One Powerful Commitment to Break Free from Burnout and Reclaim Your Energy Today

burnout
Written By Lamia Gibson
Image is of a quotation mark and a sentence that reads: Burnout: a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged and excessive stress.

Person to person real talk ...

The dominant systems we live in generate depletion and rely on us to go beyond capacity in order to make ends meet, get to the deadline, get the job done, change the world!

Burnout is a systemic issue with an individual and collective impact. Where any impact is personal we can flex personal power and end cycles of burnout. We can heal from and within burnout and use these experiences as a launch pad for a life designed by you, for you. The power is in our decisions, no matter what corners we may be backed into.

Burnout is not your fault and you are your responsibility.

Taking responsibility for what you decide to do is the single commitment you can make to restructure your trajectory, spark recovery, and prevent further burnout as you reroute back to YOU.

Facing burnout at any stage is brave, courageous and tender. A lot of us are living in burnout and while I have a BIG want for that to not be true, reality is that many of us will continue to live, and then die, in some degree of burnout.

Blunt? yes. Honest?, also yes.

If you're thinking, "that's cool but my circumstance is waaaaaay stressful and I am in the worst of burnout and it really can’t change that much", consider this… Can there be some lesser degree of burnout to live in? and could there be even a slight chance of getting free amidst it all?

You can start to thrive even as burnout continues.

Wrapping your arms all the way around this truth catalyzes decisions you make for your health away from some "perfect" way of living into a grounded and rooted YOU way of living, according to your wants, needs and what you are willing to be responsible for. The route ahead is yours, what path you’ll take is your decision, and not in some bypass way. Think about it, in almost any situation you are deciding “what now?”. Anchoring in you being responsible for you is key to orienting you out of burnout and does not promote an individual approach to life.

Recognizing Signs of Burnout

  • Disaffected & snarky about your work, workplace, colleagues or about your organization, your role in your family, your life overall

  • Creeping exhaustion

  • Feeling stagnant, as though your work/life isn’t getting you anywhere

  • Bored and detached, even though you have things on your plate

  • Higher than normal levels of procrastination

  • Experiencing mysterious illnesses you can’t shake

  • Realizing that you haven't taken time off

  • Generally disliking or hating the things you used to love, feel fine about, tolerate

  • Physically; sleep and appetite going awry are also signs that burnout could be at play.

The 12 Stages of Burnout

(Freudenberger and North)

1. The Compulsion to Prove Oneself: demonstrating worth obsessively; tends to hit the best employees, those with enthusiasm who accept responsibility readily.

2. Working Harder: an inability to switch off.

3. Neglecting Needs: erratic sleeping, eating disrupted, lack of social interaction.

4. Displacement of Conflicts: problems are dismissed; we may feel threatened, panicky, and jittery.

5. Revision of Values: Values are skewed, friends and family dismissed, hobbies seen as irrelevant. Work is the only focus.

6. 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.

7. Withdrawal: social life small or nonexistent, need to feel relief from stress, addictions, escape.

8. Odd Behavioural Changes: changes in behaviour obvious; friends and family concerned.

9. Depersonalization: seeing neither self nor others as valuable, and no longer perceive own needs.

10. Inner Emptiness: feeling empty inside and to overcome this, look for activity to escape; activities are often exaggerated.

11. Depression: feeling lost and unsure, exhausted, future feels bleak and dark.

12. Burnout Syndrome: can include total mental and physical collapse; time for full medical attention.

Do you identify with any of these stages of burnout?

It was a lot for me to look at this list the first few times. Even now, 5 years later, I embrace again the stages I see myself in and recommit to my responsibility for me and all I touch.

I experienced severe burnout back in 2019. It had been coming for a long time, and I only stopped because I could no longer mentally or physically keep going. To really see where I was at and where I had been took courage, and I was shocked at what had happened. It was like coming out of a vortex of DO DO DO and landing at BE with almost nothing left to run on and a lot of mess to attend to. It felt terrifying, confusing and ill. I literally couldn’t think well, and with the very part of me that was fried I had to figure out a way to get better.

So I started to ask myself: “Is this my responsibility?”

I went to stage 1, The compulsion to prove oneself. At stage 1 the enthusiasm to take on more responsibility is part of launching a path of overdoing. The responsibility question then, at any stage, brings us back to the root of the disharmony and sends us back to the root. You, just you.

What is YOUR responsibility to you?

In this web of interrelation, taking care of you first is crucial. Even though it feels "selfish", when we are out of flow and showing signs of burnout the thing to do is to attend to Self . To be self-ish is a counterpose to the overdoing being asked of you. In a world of intergenerational burnout we each contribute to turning the ship around every time we ask this question and align. Doing this over and over, is one way out of the forest and onto a path of clear seeing.

Chinese Medicine for the Win!

Integrating The 12 stages of Burnout into my practice, I apply Acupuncture and the principles of Traditional East Asian Medicine to treat the symptoms of burnout, reroute your Qi, return flow to your being and address the depleting and often serious impacts of Burnout.

Where ever you are at in your life, if burnout is something you want to prevent or recover from, Acupuncture and Traditional East Asian Medicine offer a wholistic approach to the Life decision it is to heal, deal and feel well.

You have a right to life, and with that, a right to health. It is possible to serve and be served, to do for self and do for others. Check it out for yourself over the next few days and tell me what you learn.

To book an appointment, or meet me for a 15 min free check in please click here

Lamia Gibson
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