Burnout is a REAL!
One thing I’ve noticed [since 2017 when I originally wrote this] is how the American population tends to be like Energizer Bunnies. We’re always on the go, never time for rest or relaxation! We are experiencing burnout more than ever before and burnout is REAL!
Whether you’re working a 9-5, participating in obligatory family things or just doing meaningless activities, we are always busy. As a business owner, I get it! I feel burnout from time to time too but is it because I’m so busy? Or is there another reason? While everyone defines “busy” a little differently, one thing I know to be true – we all can experience burnout from being too busy.
I’ve been paying attention.
When I started to research this concept of burnout, I started to pay attention to the world around me. When I’m not feeling great, I have always been to “go to the doctor and get treated”. But how do you get “treated” for burnout? It’s a strange concept, isn’t it? No one ever tells us we just need to rest. In my former life, I was a life coach and since that time I’ve been a big proponent of holistic measures. A pill isn’t the solution for everything because in almost all cases, it doesn’t treat the actual symptoms. It’s one of the reasons I ask “why” all the time. You want to get to bottom of things rather than just jumping to conclusions. The same applies to burnout.
What I’ve found…
The research I did wasn’t just about what was happening in front of me. I wanted to know what was happening across the globe. I actually found a pretty interesting article that compared the United States (where I live) to Europeans. You really should read it but to sum it up, people living in the United States are very different than those living around the world. There were 10 big differences described but three stood out to me.
1. Vacation Time – Most Europeans have a minimum of four weeks vacation and many take this all at the same time. In the United States, we’re lucky if we’re offered two weeks.
2. Lunch Time – Leaving your desk at lunch time is typical for Europeans and most do so for an hour or more. Here, workers don’t eat or eat at their desks.
3. Smaller Food Portions – If you’ve been to the United States, you know what I’m talking about. For comparison’s sake, a small soda or coffee in the United States is basically a large in Europe.
These three stuck out to me because they each directly affect the stress we experience and how we feel about ourselves. As business owners, these should stick out to you too! The point about leaving your desk for lunch is HUGE! I can honestly say, I eat at my desk more often than I don’t. There is so much pressure to do the work we’ve been tasked to do, we simply don’t feel like we can leave our desk.
So let’s stop making burnout real.
Take time for YOU! Block time off on your schedule to practice self-care, get some rest and recover from the chaos of life. Even if it’s just 10 minutes each week. Implement this practice in baby steps and be mindful with your decisions. At the end. of the day, your choices affect your stress level – in life and in business. Tell me in the comments what you’re doing to avoid burnout.
My mission is to empower individuals to launch their side hustle and transform it into a thriving, successful business.
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Jenn Mullen holds degrees in Psychology and Business Management, as well as a certification in healthy and wellness coaching. She combines over a decade of corporate experience with more than five years of small business expertise, bringing a unique blend of skills and insight to her work. Beyond her expertise, she’s a high-energy, passionate individual with ADHD who thrives on staying organized, bringing laughter to every project, and finding joy in the work she loves.
