By Ellen Marsden
Feeling alienated from your job lately as COVID-19 lingers over a fearful nation? Have you become cynical of your coworkers or even the intrinsic value of your work itself?
Are you suffering headaches, or stomach issues? Do you feel drained and exhausted, looking down an endless dark tunnel of depression?
Are you questioning your ability to cope, both with your job and your new homebound virus responsibilities?
No, this isn’t a commercial for Geritol. Do they even still make that stuff?
The symptoms describe burnout, “a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.”
Last year, before coronavirus spread its ugly tentacles across the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially classified burnout as “an occupational phenomenon … resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”
Stress and burnout are not the same. Stress is something you might experience temporarily, such as a work deadline that has you under pressure, or being stuck in traffic as you struggle to make an appointment on time.
Burnout is prolonged. Instead of heightened emotion and rising to the occasion as you might with stress, you feel like you’re sinking, empty, helpless; like nothing you do is going to make any difference.
The term “burnout” is a relatively new term, according to verywellmind.com. It was “first coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger, in his book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement. He originally defined burnout as, “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.”
Workplace burnout is not uncommon, especially in business, for first responders, and those in healthcare. As the COVID-19 crisis ravages the country, workers in these areas may be particularly vulnerable to burnout as they are dedicated to saving companies, jobs and lives. A related phenomenon is “compassion fatigue” which can happen to healthcare workers in response to working with trauma.
Now that burnout has been given a more detailed definition by the WHO, it is likely that employers will be more aware of and sensitive to the issue, and devise strategies to help minimize its occurrence and severity.
In response to the pandemic, there has already been an increase in the availability of resources to combat the burnout healthcare providers are experiencing, according to Cindy Ricardo, a Coral Springs based licensed mental health worker.
“There was some of it available, but with COVID-19, there’s been a huge response from all different organizations. What I have seen companies doing is offering free mental health resources and free healthcare, no copay necessary. There’s a lot of other free resources out there like free yoga classes,” Ricardo said.
And while the WHO has defined burnout as a workplace phenomenon, it is possible to experience burnout in other areas of life as well. Parenting challenges, working from home, caring for elderly or ill parents, getting along with your spouse and children 24/7, can lead to feelings of crushing exhaustion, being overwhelmed by responsibility, or a sense of defeat.
There are simple, intuitive ways to combat it, like eating right, getting enough sleep and making a point to take some time for yourself.
“Go have a cup of coffee or tea, go outside and connect with nature. Make time to exercise even if it’s taking a walk and taking in the warmth of the sun or the sounds of a bird,” said Ricardo. “If you’re constantly giving to others and not giving to yourself, it’s like a well, not being replenished.
“To actually schedule that time becomes important. You schedule other things, like doctor appointments for your kids, but if you’re not putting yourself on that schedule, you are abandoning yourself.”
