Burnout

Practical Strategies for
Processing Stress

image: @janellemonae via @allbodieshealth

Burnout is a term you may have heard thrown around in conversation lately. Especially as the year comes to an end, many people will describe feeling burnt out by work, the pandemic, and other life stressors. 

Burnout is often associated with stress. When people describe themselves as ‘burnt out’, it usually implies their ability to cope with stress has run out. 

But burnout is more than just feeling like you’re worn thin from stress; it relates to emotional exhaustion, or fatigue from caring too much for a sustained period.

It can also represent a drop in empathy and compassion, as well as feelings of hopelessness over your ability to create change. As you can see here, burnout is a very emotional experience. And these are some big emotions. 

The key to addressing emotional exhaustion to treat burnout, is to work through emotions. We have more info on how to do this here. 

Another way to address burnout is to consider the stressors that are impacting our capacity to cope, to work through big emotions, or deplete us in some way. 

Firstly, let’s breakdown what stress is.

Stress is the physiological change that occurs in your body when you encounter a ‘threat’. Stress is activated by stressors. 

A stressor is something that you perceive through your five senses (taste, touch, smell, feel, see). External stressor include work, family, time, societal or cultural pressure, discrimination etc. Internal stressors include self-criticism, body image, and identity. 

When our bodies detect a ‘threat’, it activates a series of processes that aim to get us to safety. When we were primitive beings, these ‘threats’ were tigers. To get to safety, we would run. Today, the threats might be the relentless exposure to distressing news topics on our screens, or worrying about being ‘summer body ready’.

The issue with today’s stressors is that it’s not as simple as running away. Societal expectations follow us, relentless and depressing news updates follow us. It’s hard to escape, so our bodies consider that the threat remains. So we stay stressed. 

Another thing to consider is that just because you’ve dealt with the stressor, it doesn’t mean you have processed the stress in your body. Removing apps that lead to news exposure, or not watching the news helps to remove the stressor. But your body is still processing the stress response. 

Remember; the mind moves fast, and the body moves slow. 

To manage our stress, we need to complete the stress response cycle. 

According to the Nagoski twins, and authors of “Burnout: The Secret to unlocking the stress cycle”, physical activity is the single most effective strategy for complete it the stress response. 

This is because our stress response elicits a series of physiological changes, and physical movement helps to process this. 

image: @kamillacollages

Other strategies for completing the cycle include; 

Breathing- taking deep, slow breaths activates your parasympathetic nervous system (the rest & digest state). Paced or deep breathing exercises can be found on YouTube, and are very effective for regulation when practiced. 

Positive social interaction- having nice interactions with your local barista, or someone in the dog park can help to ground you into remembering the world is a safe and pleasant enough place. If it’s not pleasant, make it pleasant by giving a stranger a compliment. 

Laughter- when we laugh, we remind ourselves that stress, anxiety, and fear aren’t the only emotions we can feel. Laughter usually connects us, so find someone, or something to have a good belly laugh with. 

Affection- seeking affection from a loving and trusted person in your life can help to reduce stress. John Gottman of the Gottman Institute recommends a daily 6 second kiss with a partner to relieve stress, and build connection. Other research has suggested a 20 second hug helps to shift hormones, lower blood pressure, lower heart rate, and elicit oxytocin the bonding hormone. 

Crying- I am a huge fan of a stress-cry. Crying is incredibly effective in helping to release the tension of stress. So listen to a sad song, or watch a move that helps elicit the emotion, and let it out. 

Creative expression- process your emotions through creative activities like writing, painting, singing, or making music. Acknowledging our suffering through storytelling is an age old strategy, and why heartbreak songs exist. 

I think that Emily and Amelia Nagoski put it very well when they wrote;

“To be ‘well’ is not to live in a state or perpetual safety and calm, but to move fluidly from a state of adversity, risk, adventure, or excitement, back to safety and calm, and out again. Stress is not bad for you, being stuck is bad for you.”

So as our year winds down, whether you have time off or not, consider how you are completing your stress cycle. Feel free to integrate some of the practical strategies suggested above. 

Happy Holidays, and Happy Resting!