The Nervous System Behind Burnout
Signs You Are Near Burnout or In An Active Burnout
The thought of going into work makes you procrastinate, freeze, ill/feel ill
Wilfully ignoring deadlines
You delay going to sleep to be on your phone to feel like you have “me” time
You day dream about getting sick, or not seriously injured but injured enough so that you don’t have to go into work
Pure exhaustion that even sleep or short leave can’t cure
A feeling of no extra time outside of commute and work
Burnout, if left untreated, can morph into DGAF
Why Does My Nervous System Not Know the Difference Between an Email and a Wild Animal?
Because your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is responsible for keeping you alive and one of the biggest indicators of danger is…STRESS!
The ANS operates unconsciously and is responsible for so many things! From our rest to digest, freeze to flight, your ANS is constantly responding to indicators that you give off and reacts accordingly.
In our modern day world, stress has taken new shapes; from always being reachable, having a toxic work environment, dealing with management that are incompetent, experiencing traffic, not feeling supported, feeling isolated, money, social media or emails; it doesn’t matter- if it is stressing you it is signalling danger to your ANS.
A lot of our stress has become daily, almost ever present putting our ANS into a constant state of response. Whether it is freeze, fawn, flight or fight an ANS that is constantly in a response state means that we are not able to rest or digest well. This leads our bodies to exhaustion and even sickness where our body forces us to slow down and rest aka BURNT OUT!
What Can I Do To Prevent Burn Out?
Quit your job, move abroad, become rich…..lol just kidding!
While those things are helpful, here are some bite-size practices that revolve around SLOWING DOWN which is a key indicator to your nervous system that you are safe.
Keep your phone in a separate room than the one you sleep in (this has helped me a lot).
Put both feet on the ground and take a moment to notice your feet and what they feel like- are they hot/cold/tingly/do they feel far away/are you able to feel them at all?
Move your head as slow as you can from one shoulder to the other as you look around the room. If anything catches your eye look at it and notice any sensations you have in the body.
Take one, slow, deep breath in and then out. Notice what happens when you pay attention to your breath and how you feel before and after.
Sitting in a chair? Notice how the chair feels supporting you. Where do you feel the support in your body? Do you need to adjust to allow the chair to support you better? Notice the before and after in your body.
Try to do one of your morning routines without looking at your phone and see if you can do it a bit slower than usual. Notice yourself walking fast in your house- slow down. Rushing while preparing breakfast- slow down. How about when you make yourself coffee or chai- can you slow it down and s p a c e i t o u t? Notice what happens in your body as you do that.
Take a pause between emails OR when you notice you’ve been working for a while. This pause can be feeling your feet, slowly looking around, reorganising yourself in your chair, standing up to stretch, etc. but see if you can move a bit slower taking pause to notice your own body and what it is feeling.
Don’t hold your need to go to the bathroom. Obviously sometimes we do need to hold it, but a lot of the times we hold it more than necessary.
Hate all the suggestions above? Then try the ideas that popped into your head while reading the list :)
How Does Somatic Experiencing Help With Burnout?
Whether you come into a Somatic Experiencing (SE) session already burnt out or on the brink of burn out, you will be able to slow down and begin to discharge your work stress from your nervous system. This allows your nervous system to move back into a state of healthy awareness instead of ping ponging between fight, flight, freeze and fawn. This healthy awareness is a place of space, joy, presence, connectedness and options and it feels delicious.
As you continue to work with a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, you are increasing your own container while also becoming aware of your body’s signals of burn out. By coming out of the mind (where most of us live) and back into the body you’re able to rest, digest and connect better. These all combat burnout because if we are able to rest, digest and connect that means we have slowed down, signalling to our body we are safe.
Interested in trying out Somatic Experiencing? Book your first session with me here!
