21/06/2022
As someone who can be found to take on a lot [those who know me will agree wholeheartedly, that this is the case] Not to use it as a badge of honour, but to be truthful, sometimes I am guilty of that. I've been looking into what burnout actually is, and how it affects different cultures.
The culture I live in seems to expect that our lives are governed by how busy we are, what we can achieve, who can keep going and do more. It's become normal to reach burnout or linger around the edge of it as a standard part of out lives. Using weekend and holidays to try and catch a break.
So, burnout is when you have nothing left in the tank, you are fullstop out of the game, depleted of all your energy. And you don't just snap back after a weekend off or an expensive holiday.
It's different to stress. Stress can be beneficial at the right times & in the right amounts. Burnout is the feeling that you need to stop the world, and just... get off.
It was interesting to learn that burnout is not a global phenomenon.
In the West, ambition and productivity are awarded and reinforced. βͺ That badge of honour stuff I was talking about earlier.
But...in Amazonian tribes, how much a person invests in their community is ranked as much more importance within a culture, and they don't experience burnout.
In Germany people work the fewest hours of any culture in the world, but are described as the most productive. Go figure.
I'll be introducing a 30 minute breathe & reset class to me online schedule on Wednesday lunchtimes. So if you need a little pocket of peace during your day, come and join me.
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