Burnout: When Passion Becomes Exhaustion

We explore the concept of burnout as a state of mental and physical exhaustion that occurs when we're constantly "switched on" without adequate rest periods. This episode provides practical strategies to recognize and address burnout before it significantly impacts your wellbeing.

• Burnout begins with passion—giving more energy than you receive
• Your behavior might appear unchanged while your thoughts and feelings reveal exhaustion
• Balance energy-giving activities with energy-depleting ones throughout your day
• Regular physical activity helps discharge stress stored in the body
• Like farmland needs rest after harvest, humans need recovery periods after intense productivity

Here's a link to another podcast episode by Dr Brene Brown about Burnout: 

https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-emily-and-amelia-nagoski-on-burnout-and-how-to-complete-the-stress-cycle/

Opening Music by Jeremiah Alves from Pixabay

Closing Music by Aleksandr Karabanov from Pixabay

Chapters

• 0:37 Introduction to Wellness Minutes
• 1:14 Understanding Burnout
• 1:56 Strategies to Combat Exhaustion
• 2:49 Nature's Lesson on Rest
• 4:51 Resources and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

Episode 16 of the Wellness Minutes. This is your friendly reminder to pause and take a deep breath. As we approach winter in the United States, the plant and animal kingdoms seem to prepare to hibernate, but us humans we have such limited opportunities to truly hibernate. Our minds and bodies remain active regardless of season. When periods of heavy workload are far more intense than the periods of rest, we end up experiencing burnout. So this is an episode to discuss burnout, and I hope you find it helpful.

Speaker 1: 1:05

First things first. Burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion from being switched on all the time In the triangle of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Your behavior might seem the same to an outsider, but it's your thoughts and feelings that could reflect how exhausted you are. For example, if you were experiencing low motivation for situations that demand your physical, emotional or intellectual energy, or maybe you're feeling terrible at the prospect of returning to work after the long weekend, you might continue to go to work course despite feeling this way. In fact, many people continue to do that, especially immigrants who rely on their employers for their work visa. We're likely to keep pushing ourselves no matter what. So if you find yourself feeling burnt out and exhausted for a long period of time like, let's say, more than weeks. It might be a good idea to figure out if there's something you can change in your everyday life, something to buffer against the stress and exhaustion that your situation is creating. So I just thought I'd share a few thoughts to get you thinking about ways to address all this exhaustion.

Speaker 1: 2:18

Firstly this might surprise you passion is actually the first stage of burnout. Passion is a great emotion, but it also pushes us to do more and easily overdo. So burnout is a totally normal response when you are giving a lot more energy than actually receiving. We need to receive energy in order to give energy receiving. We need to receive energy in order to give energy. Our work and relationships can take a lot from us and we don't always get a chance to refill in time. That's when burnout can set in Second, balance the amount you inhale and exhale, really and metaphorically.

Speaker 1: 2:59

So space out your enjoyable tasks with the ones you don't enjoy as much, just so you have a balance of energy coming in and energy leaving. I wonder if you can think about that for a minute. What is something that energizes you every day? One example could be and that's also point number three getting some physical activity every day. It might sound counterintuitive that exercising could actually energize you, but the thing is that our stress and anxiety is actually experienced not only in the mind but also in the body. So when we exercise we actually end up discharging that stress and anxiety that's stored in your body. So exercise can actually be one way that you buffer against burnout.

Speaker 1: 3:51

The part of the farm that's used to cultivate food is given a chance to rest after harvest season. It rests by growing grass or some other light plant that can help the soil slowly recover. You and I are in a state of perpetually offering our gifts to the world, and our burnout is a tiny nudge from our mind and body telling us we need a season to slowly recover all that energy that we've used up. If you want to know more about burnout, I recommend a podcast episode that I've linked in the show notes as well. It's a podcast by Dr Brené Brown, and this episode that I've linked is her interview with the authors of a book about burnout. I hope you get a chance to check it out and delve more deeply into this topic.