Don't get caught in the vicious circle of burnout

The process of experiencing increasing negative stress gradually progresses to the stages of burnout. Gradually, because it is not like a staircase where the next step is clearly present, but more like a wild water slide in a pool where you become more and more disoriented with every turn, being tossed up, down, left, or right, until you – ta-da – find yourself in the pool of burnout. And it is a very long slide.

Stress also involves balancing things that give you energy and things that demand energy. Both are necessary to cope with life, work, family, retirement, sports, friends, etc. In fact, it’s about the changes that occur to manage those aspects. But it’s also about the tension, whether sought after or not, which makes something a challenge or is endured as a (life) experience – thus also a way of growing and learning in life.

Stress affects your body, limbs, and mental well-being in many ways. There is no priority to determine where signals of too much stress first manifest: physically or mentally, are you sweating more than normal or unexpectedly, or do you have sleep problems and feel more irritable? Pinpointing these exactly... always… It’s good to know that the patterns of (negative) change repeat themselves, but if they are not recognized (in time), they deepen and eventually show other unpleasant manifestations.

An enlightening illustration is included which clearly shows that burnout increasingly amplifies unwanted activities, until professional help becomes necessary. It is easy to imagine that a lot of collateral damage has already occurred, for example in work or relationships. And it will undoubtedly have been noticed by your surroundings and possibly pointed out, but there’s a good chance that you dismiss the advice or try even harder to prove that there’s nothing wrong with you – everything under control.

There is no method, technique, medicine, or anything of the sort available that enables you to balance life in all aspects. Initially, you are reliant on yourself, and it helps if you lead a balanced life in which, for example, study, care, work, sports, and culture are in physical and mental equilibrium. It is more important that deviations in patterns are recognized and acknowledged due to changing circumstances.

Recognizing is the first step in undergoing a change.

Acknowledging is the step that indicates the change needs correction.

Ideally, you should see early on that negative efforts are consistently reaching their limits. For example, postponing or canceling your weekly sports session with a 'lame' excuse. Another example is working late into the evening to solve work-related problems. This is not easy, as there may be times when it is necessary to skip your sports session or to push through a problem. This is the creeping phase in which cancellations or pushing through can become a new 'normal.' You no longer recognize it as 'different from usual'; you undermine your self-confidence when you also consider that things should actually be different.

There is no panacea for (or against) stress; at first glance, you are reliant on yourself and the degree to which you know and trust yourself. Recognizing and acknowledging, both of which are not concrete material matters, ideally serve as your markers to determine your position on the stress balance so you can arrive at appropriate actions.

Pragmatic, simple, empowering, keeping your feet on the ground, conscious walk provide opportunities to gauge your position by working on activities for relaxation, breathing, and being in nature. It starts with you!