Burnout

PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's not just the armed forces that get affected. I've been reading some articles today about the effects of being subjected to sustained high levels of stress, the infectuous nature of working with trauma sufferers and fallout from being in this kind of environment for too long. Our front line could be the 9-5, the trauma sufferers our colleagues and the fallout can be the consequences from not dealing with something we're not even unaware of being affected by...

Numbness

When exposed to high levels of stress for sustained periods, soldiers have been observed to display behaviour changes in the form of; mood swings, anger outbursts, lack of empathy and numbness. There's also been studies to show how these same traits can be found in the office workplace - indicated by a clear increase in stress-related symptoms being diagnosed over recent years. A friend of mine who worked in the stock market, had to leave his job because it was affecting his marriage so much. He wasn't as aware of the changes to his character as his wife and friends were at the time, because he spent a major portion of his time at work. This kind of work, although well-paid, is known to be a hi-paced and stressful job. Being in media, there are known high-stress factors affecting certain roles, but being in an ever-more competitive market, the acceptable levels of stress have increased significantly across a multitude of roles and certainly not just representative of those with the highest salaries. So it's inevitable that more people are now working in an elevated state of stress which is not healthy for long periods and is likely why I've noticed the behavioural characteristics my friend, a high-earner from the stock market was displaying in more of my colleagues who are merely doing a regular job in lower paid roles. 

The signs that we're over-stressed don't show up as much until we're outside of the toxic environment. Our partners and friends will point out to us the times we're clearly out of balance. These can show up with an unexpected outburst in minor stress situations, for example; when driving a car. Other sure signs are fatigue - being exhausted at the end of the working week with no energy for the weekend's activities or isolation - unusually quiet/withdrawn & feeling flat/numb in what are usually known to be fun and upbeat situations. 

The feeling of numbness is hard to describe. You can be doing something fun or not so much fun and there'll be no great deviation from the line of zero emotion. There's no/little spike of excitement when there should b,e or emotion when something bad/sad has happened. It is interesting that I've been able to witness and observe these feelings in myself and mostly rectify numbness quickly & easily by readily having something on hand to jar the dulled brain back into life. For others, where they've not been made aware of their symptoms until they are close to burnout, it's maybe not been so easy to fix. 

Life Mantra

There's a simple way to keep on top of how you're feeling and that's to write things down. I've been doing this consistently since 2010. Every year I make a list of the things I want to achieve at the beginning and evaluate them at the end of the year. This is great practice as there's a master plan in place. But, you'll have some known truths about yourself that will help or hinder your achievements and this is where your mantra comes in. I write down what things negatively affect me - like being in a stressful work environment, dealing with difficult characters or having to repeatedly do things that irritate me. I'll then have a list of positives that I can also get from being in those environments/situations and have some extra known tasks, activities and tricks that I can draw on to help adjust the balance if the day is particularly tough. Some examples of these easy to obtain positivity enhancers are:

- Doing some exercise at the gym

- Riding my road bike

- Going for a walk

- Eating a nice meal

- Watching or listening to some comedy

- Watching an inspirational TED video

- Listening to music or a pod cast

- Sleep

The not so easy to get immediately but best positivity enhancers are things like; taking quality time out, ie. getting away for a weekend break or longer with partners and friends. These need to be factored-in regularly and there needs to be time for assessment and self-reflection. I now make regular checks every day when writing a blog and it's helped keep track of a number of things - in particular, the life/work balance. 

Get out and move on

Whatever your reasons for remaining in a bad situation/environment/job, when you realise that the positivity enhancers are being over-used and their restorative effects becoming weaker/not as long-lasting...it's time to look at options before burnout takes hold or manifests into something even more serious. 

The work-live balance

This article link gives a bit more info on the topic of working in toxic environments. I believe there's a lot more studies required, especially around having increased connectivity periods - the 24-7 smartphone phenomena means we're spending less time away from thinking about work. Certain firms in Europe like Volkswagen are realising the impact of having a poor work/life balance and are now regulating how much time is spent at work either physically or virtually by restricting hours and connectivity times. 

I have friends that are showing signs of burnout written about in here and I've observed some of these symptoms in myself too. High pressure is ok and can actually produce better, more rewarding results but we need to be more aware of the damaging effects that come from being exposed to sustained high-stress situations in toxic environments. If it's making us ill - It's time to get out.