Burnout

When our bodies take over...

Lately I’ve been reflecting on the words people arrive with in clinic when something in their lives has begun to unravel. Stress. Burnout. Overwhelm. The words are familiar enough, but the lived experience beneath them is often much deeper than the language suggests.

A very commonly used phrase. So what is burnout?

One that anyone in any profession has heard. A colleague, a friend, a family member - people are often burnt out. It is commonplace. But beneath the story and the word, what actually is it?

We do not catch burnout like a cold or flu. We create the circumstances. The perfect storm for it to occur.

It is not something that happens overnight. It is the summation of a long period of not listening.

Having been down this road, I know the creep. The slow creep. The bodily signals ignored. The wrong path taken again and again. The degree by degree drift off course.

So what actually happens?

The nervous system’s fundamental job is to keep us alive. To scan for threat and keep us safe. When we live in an always-on culture that celebrates productivity over rest, sticking plasters over realignment, we begin tapping into resources our bodies do not really want to give up.

We start living outside our means. Spending from savings rather than living within our earnings.

This can work for a while. Sometimes for a long while. But eventually the savings run out. The body has nothing left to give, and the survival mechanism steps in.

Shutdown.

We may be in a frenzy to keep going, to keep performing, to keep on top and not give up. But the deeper safety mechanisms have other ideas. This friction pushes us further down a hole where nothing we do seems to make a difference.

We find ourselves in a place we did not intend to reach.

So how do we rebuild from here?

We listen. We make friends with the body again. We notice, as reassurance, so the shutdown can slowly lift. It is not quick or immediate, but it works.

Slowly, slowly we begin to moderate the stressors. We feel into our life situation and the environmental factors that enhance or diminish our experience. We make choices. We change our responses. We become more conscious of our actions and learn, really learn how to rest.

Gradually, we move from a wired survival mechanism to a gentler place. A place where we can begin to feel and connect again. Not as the world tells us we should, but as we actually are.

In this sense, burnout is part of the survival architecture of being human that has become stuck. And we can unstick it by calmly, consistently and considerately making better choices, receiving support and connection, and moving to higher ground.