Discover how reflection and intentional rest can support your growth this Christmas and beyond. Find prompts to connect, embrace change, and set intentions for the year ahead.

👀 Reflection helps you connect deeply with yourself and honour the year that was.

👀 Intentional rest builds the foundation for growth, renewal, and lasting transformation.

👀 Embrace meaningful change and set powerful intentions for the year ahead.

As the year winds down, it’s natural to pause and reflect. Each experience—whether joyful or challenging—shapes our growth. This post invites you to take a moment to honour the lessons of the past year, embrace the changes ahead, and explore how meaningful and intentional rest can provide the foundation for supportive transformation. Let’s explore together how creativity, intentional pauses, and forward-thinking can guide us into the new year.

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Wondering if it’s burnout, a midlife crisis, or maybe both? Uncover the key differences and learn how to navigate this transformative time with clarity and support.

🌟 Uncover the unique signs that distinguish burnout from a midlife crisis.

🌟 Explore how these challenges often come together in midlife.

🌟 Find supportive steps to navigate this season with greater ease and clarity.

Midlife can be a time of significant change, where many find themselves questioning their paths, purpose, and overall satisfaction. These feelings can arise from what’s commonly referred to as a midlife crisis, burnout, or sometimes a mix of both. Though they can feel similar, burnout and a midlife crisis stem from different sources and require distinct approaches to overcome. Here, we explore how to differentiate between the two and provide steps for navigating these challenging times with clarity and self-compassion.

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Stuck in the burnout cycle? Learn how to turn exhaustion into lasting growth with insights and strategies for true recovery and resilience.

🌱 Rest alone won’t stop burnout. Deeper, intentional changes can lead to lasting growth.

🌱 It is possible to turn burnout into a powerful catalyst for personal and professional transformation.

🌱 Practical strategies can help you not just bounce back, but break the burnout cycle for good and thrive.

Burnout is more than just exhaustion—it’s a profound experience that can lead to either temporary recovery or deep, long-lasting change. In this post, we’ll explore the concept of burnout growth, drawing from Nick Petrie’s research, and how this transformative path can not only help you recover but also create a new, more fulfilling way of living.

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Explore practical ways to integrate mindfulness into your daily routine. These strategies can help reduce stress, prevent burnout, and support long-term well-being.

🧘‍♂️ Begin with short, simple mindfulness sessions and gradually build up.

🧘‍♂️ Incorporate mindfulness into daily activities, like eating or walking.

🧘‍♂️ Neurodivergent individuals can tailor mindfulness practices to fit their sensory preferences and needs.

Welcome to the final chapter of our series on mindfulness and burnout recovery. Throughout this journey, we’ve explored the core of mindfulness, its powerful role in burnout recovery, and how mindfulness-based therapies can offer support. Now, let’s shift gears and get practical.

In this final part, we’ll focus on strategies for integrating mindfulness into your everyday life. Whether you’re new to mindfulness or looking to deepen your practice, these practical tips will help you weave mindfulness into your routine and experience its benefits firsthand.

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Explore how therapies like MBSR, DBT, and ACT can support burnout recovery. Learn how these approaches use mindfulness to manage stress and promote well-being.

🧘🏽‍♀️ Mindfulness is integrated into psychotherapies, offering tools for managing stress and enhancing well-being.

🧘🏽‍♀️ Therapies like MBSR, DBT, and ACT use mindfulness to help individuals cultivate awareness and resilience.

🧘🏽‍♀️ These therapies aid burnout recovery by promoting compassion, emotional regulation, and value-driven actions.

In the first two parts of this series, we explored what mindfulness is, how it works, and its role in supporting burnout recovery. Now, let’s dive into the various psychotherapies that incorporate mindfulness to enhance mental health and well-being. Below, we’ll take a closer look at some prominent mindfulness-based therapies and their contributions to burnout recovery.

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Mindfulness can address key symptoms of burnout and reduce overall stress. But organizational changes are also key.

🧘 Mindfulness can reduce stress, boost job satisfaction, and build emotional resilience.

🧘 Mindfulness also helps decrease emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, key symptoms of burnout.

🧘 However, mindfulness alone isn’t enough; organisational changes are key for lasting burnout recovery.

In the first part of this series, we explored what mindfulness is and how it works. Now, let’s dive into the next question: How does mindfulness support burnout recovery?

