2020 has shocked us all, from lost opportunities, lost jobs, canceled plans, fear, worry, anxiety, and isolation from those we love, there has been a lot to juggle mentally and emotionally.
Therefore I was not surprised when I started to see a rise in the number of clients presenting with burnout and adrenal fatigue as these mental and emotional stresses caught up with us and work and home life became more intertwined.
So what is burnout?
Burnout can be summarised as mental, physical, emotional, and even spiritual exhaustion that can occur when you are under prolonged stress and pressure and when the demands exceed your coping ability.
I think that many people have found the demands of 2020 have exceeded their coping abilities, joined with their own life pressures such as relationships, children, families, and job commitments, burnout is not a surprising result.
So how do I know if I have burnout?
Here are a few examples of what to look out for when you think you may be nearing or suffering from burnout:
- Headaches
- Feeling tired throughout the day
- Emotional outbursts
- Poor performance at work
- Lack of creativity
- Feeling like you can’t cope well with everyday tasks
- Feeling detached from daily tasks at work
- Feeling negative about daily tasks
- Feeling ineffective at work
- Insomnia
- Feelings of stress – heart palpitations, poor appetite, dizziness
- Low immunity – getting sick more easily
- Feeling irritated more easily
- Feeling detached
What led me to burnout?
Burnout is increasingly common in the modern world due to high workplace demands, social pressures, and family commitments. Burnout is most commonly seen in the workplace, due to pressure and demands that many times cannot be met or sustained for a long period of time. Including long hours, impending deadlines, taking on more work than expected. This slowly begins to then translate into burnout where you begin to suffer from a lack of motivation, lack of creativity, low energy, feelings of exhaustion, poor output at work, and negative feelings towards your job. Burnout is also often seen in caregivers who feel that the demands exceed their coping ability. This can because there is a lack of support mentally, emotionally, and physically.
2020 has revealed an increase in mental, emotional and spiritual burnout, people feeling exhausted due to the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding all the changes of the year. Here are some of the common causes of burnout I have seen in 2020:
- Mixing work and home – not switching off at the end of the day
- Imbalance of work and play
- Fear of losing a job or job loss
- Increased workload
- Overall anxiety and depression about the world situation
- No time alone to decompress
- Caregiving roles at home while balancing work too
- Not receiving support required
Why do I need to get on top of it?
It is vital if you believe you are suffering from burnout to address it quickly. If left unattended burnout can quickly turn to adrenal fatigue and even chronic fatigue, which can take some people months if not years to recover from.
How to recover from burnout:
So you think you may be suffering from burnout? The first thing to do would be to visit a naturopath and medical herbalist who can support you on your recovery journey. Here are some of the important steps in starting your recovery:
- Addressing the root cause
- Addressing underlying viruses or infections
- Addressing current stress
- Learning coping mechanisms to deal with current stress
- Addressing any mental stress – anxiety and depression
- Addressing nutrients – ensuring you have all the specific nutrients your body needs
- Supporting the body with nutrients and herbal medicine to bring the nervous system back into balance.
- Learning to become more intuitive and honest with yourself
- Changing the environment in which you got sick
Burnout is often a message from your body telling you that things need to change. It is important to listen to that message and bring the body and mind back into balance before it leads to further illness for the body and mind.
For more personalised and detailed tips on how to recover from burnout then feel free to contact me for an appointment:
francesca@flnaturopathy.com
www.flnaturopathy.com