The phrase “work-life balance” has come to mean setting boundaries in your professional life – not working after a certain time, only taking on what you can reasonably handle, or finding employment that is more flexible.
This is all very true, but it’s not always the whole story. We can’t attribute all of our life imbalances to our professional contexts, especially if you have a well adjusted working environment but still feel overwhelmed.
The fact is that burnout can come from any area of our life and can have dire consequences if left untreated. Here are some of the signs to look out for in different areas.
Realizing you have personal burnout
Have you ever met a stay-at-home parent and think to yourself that they look exhausted? Just because someone doesn’t have a traditional job, doesn’t mean that they can’t be approaching burnout. Taking on the raising of children on top of other domestic chores can be hard and often thankless work.
Now what happens when a parent (particularly a single parent) has to balance these tasks with a job as well? The result is a huge amount of stress that the individual feels reluctant to talk about because it’s considered a normal part of life.
But what’s not normal is that nearly a third of parents have considered suicide due to the stress of caring for their children, aging parents, or pets. The survey of almost 3,000 US parents found that 90% lost sleep, 80% have cried, 85% sacrificed other life goals, and 71% suffered health issues. Worst of all, 29% have actually considered suicide or self-harm.
The cost of poor habits or addictions
It’s not just parents who can suffer from personal burnout. Even when everything appears to be great on the surface, we can fall into habits that make us unhappy. This could be everything from struggles with food or alcohol to simply spending too much time on our phones.
We’ve spoken before about the negative effect that geopolitical trends can have on our mental health. The fact is that doom scrolling is such a serious issue that 74% of those at “problematic levels” of doom scrolling reported experiencing mental health problems. What’s more, external pressures such as not having enough money can further add to feelings of burnout or anxiety, further exacerbating the other issues we have going on.
Professional burnout is also personal
Of course, we can’t dismiss the enormous role that our professional lives play in our mental health. For most of us, the majority of our adult lives are spent in a working environment and if something isn’t right, it can have significant consequences.
In fact, we should stop thinking about it as “professional” burnout at all as everything related to our mental health is inherently personal or at least impacts our personal lives.
According to one source, 44% of workers feel burnt out from their work. But what does this look like? For many of them, stress and anxiety are key characteristics of burnout, and these don’t magically go away when the individual goes home.
Now, as many companies are rethinking their flexible, remote working rules or dismantling various DEI initiatives, we can expect levels of burnout to increase. Unfortunately, this will likely disproportionately affect women, who already experience higher levels of burnout than men.
When your personal and professional life is linked
Some people, like stay-at-home parents or other caregivers are also highly susceptible to feelings of burnout. We’ve spoken about this issue with full-time caregivers and it is more real and present now more than ever before.
These people deserve to have a proper balance in their lives and shouldn’t be suffering because of the work they're doing.
Take this article about one caregiver for example who realized she deserved to reconnect with herself and with others. Her name is Dawn Shedrick and she went graduate school to look after her mother who has multiple sclerosis. She felt it was her duty as a daughter and out of love for her mom, but that’s not to say it was an easy task.
For decades, Shedrick dealt with feelings of loneliness and isolation when looking after her mother. In 2018, Shedrick first began to open up to others, beginning with her cousin. She then went to therapy and realized she needed more support. Things really began to change with COVID and the unique situation that helped her to find more support and heal relationships with close relatives.
It’s not been an easy journey to improve her mental health, but it’s one that Shedrick has managed to take thanks to the support of professionals and those close to her. Around the country, there are potentially thousands of people with similar stories, and there is help available for all of them.
How to reset the balance
No matter your specific situation, whether you believe the source of your chronic stress is professional, personal, or a mixture of the two, there are steps you can take to address it.
Every journey is different, but it all begins at the same place – asking for help. The anxiety we feel can paralyze us, whether because we’re scared of losing our job or other feelings of guilt, shame, etc.
It’s important to know that feeling burnt out is not a crime. It doesn’t make the work you do any less valid or change who you are as a person.
We can give you tips and tricks such as going for more walks or running a bath, but all these self-care tactics (while useful) mean little if you don’t take steps to address the underlying issues.
Today, it’s becoming increasingly vital that we are there for others, and that also means taking care of yourself. Just as people lean on you, you need to lean on those around you when you’re feeling down or as if “running on empty”.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, at MHAI, we strongly suggest getting in touch so we can pair direct you resources, both peer and professional. Your mental health matters.
Contact us today for more information.
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