Understanding Stress and Burnout
Key Points:
The year 2020 walloped us. People across the planet struggled and continue to struggle in their own way. I know that the events of the last 20 months will be taught in future history classes. We are all knowledge holders of what this experience has been like to live through. As global citizens, we were first instructed to shelter in place. For some, this meant trying to work from home, and/or navigating elder care, or raising and teaching children out of school. For others, sheltering in place brought total isolation from everyone and everything. Grocery shopping required people to learn new protocols. Loved ones were separated. Many people died and are dying still. We all collectively grieved our illusions of certainty and predictability, the semblance of normal life. Events that had been planned were cancelled. Stress was rampant. Then, as the global pandemic was going into the sixth month, a much-needed racial reckoning swept through North America. An already weary world was faced with another reality that rocked many of us to our core. I feel as though the world and our way of life has been scorched to the ground, leaving her mark on our mental and emotional health.?AND YET, WE PERSIST. Here is my big idea: We need to learn how to?STRESS WISELY!?And in this article series, I will show you how.
This is part one of the three article series on stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue in seasons of uncertainty adapted from my white paper. See?robynehd.ca ?to read more topics on improving your work and life wellness.
UNDERSTANDING STRESS
We all know what stress feels like in the moment: the raging pulse, a pounding heart, and the short, heavy, uncontrollable breathing that overwhelms us when we experience a freight: a near traffic collision, the pressure of an important deadline, a computer updates just as you are logging into a Zoom call! We recognize the sudden surge feeling but we do not often talk about the silent creep. The slow, steady build-up that leads to the real damage in our lives. Like the boiling frog fable: if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, the frog will jump out immediately.
But if you put the frog in the pot of water and bring it to a boil gradually, the frog will boil to death. As we navigate our lives, sometimes we take an immediate hit, and other times, there is a slow leak. Both can bring down a ship. And with the current state of the world, we are taking both types of hits daily– slams and slow leaks. That is why we feel as though we are going under.
The most common feedback I am hearing from people, from all walks of life and vastly diverse industries, is this: “I’m done”. I appreciate that. I feel that. What we need to do now is find a kinder way of getting better at stress.
LEARNING ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL STRESS PATTERNS AND BEHAVIOURS
Here is a common example: Stressor - working with a computer all day.
Most people struggle to address stress because they are trying to address everything, all at once. Break it down into smaller focus points. You need to address the immediate presence of stress in your life, then you can explore a more proactive approach to stressing wisely.
UNDERSTANDING BURNOUT
Stress and burnout are often confused, and it is easy to understand why that is. After all, the physical manifestations are often quite similar: headaches, fatigue, difficulty regulating sleep. However, unlike stress, which is a response, burnout is a very real condition which, according to Amba Brown, is the accumulation of stressors over time resulting in “unmanageable stress levels”. In other words, burnout is the natural evolution of chronic stress if it goes unchecked. Burnout is characterized by three critical symptoms beyond the more common stress responses:
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Psychology Today identifies burnout as most commonly emerging when we feel out of control, are working toward a goal that doesn’t resonate, or simply do not feel supported. On the difference between stress and burnout,?Dr. Haas, writes,
“if the stress feels never-ending and comes with feelings of emptiness, apathy and hopelessness, it may be indicative of burnout”.
Originally coined by American Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s to describe the effects of extreme stress placed on “helping professionals”, Amba Brown notes that the term “burnout” has evolved to include the consequences of excessive stress and the loss of our ability to cope.
When we think of burnout, we often consider workplaces to be the culprit. In fact, the WHO defines burnout as?“a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. People not only suffer emotionally but work productivity suffers as well. Researchers explain that working 50 hours decreases productivity, but working beyond 55 hours is like letting our work fall off a cliff! It is riddled with errors and mistakes and forces us to spend additional time making revisions and corrections.
Yet, while workplace burnout is very real, accepting this as the only definition of burnout limits its scope and impact on our health and well-being. Dr. Carter notes that “non-work burnout” is less known and can be the great cause of stigma and stereotypes, making those suffering from it feel as if they are to blame for their challenges and as a result, they often hide their struggles from others.
BURNOUT REFRAME
In my remote work with thousands of people, all around the world, since COVID started, it is not just the volume and time in work that is leading to burnout.
Burnout and disconnection are the pandemic within a pandemic. Here is an example: You value family above all else; yet, you are now sending your children away because you are in online meetings, or you are putting them in front of screens for hours and you feel like a terrible parent. You value being a present parent, but now you are a distracted parent and that takes its toll on you. Or, you value collaboration and community, and you are working in a silo. Without your mates next to you, your work becomes heavy and unfulfilling. I have spoken with front line nurses who prides themselves on excellent patient care, and now they are forced to fill up medical gloves with warm water to leave on patients, to give them a sense of someone being with them. When we spend time living and working outside our values, it erodes our soul.
ADDRESSING BURNOUT: RESET AND RECOVERY
According to Dr. Kotler, burnout is not just extreme stress; it is peak performance gone off the rails. He writes that burnout costs you both motivation and momentum. It would be optimal to avoid getting into burnout, but this is not always possible. Recognizing that some of us are already there, Dr. Kotler recommends active brain recovery that shifts brainwaves into the alpha range. This can only be achieved through a complete interruption of our routine and demands.?We need to rest. Fully rest.
We need active brain recovery through sleep, self-care, and a total reset.
Sleep is critical to recovery and learning. Kotler recommends a dark room with cold temperatures and no screens as they interfere with our brain’s ability to shut down. Self-care must become a protocol you put into place. For some, this is bodywork. You need to address the body for rest. For others, it is mind work. You need a literal break from thinking and being productive. I call this the need for full ‘suspension of responsibility’ when mental overwhelm hits. My extraordinary colleague, and favourite physiologist, Dr. Greg Wells is a brilliant resource for all things recovery. Check out his book, Rest, Refocus and Recharge! It is the best in the field. The bottom line is this: When you recognize that you are experiencing burnout you must STOP to minimize the blast radius and?PRIORITIZE?active recovery immediately. You cannot afford not to.
Take good care! You got this!
Dr. Robyne
Interested in this topic? Please join me next week as I discuss further the new frontier of distress and burnout, compassion fatigue, and what we can do about it.