Mindfulness has proven to be a valuable tool in addressing and alleviating burnout symptoms. Numerous studies across various professions and organisational settings have investigated its effectiveness. Most mindfulness interventions utilise mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), delivered through group settings, individual sessions, online platforms, or face-to-face interactions. The majority of these studies have found that mindfulness can:

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Explore how mindfulness can reduce stress and prevent burnout by keeping you grounded in the present.

🧘‍♂️ Mindfulness is about being fully present in the moment with openness and without judgment.

🧘‍♂️ Practicing mindfulness can help manage stress and prevent burnout by encouraging focus and awareness.

🧘‍♂️ Approaching tasks mindfully helps you stay grounded, while a lack of mindfulness can increase exhaustion.

When dealing with burnout, one powerful tool that can offer relief and recovery is mindfulness. But what exactly does mindfulness entail? Let’s start with the basics.

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present in the moment with a sense of openness and curiosity, without judgment. It involves a heightened awareness of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the environment around you. Essentially, mindfulness is about tuning into the here and now, rather than dwelling on past regrets or worrying about future anxieties.

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📏 Measurement counters biases during stress, providing an accurate view of improvement in burnout recovery.

📏 Baseline measurement identifies burnout severity and focuses on areas needing attention.

📏 Consistent measurement reveals subtle improvements and guides effective interventions.

Discover why measuring your burnout recovery matters. Learn practical strategies to gauge progress objectively and effectively navigate your journey toward healing and well-being.

Why Measure Progress in Burnout Recovery?

When considering the question, “Am I getting better?” it’s crucial to understand that our brains can be quite tricky, especially under stress, depression, or anxiety, which often accompany burnout. During these times, our minds tend to focus on the negative, making us biased and subjective in our self-assessment. Consequently, relying solely on our perceptions when stressed or anxious may lead us to believe we’re not improving, even if we are.

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🔥 Burnout is not a sudden event but a progressive condition.

🔥 There are three degrees of burnout that vary in their severity and impact.

🔥 Each degree of burnout affects an individual's functioning differently and requires a unique response.

🔥 Knowing the degree of burn allows for the right targeted interventions.

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight, but it has this uncanny ability to feel like it does. It sneaks up on you! According to Nick Petrie and his team, burnout is a progressive condition that has different levels of burn. Petrie’s research on workplace burnout revealed three degrees of burnout, each representing a different level of stress and impact on one’s ability to function.

The Three Degrees of Burnout

Let’s take a closer look at these levels and how they might relate to your own experiences or those of people you work with.

First-Degree Burnout

The first degree of burnout is characterized by a heavy period of stress and feelings of overwhelm, yet the person continues to function effectively. Reflecting on my own experience, I can identify with this level of burn during my early career in psychology. Even during my postgraduate studies, which involved both theoretical assignments and practical work, I felt overwhelmed but managed to function by taking regular breaks and having good work and life boundaries.

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🐸 The boiling frog syndrome has surprising relevance to the experience of human burnout and how it sneaks up on us.

🐸 Burnout is a challenge that often sneaks up on us, and we frequently don't see it coming until it's too late.

The Boiling Frog Syndrome describes the effect on a frog being put into boiling water and being slowly boiled alive. A frog suddenly put into a pot of boiling water, will jump out to save itself.. But if the frog is put in lukewarm water with the temperature slowly rising over time, it will not perceive any danger and will be cooked to death.

Since the frog is only slightly uncomfortable with its warming surroundings, it keeps trying to adjust to the gradual increase. It is only when the slow change suddenly accelerates that the frog has signed its death warrant, having already lost the strength to jump out of the pot.

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🧭 Checklists can help people spot the early signs of burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma.

🧭 Burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma can take a great toll on physical and emotional well-being.

🧭 Prioritize professional help and self-care, and seek support when needed.

Discover essential checklists to recognize burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma, empowering caregiving professionals to safeguard their well-being.

One of the profound lessons I've gleaned from battling burnout firsthand and supporting others through similar struggles, a journey many of us share, is the vital importance of recognizing the warning signs. Ignoring these signs can lead to a debilitating state, hindering our ability to function effectively at work and home. My journey brought me face to face with burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma, all prevalent challenges among caregiving professionals like myself. Today, I'm compelled to share a simple yet invaluable resource to empower fellow caregivers to identify and address these critical indicators of their health and well-being: signs and symptoms checklists of the big three.

