Burnout? What self-care & wellbeing?
Exhausted... burnout...
Have to go to work, can’t leave the desk for lunch, maybe skip eating altogether, need to work late, forget to eat dinner, fall into bed exhausted, wake up exhausted feeling like you've been hit by a bus, first coffee at home, walk... no, run out the door, drive to work, miraculously find a park, grab a muffin and a second extra shot coffee at the cafe near work... no time to sit and enjoy it, arrive at the office and the cycle continues... feeling more and more exhausted... looking into the future for a break and not finding one...
Mindfulness & self-care, when?
Where’s the time for you in amongst that? You’ve struggled to stop and eat mindfully and appreciate the delicious food in front of you, it's gone so quickly you've barely tasted it. There’s little time to exercise, though when you do fit it in, it’s a HIIT session because you know they’re effective, and best of all time efficient.
There's no time to walk mindfully. You’re not getting enough good quality sleep... because you’re thinking about work all the time. You struggle to use mindfulness to help with sleep. Your friends think you’ve dropped off the face of the earth. Your partner has resorted to texting just to let you know they're still around. You no longer do the things you really enjoy. You’re just so exhausted...
In this culture that idolizes those who work themselves to exhaustion... when do you get to rest & recover?
Burnout...
When we’re burning the candle at both ends our mental health suffers. The World Health Organisation has recently recognized burnout as a significant health problem. We need to start paying attention... from a personal perspective for our wellbeing, but also from a business perspective. Our productivity falls as we become fatigued, and our rate of making errors increases...
Self-care & wellbeing
Maybe self-care and wellbeing are antidotes to burnout... Even though it can be hard to do, it’s important to decide how you’ll balance your drive at work with self-care. This means different things for everybody, but it’s absolutely about filling your cup so you have something to give. What wellbeing strategies could you use that might enable you to engage in self-care? What are those things that might enable you to rest, to recover and to feel refreshed enough to prevent burnout.
For me my self-care includes getting enough sleep, eating good food that nourishes, not working on weekends, spending time with friends and family and of course, exercise! These are the things that I've worked out contribute to my sense of wellbeing and enable me to fill my cup so I can serve my clients.
I've found that I need to schedule exercise or yoga or time with family & friends into my diary. Making a commitment to others and to myself makes it that much easier getting up to join the bunch at for a bike ride at 5:30am or get to a 6am yoga class. shifting my focus to how I might feel after the class or ride makes it that little bit easier actually dragging myself out of a warm bed on a cold winter morning too!
Here's a really nice summary of 5 essentials for wellbeing.
If this has struck a chord with you, I would be interested in hearing from you. Send me a message or contact me on 0412657234 to discuss how I might be able to help you find more balance.