I want to talk to those of us who are,
In fact,
Habitually living with too much stress.
And sometimes,
For some of us,
It kicks over into an experience of burnout.
I'm qualified to speak to this area for two reasons.
Many years ago,
As a young,
Over-committed,
Poorly-boundaried professional,
I burnt out myself.
And right up to the moment of burnout,
I would have told you,
I'm grand,
I'm fine.
Stress?
No,
I don't get stressed.
I actually was clueless,
And I was in long-time habit energy of just coping,
Of keeping on,
Keeping on.
Pushing that rock up the hill,
Putting myself to the back of the line.
Yeah,
I know I need to lighten my load,
And I will.
When?
So I've been that soldier.
But also,
For the last 10 years,
I've worked almost exclusively in the area of supporting women in particular,
Who are in human care services,
Who are stuck on high stress,
Heading towards,
Or in burnout.
I focus on women primarily because,
In my own research and in my own practice,
And in the evidence now,
From the world of medicine,
Neuroscience,
Lifestyle medicine,
Epigenetics,
We know that as women,
We experience stress a little differently.
And we respond to chronic stress and burnout differently.
So some of that has to do with cultural conditioning.
Some of it has to do with long habit energy.
And we know that the effects of stress,
Often more adversely affect women,
In terms of heart and other chronic conditions.
So I'm laser-focused.
The woman who is in human services,
Who may be in a leadership role supporting others who are supporting others.
Some awareness of stress,
But really so used to it that we hardly notice it.
So the WHO,
Quite late in the day,
Defined burnout as a workplace syndrome.
It's not an illness.
They define it as a syndrome that comes about when workplace stress has not been effectively managed.
So there's a whole story about that understanding of burnout.
And very often,
In the not-for-profit or the human services area,
We have this false idea of resilience.
You know,
I can cope.
Water off a duck's back.
We've seen worse before.
We'll get through it.
We'll keep going.
I love my work.
And often,
That old habit energy doesn't serve us well.
So that we might actually be experiencing some of the symptoms of this burnout syndrome.
Maybe a chronic tiredness.
Now,
Not ordinary cyclical exhaustion.
But a flat line.
I'm running on empty over a period of time.
Maybe a certain cynicism.
Most of us who work in non-profits or human services,
We're totally passionate about our work.
I may be approaching burnout.
If actually,
I'm now a bit cynical.
A bit disassociated.
Maybe even a bit cross about my work.
And I may be carrying too much stress.
Or approaching burnout.
If in fact,
If I was to be honest with myself,
I would say,
Actually,
I used to be so hot.
So fantastic.
Such a leader.
So unformed.
Unformed.
And now I notice I'm making mistakes.
Or I'm a bit mediocre.
Or I'm not so hot.
Not so hot anymore.
If we pause enough and notice some of those things,
That's fantastic.
That means we're recognizing this simple occurrence that happens to many of us.
Carrying too much stress for too long.
It's not that I'm stupid.
It's not that I've done anything wrong.
It's not that I've changed.
It's a physiological chemical reality.
And we can sort it.
The hardest challenge,
I think,
For those of us who are working in these areas,
Is we are long in the habit of not acknowledging.
Of covering up.
Of stuffing down.
Of finding,
Perhaps,
Unhelpful ways of coping.
So that we can keep pushing the rock up the hill.
So I'm all about,
That's not the only way.
And you'll be glad to know,
I'm not the only one that's all about,
That's not the only way.
Now I would really encourage you to pause long enough to notice where are you on the blossom to burnout continuum.
Maybe fully blossoming.
Maybe a little stress with some very healthy ways of managing that.
Perhaps like most women,
Stuck somewhere on,
Well,
Too much stress.
But I've been there so long,
I hardly notice and I keep plodding along.
Or maybe you're at that slithery end of the blossom to burnout continuum.
Where really,
You need help.
You want it to be different.
But you're not sure what the start place is.
So let me tell you,
Doing that noticing for yourself,
You wonderful,
Smart woman,
Is the start place.
