Burnout: The Science and the Woo

Burnout: The Science and the Woo

Last week I was called an anomaly when it came to Burnout because of the work I do and the understanding I’ve created about Burnout from Science and what they called Woo.

And whilst this has been in many ways accidental, my thirst for knowledge and joining the dots has played a part on the learning and skills I’ve acquired when it comes to understanding ourselves and Burnout.

In my teens, I remember my Mum being ill.  A hysterectomy, an operation on her sinuses, an under-active thyroid diagnosis.  And in my twenties, she was then diagnosed with Diabetes, she developed angina, and the issues have continued to grow and develop.

Every time a doctor or consultant has changed her medication for one condition, there has been an impact on anther condition, and sometimes with near fatal outcomes.

I never understood why she couldn’t just be admitted to hospital, and treated as a person, instead of all of her conditions being treated in isolation.  Seen my many doctors as her condition, instead of a person, perhaps this is where my dot joining Burnout journey started.

Having completed a Psychology degree and finding this useful in my in-house HR career, as I started to explore ways to understand stress and Burnout, neuroscience felt like a giant piece of a puzzle I’d been missing, and helped me gain more of an insight into Psychology too.

Having completed my Executive Coaching qualification towards the end of my in-house career, I was curious about how I could better help my clients to navigate and understand emotions.

In my studies of Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy, the neuroscience became more present, as well as the links to our thoughts, actions and interactions when it comes to our mental and emotional wellbeing.

But how does stress then impact us physically and causes so many ailments, illness and diseases? Cue my studies and learning into the nervous system and vagal nerve.

Yoga helped me to understand more about the mind-body connection, and how our different ‘bodies’ react to different situations.  Ayurveda helped me to understand our cycles, rhythms and patterns, our health and the seasons.

Somatics and breathwork helped me to understand how our body and breath can change our mood, our energy, and our thoughts and how when our energy becomes stagnant we can think negatively, become defensive and be driven by fear.

Healing circles helps to understand the power of connection and community, and how collective energy can impact us all in unexpected ways.

Firewalking and various empowerment techniques taught me more about how our noom can raise our energy enough to not feel the hot coals, yet when we spend too much time in our heads, our overthinking can keep us stuck in toxic situations and workplaces and make us hesitate as we stand before the fire in front of us.

Holosomatic Bodywork helped to understand more about trauma, the physical, mental and emotional effects and how we can move through it.

Neuropsychology is my focus in my Masters ahead of my PhD submission, and I know I’ll still want to learn more after this.

In the decade that I’ve been learning about Burnout, I’ve often found myself with questions about why we stay in toxic workplaces, what causes us to lose our sense of self, the role of our mind, body and emotions in Burnout prevention and recovery.

Why fear drives so many of our decisions, whys we can’t stop the closer we get to Burnout, and why we feel so lost as we come through the other side of Burnout.

I know that we can’t think our way out of Burnout.

I know that Burnout can impact our body and mind in the same way as trauma.

And I know that Burnout impacts more than our careers.

And each time I’ve had a question, I’ve found an answer in an unexpected place, and I’ve allowed myself to stay curious.

Burnout impacts all of us; our whole body, our mind, our work, our relationships, our emotions, our confidence, our social lives, our finances and our spirit, and so a one-size-fits-all approach that only works to improve or heal one area of our lives seems to be, not particularly helpful.  We need to heal and recover fully, as a whole person, in a holistic (whole) way.

So, you may call it woo.

You may want the stats and the science to ‘prove’ Burnout and its impact.

You may think that some of what you see and hear about Burnout feels too woo, or even too scientific.

For me, and so that I can jeep joining the dots to help more of you, I’ll keep working on the whole, and hope that when we are all open enough to a full approach to wellbeing that we can banish Burnout for good and actually be, well-beings.

Kelly

#Burnout #BurnoutAwareness #BurnoutPrevention #BurnoutRecovery 

P.S Join me in the Burnout Club for FREE for 14 days and let's Banish Burnout together