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These blogs are a way to share my thoughts and insights with you. Feel free to comment and share.

Hitting the wall

20/9/2015

4 Comments

 
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Some of the professionals and businesspeople I coach have been close to a burnout or have had to take sick leave due to burnout.  Before hitting the wall, and taking sick leave, they were putting in long hours, unable to cope with crushing workloads, chronically exhausted and empty of hope.

Watching someone lose his or her zest for life and become more fearful, anxious and depressed is heartbreaking.

The circumstances and conditions leading up to feeling burned out, or overwhelmed and stressed, are different for everyone. But the similarities are striking with respect to feeling depleted of energy, unmotivated ("what’s the point of it all?"), and in a fog of self-doubt and insecurity regarding on-the-job performance and competence.

I have a longstanding personal and professional interest in health and medicine. This includes working in healthcare research, designing educational programs to improve chronic care self-management strategies, and developing continuing medical education programs designed for family physicians, specialists and oncology pharmacists.


Research has shown that medical students, residents and physicians are at an especially high risk for burnout. Over and above long hours, they face clinical challenges in settings and situations where mistakes carry significant consequences.
“As physicians, we are perfectly capable of  'running on empty' and continuing to see patients long after we are completely drained and exhausted. Building this capacity to work despite complete exhaustion is a core component of our medical education. Learning how to keep going no matter what — is part of surviving residency.This survival mechanism makes sense if you have a defined end point … like graduation. However, once you get out into private practice … your whole life stretches out ahead of you. There is only so long that you can continue to practice on empty before something bad happens. And empty is just the beginning for many of us”

_
--Physician Burnout – Pathophysiology and Treatment of Burnout, Dike Drummond MD
We know that sustained high stress over time undermines our health seriously. It is a risk factor for depression, anxiety and many chronic diseases. Existing physical or mental health issues (and their symptoms) also become more marked and intense due to stress.

Things just get worse under stress!


We
do less or no exercise when stressed. We eat more and it tends to be fattier, saltier and sweeter. Smokers smoke more. Drinkers drink more.

Our bad habits get badder!

And, when you hit the wall, you have some choices

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Endless online resources and books have great suggestions on how to protect yourself against stress and burnout. And you can't let yourself go. Because once you are in a depleted state, with little or no surplus energy, the simplest task or change feels impossible.

When I need to boost my energy, I have a talk with myself:

  • What is zapping and depleting my energy?  Bad habits like saying yes too often and clogging my agenda, wasting time online, or spending too long writing the perfect blog sentence.
  • What boosts my energy? Positive actions like making an important decision, going dancing, having friends over for dinner, or meditating.

By becoming more aware of what zaps, and what boosts, it's easier to fire the energy-drainers and hire the energy boosters.

Some weeks you can do more and others less.
  And remember: When you're approaching the wall, you do have choices.

With a zap and a boost,
Coach Minda


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4 Comments
Cliff Yerex
21/9/2015 01:09:14 pm

Nice article! Great advice about medical help. Although I did not go through standard medical treatment, but alternative, my adrenals were totally depleted once. Once that was under control, the stress was so much more manageable. Having a check-up gives one a good base line to operate from.
As well, I taught taiji and coached beginner class instructors for quite a few years. Many of them would comment " I feel drained after a beginner class! ". The long and short of it, when you are in a position of serving others there is a large difference between 'offering' what you know and 'giving it all away'. Just like the old kiosks in front of the theatres, they offered you a ticket to partake, they didn't give you the 'whole deal' out on the street. It worked for every one of them.
Again, nice article!

Reply
Coach Minda link
21/9/2015 11:01:04 pm

I've heard of others, who when dealing with excessive stress had "adrenal fatigue." How did you recover? Thanks Cliff

Reply
Oog
22/9/2015 10:03:13 pm

As always , sound advice and great music , and , now , beautiful walls !
I would even say there's therapeutic potential in the music of Miles Davis .

Reply
Minda link
23/9/2015 02:43:44 pm

I listen to this album once a week and you are right about it being therapeutic. Thanks again Oog

Reply



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