our work-life balance in order to be seen to be working hard and succeeding. Work can become all-consuming, leading us to forget that there are other aspects of our lives that we value. Our workloads gradually creep up in this more-for-less culture. The pressures on us are ever increasing, very gradually, and we expect ourselves to be endlessly resilient, no matter what.

We are frogs in hot water, not noticing the increasing temperature.

Many people find this hard to acknowledge. I talk to a lot of people who are experiencing high stress levels at work. Many struggle to admit to themselves that they are experiencing any impact of stress. Others see the stress but can’t imagine a different way of being. When we are in ‘coping mode’, all our attention is focused on keeping up with the pressures of our lives, and it can feel too risky to connect to any vulnerability or to question to status quo. But I just refuse to believe that this view of normality is healthy or sustainable.

Another metaphor about bees

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to present a passage from a book called Other Minds by Peter Godfrey Smith (emphasis is my own):

There is no one single factor causing the failure of bee colonies. Instead, over many years, more and more small stressors have appeared in the lives of bees. More pollutants, more new microorganisms, less habitat. For a long while, as these stressors accumulated, bees were able to cope. Colonies absorbed the stress by working harder. Although they weren’t obviously or visibly suffering, the capacity of the bees to buffer these problems was being slowly worn out. Eventually a critical point was reached and honeybee colonies just started to fail. They failed dramatically, visibly. Not because some sudden pest had swept through, but because their capacity to absorb the stressors had run out.

When I read this, it sent chills down my spine. It struck me that every single element of this excerpt could be describing us.

We are the honeybee colony, courageously working harder and harder to absorb the accumulating stressors around us. We’ve survived a pandemic; we’re living through a cost-of-living crisis; every time we switch on the news or social media we are bathed in global catastrophe. Many workplace cultures just expect us to work ourselves to the bone and sacrifice our wellbeing. We are becoming increasingly disconnected from the elements of our lives that nurture and replenish us.

We are not consciously acknowledging the accumulation of more and more small stressors. Our brains have incredible capacities to cope and adapt, meaning that we adjust to these new stress levels without really realising it. We are not obviously or visibly suffering, but our capacity to cope is being slowly worn out.

The impact of cumulative stressors is hard to see and easy to ignore. But it is a reality, and we are not above nature. When will our colony collapse? Like the bees, we probably won’t see it coming.

A Call To Action

How can we avoid colony collapse? How can we jump out of the pot of boiling water before it’s too late? We need a culture shift! The first step is to recognise the reality of our situation. That may in fact be the hardest part! Then we can start to take action.

And the great news is that there is so much we can practically do! Many workplaces are taking employee wellbeing seriously; some are even implementing strategies that are having a tangible positive impact. There is also a lot of good stuff happening all the time in the world around us that can bring a balance to constant stream of bad news.

Taking action doesn’t mean being lazy, slacking off or not achieving success at work. Lots of research is showing that the more we nurture our wellbeing in the workplace, the more productive and efficient and creative we become. Stress is the enemy of you thriving!

Here are a few actions to get started:

1.????? ‘Connect’ with me and look out for more articles and posts offering practical solutions to balancing excellence in our careers with looking after our wellbeing. (You can also message me directly if you're interested in ways I may be able to help you or your organisation.)

2.????? Share this call to action – remember the first step is just seeing the problem, we need to get the word out there.

3.????? Comment below to tell others what you are already doing to look after your wellbeing and/or the wellbeing of your employees!

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