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😨 Fear can silently guides decisions, leading to chronic stress; recognising its presence is crucial.

😨 Being mindful reveals fear's influence, fostering self-awareness and shedding light on anxieties.

😨 Embrace fear with compassion, acknowledging its presence and employing soothing actions.

With practical strategies and reflective prompts, you can transition from fear-driven passivity to alignment with your true self.

In the fast-paced whirlwind of modern life, it's easy to overlook the silent driver that often guides our actions and decisions: fear. In my own journey, it took a period of burnout for me to realise that fear wasn't merely a background noise of anxiety, self-doubt, and self-criticism, but rather the orchestrator of my existence, both personally and professionally. It wasn't until I reached a critical point of incapacity that I confronted this reality head-on and chose to embark on a change, knowing that I no longer wanted fear to dictate my path. Now armed with personal insight and the scientific understanding gleaned from my studies and practices of psychology, I extend a guiding hand to help you reassess whether fear is at the helm of your life and, more importantly, empower you to relegate fear to a passenger seat and choose a different driver.

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🪫 Build your awareness by regularly assessing activities that either boost or drain your energy.

🪫Cultivate self-compassion to be able to recognise your needs and honour them without guilt or shame.

🪫 Engage mindfully with your body to make necessary adjustments that honour your energy levels.

After decades of neglecting my energy, I've realised the importance of embracing my humanity. Join me in exploring the steps toward this transformation together.

In the midst of life's chaos, it's all too easy to overlook a vital aspect of our being: our energy. Yet, it's the very essence that fuels our every action, thought, and interaction. Like a limited resource, we only have a set amount each day, and how we choose to use it can profoundly affect our well-being. This realisation struck me after years of neglecting my energy levels, a struggle fuelled by societal norms and self-imposed pressures that I'm sure many of you can relate to.

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🌻 Boundaries are crucial safeguards, preventing burnout and promoting overall wellness in all areas of life.

🌻 Overcoming hurdles like people-pleasing and perfectionism is a vital part of effective boundary maintenance.

🌻 A practical roadmap is vital to conquer the complexities of boundary-setting for a healthier, balanced life.

Embark on a personal journey to uncover the hidden challenges of setting and keeping boundaries and discover practical ways to conquer these complexities for a more balanced life.

Setting and maintaining boundaries is an intricate dance between self-awareness, environment, others, personal resources, and conscious action. Across my years of personal and professional practice, I’ve come to view boundaries as the figurative line delineating my thoughts, emotions, beliefs, values, needs, desires, and energy from those of others. It is also the figurative line between different facets of life (e.g., work time and family time). Whether it's the delicate balance between self and others or the intersection of work and personal spheres, understanding and implementing effective boundaries can be a transformative journey and an essential one to safeguard ourselves from burnout and lead us toward a path of wellness.

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💞 Shame is the emotional outcome of believing one is "not good enough."

💞 Shame stems from environmental, relational, and cultural experiences that said "you are not good enough."

💞 Step away from the "not good enough" shame narrative and into a "good enough" story.

The "not good enough" mental narrative and the shameful feeling that comes with it are notable in people who have burnt out. Untamed, they can hinder one's recovery and growth.

One of the emotions experienced by people who are burnt out is shame. Shame for being burnt out. Shame for needing to work differently to help support our needs. Shame for letting others down. For me, I felt a lot of shame in the acute phases of my burnout. I believed that as a psychologist, I should have been able to avoid burning out, that I was not a good enough psychologist because I got sick. I would spend hours caught up in my mind telling me I had failed. This further spiraled my exhaustion into depths of despair.

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👏 Setting and achieving New Year's resolutions while burnt out is challenging, but not impossible.

👏 Engaging with these 8 steps can help us achieve our New Year's well-being goals.

👏 Knowing and connecting to our values helps us to provide a long-lasting motivation to stick to our goals.

January is often a time to reflect and set well-being intentions. For those already burnt out, this can be a daunting task. I hope these eight steps will set you up for success.

