39. in the search of balance...

Category: Career and Purpose

39. 

Life after burnout:
Many of us do not know how to support someone going through it

And it is not because we do not care. Actually, quite the opposite. Most of us relate so much to someone going through a tough period and we truly want to help.

Here is the thing - in sessions with people going close to or after a burnout, I see that many managers - and for that matter colleagues as well -  want to support and show compassion.  So we do what we think is most compassionate - we say, just take it easy, or take your time.

And while our nervous system does need a lot of rest to restore itself, most people that go through burnout are also high achievers. 

When we talk to people who are returning to work after time off, there are a few things they share:

• They feel excluded or left out from meetings - with good intentions, and yet, in the attempt to protect them their teams do not know exactly how to transition.
  
  
• They feel they have lost their passion - people start questioning not the workload exactly but the purpose of it. What is fascinating is that - not always but often -  we misperceive it as a matter of workload, rather than a matter of purpose and impact.

We tend to treat burnout the same way we treat physical injury. If someone injures their leg during a hike, we would take their backpack and try to support their weight.  But there is one more important aspect of the burnout experiences and that is - a lost connection to meaning.


Hm, what does research say about burnout and giving then?
    Great question. Here is what we know…