MENTAL WELLNESS: BURN OUT
Understanding Mental Burn-Out
Addapting to stressors does not mean they go away,
or the impact on the body is reduced. The prolonged
exposure to stresses builds up, until fatigue starts
to set in. Fatigue generally brings reduced performance,
which in turn reduces levels of satisfaction and eventually
undermines our motivation. We end up, giving up!
Work overload, conflicting priorities, inconsistent
values, over-challenging deadlines, conflict with co-workers,
unpleasant environments and so on take a lot of energy
to manage. They can also cause a great deal of unhappiness.
Unhappiness results from insufficient satisfaction [output]
from performance input.
So how to we interrupt this downward spirally process.
By identifying the two factors:
- The input - We often cannot change
the input
- The output - We can change our
expectation of the output. We don’t grieve what
we don’t conceive.
How satisfied we are with any given situation is directly
related to our core values. These are not the social
norm values we were indoctrinated with during childhood
and adolescence; but those core values as to what we
personally think is appropriate, or fair.
Many of your expectations in life are based on these
core values. You expect people to be considerate, to
be mostly honest, to be rational, to be just, to be
timely. All the principles upon which you operate your
life; you “expect” from others. After all,
it’s only reasonable. Or is it?
Actually, many of the expectations we have of others
are unreasonable on the very basis that you actually
have no right as an adult to expect anything from anyone.
You have the utmost right to your set of values; but
you have no right to set the values for others [other
than as a parent, when they are children or adult dependents].
Its your life, your game, you set the rules. Likewise
for others, its their game, their rules.
Stress can arise when a gap exists between your values
and those of someone else. Since these differing value
sets produce different behaviour, it is easy for you
to judge someone elses behaviour as “inappropriate”;
“damaging”, “inconsiderate”.
How much stress someone feels depends on how much damage
they think the situation can do them, and how well they
perceive their own resources meeting the demands of
the situation. This may involve perceived threats to
our social standing, to opinions of us, to our career
prospects.
Just as with real threats to our survival, these perceived
threats trigger the hormonal fight-or-flight response,
with all of its negative consequences.
Keep Reading :
Next: How Stress
Impacts Health
Stress Index | Happiness |
Sex | Money | Stress
| Burn-Out | Affect on Health
| Stress & Performance | Managing
Stress | Action & Stress | Emotion
& Stress | Anti-stress Nutrition |
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| Stress Response Methods | Depression
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