Why you're vulnerable to stress and burnout

1.???? Your superpower is also your Kryptonite.? The motivation, drive and commitment to the cause is a definite strength, but this has tipped over into a kind of blind spot where you can’t see the damage this is having on you.? Overworking and ‘getting the job done’ is sapping your strength, and you can’t, or don’t want to, see this.? When was the last time you worked only your contracted hours?? How many times have you started early, finished late, taken on additional work, covered for a colleague who’s off ill, picked up a role when recruitment is happening, provided temporary line management cover, lead on corporate initiatives.? The list is endless.? Learning to say ‘No’ is the superpower.

2.???? Guilt – there’s so many people worse off than me.? We work for a charity because we want to make a difference to the lives of some of the most marginalised and excluded people in our society.? People the Government have all but abandoned, and who have seen programmes, support and financial help cut to the bone.? In this context, isn’t it reasonable to think ‘What have I got to complain about?? There are people out there who have real problems’.? The problem with thinking like this is that we can then not look after ourselves, or value our own wellbeing. ?

3.???? The work is never ending and who else is going to do it?? Like the mythical Sisyphus pushing a boulder up the hill, there is no end to the work.? There’s always more to do – more bids to write, more meetings to attend, more recruitment to be sorted, more safeguarding issues to be dealt with.? More, more, more.? If we take on the identity of being the person who is there to deal with everything, we’re quickly on the path to exhaustion and burnout.? What would it be like to take a step back, and have a critical look at what we’re prioritising, what can wait, what can be delegated, what can be binned?? There’s only one you, and once you burnout, who’s going to step in?

4.???? The sector is in crisis.? There’s been a lot written and said about how the charity sector is in crisis, hit by the perfect storm of reduced funding and resources, and a sharp increase in demand.? Ministers talk about finding ‘efficiencies’ and have all but abandoned the sector to its fate.? Witness last week’s announcement and rhetoric around disabled people and work, the lazy blaming of a ‘workshy culture’ and the ending of the Work & Health Programme, which was the only centrally funded programme providing support back into work. Witness also the post-Brexit crisis in the Health and Social Care sector.? We work in a sector beset on all sides by issues and we’re the only ones keeping the wheels on the bus.? Is it any wonder you’re exhausted?

5.???? Your social identity tells you that ‘boys don’t cry’.? For me, as I was growing up, I ingested the idea that ‘boys don’t cry’.? Maybe it was my working class Liverpudlian upbringing, but I’ve carried this with me, and struggled for years to admit I needed help and support.? I can take it all on, work more, work harder, all without admitting to myself, never mind others, that I needed to be able to process why I was doing this, to the point of making myself ill.? Being able to understand and gain insight into our mindset, making the links between what we think, how we feel and what we do, is a good first step to being able to step off the hamster wheel and focus on the bigger picture, and from here make the changes which prioritise ourselves and our wellbeing.

?