Burnout
I have always been amazed by how many people turn up to a job every day and trade their most valuable asset, their time, when they don’t love it. Worse, when they actively hate their job, or their workplace, or their boss; but they won't make a change. Sometimes it has never even occurred to them that they could make a change. They have been swimming in water with people who hate their job/boss/workplace for so long that they don’t even realise there is another way.
The statistics on people that dislike or hate their job vary from 50-85% globally. It makes me so sad to think that there are literally millions of people worldwide who are spending 93% of their time in a negative state.
As a health professional I am so sad to see that the burnout rates for health workers continue to rise, currently sitting at around 84% (in 2022 by checkup.org.au). I am a part of numerous Facebook groups for health professionals and daily there is at least one post from someone who is drowning in burnout and exhaustion and is desperate for someone to throw them a lifeline. The comments are hugely empathetic as unfortunately the vast majority of us have been there or are there or feel that we have already got onto the slippery slide and don’t know how to get off.
And it is not just limited to health professionals. If you are in the business of serving, of giving of yourself, you are experiencing it too.
What does this mean? I think we all know that burnout is a thing. We are taught at uni in a theoretical, academic way that we need to protect ourselves against burnout. This education certainly is not working. So what does it mean to hate your job or to be burnt out?
Waking up with a sense of dread on a workday
The ‘Sunday Blues’
Feeling drained at the end of the day
Feeling like you have no energy
Having a short fuse, little patience and reduced empathy
Feeling trapped
Feeling like what you are doing is not worth it
Feeling like you are not making a difference
Feeling undervalued
Physical health issues - as health professionals we really should understand this link better but alas, therapist heal thyself is easier said than done
Frequent or constant complaining and whinging about our job - we call it ‘venting’ but if we are honest with ourselves we know what it really is
I don’t think this would ever be someone's idea of a dream life. Why do over half of us accept this then? Why don’t we change it?
It is scary to make a change. I get that. There are so many factors to consider when considering making a change as big as changing jobs. It is huge.
I wonder though, how much is a genuine roadblock and how much is of our own creation?
Are we holding back because we are worried about sunk cost? We’ve been at this workplace for this amount of time and we are on track for this promotion; if we leave now we have to start at the bottom again. Or if we want a totally new career we add in the tens of thousands of dollars and years of effort and learning put into obtaining our degrees and maintaining our professional development.
Is it that we might have to take a pay cut? Financial stress is, after all, commonly cited as the worst and most detrimental type of all the stresses we endure.
Or could it be, just maybe, is it because we are scared?
Our fear is the real obstacle that is holding us stuck in a place and a life that we wouldn’t wish for our best friend or our kids. Holding us hostage in a situation that is costing us our immediate fulfillment and joy and shaving literal years off our lives.
I think we are scared of the wrong things. What terrifies me is bringing negative energy home and infecting my kids with it. Having my family and friends cringe when I start complaining, yet again, about how bad my job is. Living my life for my measly 4 weeks out of 52 when I am on holidays and can enjoy my life. How does it make sense to work for money that I only get to enjoy for 7.7% of the year?
It is sometimes easier to envision life as you want it to be by imagining the kind of life you want for your best friend. Or your sister. Or your kids.
When I think of my beautiful boys, I think of how I want them to feel. I don’t care if they want to be a doctor, or a horse trainer or an astronaut. My definition of success for them is all about how they feel on a consistent basis, not every once in a while, not just while they are on annual leave. I want them to feelempowered. Strong. Confident. Compassionate. Passionate. Joyful. Loving. Caring. Worthy. Energetic.
Do you feel those emotions every day? What about weekly? Monthly? Yearly? Every other year?
My guess is for the majority of people they don’t remember how long it has been since they have lived a life that is fulfilled. They are stuck in jobs they don’t like but will try to justify and downplay how bad it is. I’ve heard it. When I ask people why they keep persisting in work that drains them and burns them out they then flip it. Oh no it’s not that bad.
Perhaps, but is it that good?
What is the cost of staying?
Would it fit the dream life you have for your kids?
Sit with that for a moment. Get really still and ask yourself what does a life of fulfillment look and feel like to you. Is it your life? Can you recognise it? What kind of life are you saying no to by continuing to choose to stay in this mediocre one. Is the devil you know really better than the one you don’t?
Maybe, just maybe, your life wasn’t meant to be this hard.