6 Ways to Prevent and Manage Physical Burnout
Modesty. When you hear the word modesty you no doubt think of what you wear. That is one of the meanings modesty carries. However, modesty also carries the meaning of being moderate in the estimation of one’s abilities. It involves humbly accessing your current situation, recognizing your limitations and working within those limitations. It’s this latter definition of modesty I will be referring to.
It wasn’t until my late 30’s that I grasped the importance of yielding to this kind of modesty. Multiple times I suffered burnout. We don’t hear the term “burnout” as often as we used to but believe me, it’s real. Stress, especially prolonged stress is invisible, but by no means harmless. Unaddressed stress which can lead to burnout can become a very serious problem for one’s long-term health. In Sweden, burnout or ‘utmattningssyndrom’ is classified as an illness with a medical diagnosis in which those who suffer can receive up to six months of paid sick leave. I hope that in sharing my journey you can avoid experiencing burnout or if you’ve already experienced it, learn to navigate through it.
In my 20’ s and most of my 30’s I had big dreams and I chased them to exhaustion. The first time I burned out I was only 25. I found myself living in a foreign country feeling unwell, fatigued and all of a sudden unable to sleep. I pushed through it with herbal/ homeopathic remedies, including some that helped with my sleep for a time, but didn’t address the bigger issue: chronic stress and my immodest way of dealing with it. I kept pushing myself for another nine months before I thought I’d better try to figure out what was going on. So I moved back to my home country.
I returned to Canada in hopes of resting up and getting my sleep back on track. I recall that the homeopath in Finland mentioned that he felt that my adrenal glands were producing way too much cortisol, so I asked my family doctor to test my cortisol as well as to address my tremendous fatigue and overall feeling very unwell. My levels come back as within range and she couldn’t find anything wrong with me. Little did I know, cortisol levels to be accurate must be measured by a blood test between 8 and 10 AM. However, the most detailed profile of one’s hormones is by means of a saliva test which can be requested through your naturopathic/ integrative physician. I didn’t learn any of this until years later. Needless to say, I tried to slow down and rest for a few months until I did one of the most stressful things, which was moving across the country to a province I’d never even visited. I loved living in Toronto, a vibrantly diverse and multicultural city. After two years of living there, I got married and moved to the US. I stopped working for a time and tried to rest and recover. It helped. But before I could recover I took off running again.
I experienced burnout yet again in my mid 30’s. In fact, I ended up so ill that I could not function. Over the years I’ve been able to find doctors who knew what to look for, and in 2011 I was officially diagnosed with hypoadrenia (adrenal fatigue), hypothyroidism and all the hormonal fallout that comes from that. Several years later, I was diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses, all of which stress feeds. This forced me to learn to slow down. It meant I was forced to begin to recognize that I have limitations and I needed (for the sake of my immediate and long term health) to live within those limitations. My physician at the time who diagnosed my burnout and adrenal fatigue said that if I didn’t make some drastic changes I’d be hospitalized.
In managing and avoiding burnout, I’d like to share some things that have helped me regain balance in life.
Accepting that you must listen to you body. You can no longer push through things like a mild cold or extreme fatigue. You must allow yourself to rest, even though it isn’t always convenient.
Learn to say “no.” As much as we all want to believe we can, we can’t do everything. Focus on what’s truly most important in your life and channel your energies in that direction.
Stop comparing yourself to others, even those who are affected by the same health issues. We as humans are each unique
Stop comparing yourself to your former self (pre-burnout) and what you used to be able to do. Focus on what you CAN do.
Self-care cannot be neglected. It involves many things from nourishing your body with clean food to spending time moving outdoors daily in nature and taking care of yourself emotionally and spiritually.
Be your own health advocate. Find a physician who will take you seriously. Often there is also an underlying chronic illness or even autoimmune disease, as in my case, so keep persisting to find answers.
If you experience burnout once, it can happen again. It’s always better to be modest early on, rather than keep pushing and pushing yourself, inevitably running yourself into the ground.
Kimberley Pearson
Kimberley Pearson of therocksanddirtbakery.com is a Gluten Free Blogger, specializing in creating seasonal Gluten/Grain free & Allergy friendly recipes. Kimberley personally deals with multiple chronic illnesses and celiac disease. From childhood she has navigated many food allergies and a compromised immune system.
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