This time of year brings about reflection of what has been and hope for a better tomorrow. For those who are burnt out or suspect they are, you may be setting a course to support your well-being more in 2024. This may be a daunting task that doesn’t feel possible right now. This isn’t surprising because, with the exhaustion that comes with being burnt out, one’s motivation to engage in the behaviours to achieve one's well-being goals may be in limited supply. Below are eight steps designed to help set you up for success.

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👍 If you are open to it, burnout can be your biggest teacher.

👍 Burnout taught me that I had disengaged from my felt experience.

👍 Appreciation of the experience of burnout can take time; don't force it.

Seeing one's burnout through the lens of a blessing rather than shame is helpful toward recovery and growth. I share my burnout blessings in the hope it helps you to find yours.

I certainly didn’t see my burnout experience as a blessing when I was in the thick of it. Instead, I felt ashamed. As a psychologist, I thought I should have known better. I told myself that if I had done better, I could have avoided the fallout of my burnout and prevented the negative impact on others, including clients, colleagues, and family. I was in this spiral of shame for some time. It took a while for me to come out of that—something I will share with you in another post in the new year. For now, with the holiday season upon us, I want to reflect on the blessings of my burnout in the hope that it can help you see your burnout experience in a way that supports your healing.

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☀️ Perfectionism is a risk factor for experiencing burnout.

☀️ Perfectionism is reversible.

☀️ You can let go of perfectionism with seven steps.

You can break up with perfectionism, and your health depends on it. Follow these seven steps. You can break up with perfectionism, and your health depends on it. Follow these seven steps.

A marriage not made in heaven: burnout and perfectionism. When our perfectionistic beliefs and behaviours have hijacked us for an extended period, we are bound to burn out. I should know. My perfectionism contributed to my burnout in February 2021 after many years of working in the mental health field, and the therapy that followed involved breaking up with my inner perfectionist.

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♡ When experiencing burnout, you will inevitably experience losses (e.g., loss of health).

♡ The more you push to regain the losses, the worse things will be.

♡ Lean into burnout losses with acceptance and compassion.

Being equipped to handle the losses associated with burnout is vital to healing. Here are 5 key steps for responding.

The more I delve into working with others experiencing burnout, the more I hear the experience of loss. Loss of health, loss of job/career, loss of identity, loss of self-worth, and loss of abilities to focus, attend, and make decisions. They share that with this loss comes waves of sadness and, at times, a sense of helplessness when they look into their future.

I can relate.

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💡 Knowing your risk factors for burnout are key to preventing it.

💡 The risk of burnout stems from occupational and individual factors.

💡 Risk factors include work type, workload, and personality traits, among others.

How does one become burnt out? Know your risk so you can prevent it.

We are curious creatures, so it is only natural we want to know why someone burns out. We often want to know this to mitigate the risk of burning out.

To repeat the words of burnout researchers Maslach and Leiter:

"Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. The three key dimensions of this response are overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment." (2016, p. 103).

Fortunately, there has been a lot of investigation into the burnout risk factors. I have summarised the findings below into occupational and individual risk factors. I hope this can become your workplace or personal burnout risk checklist.

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👉 The pathway back to work after burnout must be tailored to the individual.

👉 Care must be taken to address individual and workplace factors to ensure a successful return.

👉 A key component to a successful return to work is a stepped approach involving all relevant stakeholders.

A Personal Perspective: When do you know you are ready to return to work? It's a common question for those suffering from or helping someone who is burnt out.

One of the common struggles for people recovering from burnout is knowing when to return to work. There are many reasons why it is a struggle, such as fear of burnout relapse, worry that they won’t be able to do their job, explaining their work absence to a new employer, and fear that colleagues will judge them. Some of these fears were present for me, and the struggle was compounded by not knowing if I wanted to return to my career.

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🌟 Journaling is a holistic therapy that helps us explore the causes of, and find solutions to, difficulties.

🌟 Keys to success are finding and establishing a journal practice that works for you.

Self-observation of our inner experiences is key to recovery from burnout. Journaling helps us to achieve it.

It pains me to say that I, a psychologist who recommends journaling to others to support their health, did not use it myself until I was severely burned out. Back then, I was great at taking care of others but not so great at taking care of myself. Having learned my lesson, I am here to share the benefits of this therapeutic tool and help you devise a journal practice to support your health and well-being.

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