Prevent Burnout: Recharge through Rest, Savoring, and Travel

In the last newsletter ,?I offered a summer reading list with my favorite books that I've read over the past year. For this month's newsletter,?I share how (empowered by the insights in these books) I took time this summer to seek solitude and rest to recharge and get out of my head and into the world -- all with the goal to prevent burnout and return to my students and clients with energy, passion, and insights.

I understand that in order to be able to continue to work as an educator at a level of quality, I must have time time work less (and even not work at all).

I hope that my own journey inspires you to take time to enjoy living, learning, and BEING as much as you enjoy working, producing, and DOING, too.

Why Rest?

As an educator, coach, and speaker, my work is largely about GIVING to my students and clients through deep and active listening, insights, information, encouragement, and inspiration.?

And I LOVE helping people to become more conscious communicators by connecting their head (thinking), heart (feeling), and hands (doing).

This work is extremely REWARDING AND it can also be completely CONSUMING. So, in order to be able to continue giving, I must keep my own cup full. That’s why I open myself to opportunities to RECEIVE through REST, too.

Rest allows us to recover.

Rest allows us to recover through four major factors: relaxation, control, mastery experiences, and mental detachment from work. Think of it like this:

"Breaks that are high in all four are the equivalent of nutritious and nourishing meals..." (p. 166)1

Rest is especially important to a Sensitive Person. Sensitive people (estimated to be around 30% of the population) are those who,

"...absorb more sensory information (often unconsciously), think more deeply, and find more interconnections among disparate things than less sensitive people typically do."2

I identify as Sensitive as I fit most of the characteristics – big emotions and physical senses that are more sensitive than many people’s. I hypothesize that we who are Sensitive (30% of the population) are likely to experience symptoms of burnout sooner than the majority of people (70%) who are less Sensitive.

And it's these amazing Strengths of Sensitive people that also necessitate that I allow myself opportunities to Rest and Receive, too.

• Empathy
• Creativity
• Sensory intelligence
• Depth of processing
• Depth of emotion

So, to prevent burnout by avoiding exhaustion and feelings of being overwhelmed, I make space for Rest.

What is burnout?

In 2019 (so, pre-pandemic), the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized burnout as a legitimate occupational phenomenon that could negatively impact the well-being of workers in the workplace.

Here’s WHO’s definition:

"Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:

1. Feelings of energy depletion, or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feeling of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
3. Reduced professional efficacy." (p. 5)3

So, Burnout is a result of these 3 factors showing up at the same time: Exhaustion, Cynicism, Inefficacy.

• Exhaustion is when people feel overwhelmed by work demands, drained and depleted of necessary resources.
• Cynicism is a negative and overly detached response to work.?(p. 34-35)3 Over time, workers can also develop not only negative reactions to their work, but also to the people they encounter with work.?

In other words, “If people are working too hard and doing too much, they will begin to back off, to cut down, to reduce what they are doing.” (p. 34)3

• Inefficacy is when you feel powerless and lacking achievement or productivity in work. In other words, you don’t believe you have the capacity to do your work well.

Burnout is experienced when all 3 of these dimensions show up.?Do you experience any of these factors on a regular basis?

Educators and coaches must guard against Exhaustion.

As an educator and coach, Exhaustion is the factor that I must guard against regularly. When work is consistently intellectually, emotionally, and physically consuming, it's easy to quickly become drained and depleted of necessary resources. And unfortunately, many of the academic systems in which I've served do not have the resources in place to help faculty recover (or prevent it in the first place) from exhaustion.

So, I am aware that the responsibility for my own wellbeing firmly rests in my own hands. And this is why I travel: to Rest and to Savor.

Learn more about burnout in this LinkedIn Live Learning Session (33:26 minutes) from May 2023.

Why Savor?

One of my key strategies for self-care is?SAVORING. This allows me to consciously slow down to rest, relax, and revitalize. It’s one way that I keep my cup full so that I can continue to GIVE with quality to my students and clients through deep and active listening, insights, information, encouragement, and inspiration.

“Savoring" is "an emotion regulation strategy that focuses on the positive and can result in an emotion uplift." It is "a way to slow down and take in positive emotions and experiences."

"When we?savor, we aren't only feeling pleasure but also acknowledging that pleasure and extending our enjoyment of that moment. According to psychologist Fred Bryant,?savoring?can become 'an acquired skill' with time and practice." (pp. 15-16)4

The connection between our five senses and Savoring.

