by : lacylit10 Leadership, Life Lessons

Burn-Out.

Did you know that burn-out is classified as an “occupational phenomenon” in the International Classification of Diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO)?  It’s in a section describing factors that influence a person’s health without being an illness or injury.  

Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.

It’s a syndrome (associated symptoms of opinions, emotions, and behavior) essentially brought to fruition from the unsuccessful management of chronic workplace stress.  It is characterized by three dimensions:

  1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
  2. Increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job;
  3. Reduced professional efficacy

Now, I’ve been saying I feel burnt-out for quite a while now.  But even through all the crap, I’ve still been wondering, “Is it all just in my head? It’s not really all. that. bad, is it?” So in true Lacy fashion, I looked for a way to justify my feelings.  Since burn-out is diagnosable, there’s got to be a measurement tool to verify, right?

There are actually several different assessments you can take. Here is an example of one. I can’t find the one that I used, but here are my results:

  • Emotional strain = 30
  • Interpersonal strain = 31
  • Task strain = 30

Scores higher than 25 in each indicate a high degree of strain.  If you add each score, anything higher than 75 indicates that “you may be feeling intense strain or burnout.”  You guys. 😳 My total score is 91.  Yeah, you can say I’m feeling intense strain.

I have been having a hard time keeping it together. And now, it’s starting to show up in my attitude and behavior. And only now that it’s becoming visible does it seem anyone is taking notice. Remember when I said everyone has an innate desire to feel seen and heard? Yeah, true story. 🙄

My leadership and emotional capacity have been exhausted over the past several months. It pains me burn-out is even showing up in my attitude and behavior, because great leaders are supposed to have it all together. But at what point is it okay for me to not be okay?

Don’t freak out by that statement. I’m fine. My point is: why does it have to get this far? Burn-out doesn’t just happen over night; it happens over time.

As an employee, resources are not readily available for me to access. I have certain parameters I must work within. Open communication with my boss is critical, then it becomes a test of his leadership.

But I’m not putting this all on him. Aside from the uncontrollables that have contributed to the unsuccessful management of this chronic stress, the rest is my own fault. Either I poorly managed my time, I didn’t prioritize effectively, I wasn’t working efficiently, or I wasn’t assertive enough in expressing, “I’m drowning in work.” Perhaps it’s a combination of some or all of these things.

While I don’t consider myself a perfectionist, I do have a perfectionist mentality – another contributing factor. 😬 But on the bright side, some deadlines are coming to a close this week. And if that’s not enough of a silver lining, the season slows down in about 3 months. So, you know, that will be here before I know it. 🤣👩🏻‍🌾

by : lacylit10 Life Lessons

Heart.

Have you ever really paid attention to where you feel emotions in your body?  It’s quite an interesting experiment that I recommend you try.  I did it for a week, and I learned that nearly every emotion I feel somewhere in the central portion of my body.

But it wasn’t all that surprising when I thought about it.  When my heart breaks, I feel it in my heart.  When I get nervous, I feel it in my stomach.  When I feel joy, I feel it in my heart.  When I feel excitement, I feel it in my stomach.  I don’t feel emotions in my head or my legs.  

As you learned, our gut is becoming known in the science community as our “second brain”, so it’s no wonder that we feel so many emotions in our stomach region (due to the enteric nervous system).  But today, I want to focus on the heart.

Have you ever really thought about the heart as a muscular organ?  I mean, it’s absolutely. F’ing. fascinating. 🤯  Our hearts are essential to our body’s health and function.  But unlike the other muscles in our body, hearts only get stronger when they break from our emotions.  We have no other way to “work out” that muscle than to feel heartache or heartbreak.  (And because I know someone is going to comment, yes, there are other ways we can build a strong heart through eating right, exercise, etc., but that’s not my point here. 🙄 )

Negative emotions are the muscle tears of our hearts that help it grow back stronger and more resilient. (Can someone quote me on that in the future?  ‘Cause damn.  That was good.)

Think about that for a minute though.  In several of my previous posts, I talk about how important it is to feel all of our emotions.  That we must feel the good and the bad.  And when we fully let ourselves feel the bad, the good is just that. much. sweeter. 

Just as walking around with sore muscles is uncomfortable, walking around with an aching or broken heart is uncomfortable too.  When we work other muscles, we give them time to rest and heal.  They get a day off.  Our heart works constantly, never pausing for rest.  Literally speaking, our heart never tires.  Emotionally speaking, our heart is overworked.  

Our heart is the. most. important. muscle in our body.  We don’t judge people for exercising other parts of their body; we praise them for giving it care. So, why do we dismiss giving our heart the emotional care it needs and judge people for when they do?