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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.