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Hi ,
How have you been? This week, I've felt ever so slightly overwhelmed with my to-do-list🤯. I'm moving house in 3 weeks, my marketing client has decided to launch a new location and needs me, I have my Champneys Retreat on the 10th, I've got prep to do for a great opportunity at We Work and I'm struggling a little with it all.
To get through, I literally had to break it all down into tiny little chunks, one day at a time. I made a simple, 'what do I need to do today list' and got on with that. I also allowed myself to give up on a day by 3pm if that's what I needed to do.
After a little more reflection, I thought about doing a full check-in with myself so I went to my go-to Burnout Stages list which I want to share with you today. It's always a good idea every now and then to jump off the ferris wheel of life and see if you're really ok, that pause could be life-saving:
In June 2006, the Scientific American magazine published an article that describes a 12-stage model of burnout developed by psychologists Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North. As burnout lives on a spectrum, the various stages need to be managed and treated differently. It is important for each of us to know what burnout can look like and use this easy to digest list as a way to check-in with yourselves and your loved ones.
- The Compulsion to Prove Oneself: demonstrating worth obsessively; tends to hit the best employees, those with enthusiasm who accept responsibility readily.
- Working Harder: an inability to switch off.
- Neglecting Needs: erratic sleeping, eating disrupted, lack of social interaction.
- Displacement of Conflicts: problems are dismissed; we may feel threatened, panicky, and jittery.
- Revision of Values: Values are skewed, friends and family dismissed, hobbies seen as irrelevant. Work is the only focus.
- Denial of Emerging Problems: intolerance; perceiving collaborators as stupid, lazy, demanding, or undisciplined; social contacts harder; cynicism, aggression; problems are viewed as caused by time pressure and work, not because of life changes.
- Withdrawal: social life small or nonexistent, need to feel relief from stress, alcohol/drugs.
- Odd Behavioral Changes: changes in behavior obvious; friends and family concerned.
- Depersonalization: seeing neither self nor others as valuable, and no longer perceive own needs.
- Inner Emptiness: feeling empty inside and to overcome this, look for activity such as overeating, sex, alcohol, or drugs; activities are often exaggerated.
- Depression: feeling lost and unsure, exhausted, future feels bleak and dark.
- Burnout Syndrome: can include total mental and physical collapse; time for full medical attention.
There are a number of things you can do to help with any of the stages above but I don't want you to feel overwhelmed by any of it. I wrote about the amount of information relating to wellbeing in this week's blog post. My message here is to not be overwhelmed by all the information out there and most importantly not to feel like you should be doing all of it. Some of it will help but getting to the root of your wellbeing needs is much more important so that you can use the therapies that will be most beneficial to you. This is NOT one size fits all.
👉If this email has struck a chord with you and that in itself has overwhelmed you, please know that I am here for you for an informal chat, rant or for a more serious discussion. You only need to reply to this email or phone me. I will respond and I won't sell you anything. You're not just an email on my list, you're a person who may benefit from my help.
Lots of love
Puja x
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