In her newest book Life in Five Senses , Bestselling author Gretchen Rubin also talks about the importance of Savoring (though she doesn't specifically use that term) by engaging the world in a grounded physical way (as opposed to a merely cognitive one) through our five senses. Rubin proposes this as a way to a more joyful, conscious life.

This matters to me as an academic because my work requires that I spend a lot of my life living in my head – basically, I think for a living. It’s my job. But, as a human, my body is of course so much more than just a container or vehicle for my brain.

This is why I did my Summer Savoring Retreat -- so that, like when we were children, I could play and give my body the attention it deserves (and my mind the rest it has earned).?Rubin supports “the profound power of tuning into the physical world.” (jacket cover inside front)5

And so, this was my approach for my Summer Savoring Retreat. For two weeks in July/August 2023, I traveled in Italy again. Why do I always choose Italy? (Yes, I do travel to other countries. I was also in Colombia and Switzerland this summer). The answer is simple -- Italy is my favorite place on this planet to?Savor. The culture is a delight for my senses.

Here are a few of my retreat posts where I share the joy of my Savoring sensations. You can read all 11 posts from this Summer Savoring Series on my LinkedIn profile page.

Finally, why does travel matter?

Why does travel matter? Because it can change us.

“And if we can change, we can grow.” (page 130)6

I explore this question in this video below.

• I share why I love Italy so much as a place to rest and recharge – because it is such a multisensory experience which allows me to ground myself back into my body and really be present.
• I offer my educated opinion about why travel matters. I share how my travels to Italy have allowed me to change and grow over the years.
• I explain how all of this fits under the umbrella of the work that I talk about here on LinkedIn which I call Conscious Communication — when we are really aware of the different influences on our lives and can understand and better choose our behaviors instead of just reacting automatically and unconsciously.

What's next?

Now that my summer retreat has ended, it’s time for the start of the fall semester. I’m happy to be returning as a Lecturer for the Department of Communication Studies at Baruch College in NYC where I teach courses such as leadership, executive presence, intercultural communication, and professional public speaking.

In September I'll be speaking as the keynote speaker and leading a workshop at a faculty development conference outside of Denver. The keynote is titled: "Sustainable Teaching and Learning: Rethinking the Relationship between Rigor and Rest." And the workshop is: "Applied Approaches for Sustainable Teaching and Learning."

And... I'm already looking to January break and next summer to plan my next personal retreats. Do you have locations to suggest? What are your favorite places on this planet to?Savor? Which cultures delight your senses?

I hope that my journey on this summer retreat has inspired you to consciously slow down to rest, relax, revitalize, and SAVOR.

Remember this.

Let's remember that the journey to Conscious Communication starts with knowing yourself from the inside out — what you think, what you feel, and what you do.

Happy to support your journey,

Gino

About this newsletter:

Conscious Communication is a tool that connects us to ourselves and to others in meaningful ways. As with any tool, the more skillful we are at using it, the better the results we achieve. Communication is an important tool because when we do it well it leads to better relationships.

For more than 20 years, I’ve worked with thousands of people from all over the world to increase their consciousness and improve their business communication and public speaking skills so that they can get to the good stuff in life, faster.

So, my goal with this monthly newsletter is to share my expertise in the field of interpersonal communication as a leader, award-winning educator, and coach who helps people transform their work and lives through conscious communication.

These lessons are concise highlights from the intensive work I do in my Ivy League and top tier collegiate classrooms and with private and corporate clients. I'm happy to share these with you here to help you become a more effective communicator.

Sources:

1. Soojung-Kim Pang, A. (2018). Rest Why You Get More Done When You Work Less . Basic Books.
2. Suttie, J. (2023, March 8). The Superpowers of Sensitive People, Greater Good Magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_superpowers_of_sensitive_people?utm_source=Greater+Good+Science+Center&utm_campaign=936246fdf1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_GG_Newsletter_March_9_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5ae73e326e-936246fdf1-51689111
3. Maslach, C. and Leiter, M. P. (2022). The Burnout Challenge . Harvard University Press.
4. Eva, A.L. (2022). Surviving Teacher Burnout A Weekly Guide to Build Resilience, Deal with Emotional Exhaustion & Stay Inspired in the Classroom . New Harbinger Publications.
5. Rubin, G. (2023). Life in Five Senses . Crown Publishing.
6. Storti, Craig. (2018). Why Travel Matters A Guide to the Life-Changing Effects of Travel . Nicholas Brealey Publishing.