Are you burnt out? Read this!
As we head into the third month of the year, we hear people saying more and more often that they feel tired, stressed out, and overwhelmed. Are you one of them? If you are, keep reading, because it's entirely your fault!
Are you one of them? If you are, keep reading, because it's entirely your fault!
In this face paced, deadline-driven world that we live in, burnout is a real issue that many of us either have already, or will, face at least once in our lifetime. According to Merriam-Webster it means "exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration" or "the reduction of a fuel or substance to nothing through use or combustion" pretty similar from machine to human, right? Except, we aren't machines.
With the rise of social media and the movements to remove the stigma associated with mental illnesses, there has been a definite shift in the way we view "burnout". In the past it was almost an embarrassment to have to take a time out and re-evaluate your stressful life. Nowadays, burnout is almost akin to experience on a resume. It's a right of passage and something we all use as a yardstick to determine our level of success. It's almost rewarded in the workplace ad revered in friend groups.
In a recent video, Russell Brand discusses our obsession with saying "yes", with always aiming one level higher than where we are and also how we are giving ourselves unnecessary burnout in pursuit of happiness - happiness that we wont find through endless hours behind a computer or at the office.
He talks in the video of how we have attributed values to food - with a chocolate being considered "bad food' and an apple "good", and how these values have spilled over into our real lives. 'If I work 16 hours today thats "Good" but if I sit on the couch and watch Netflix, that's "Bad"'. Now these are extremes but the message is the same.
We are giving ourselves burnout, causing ourselves unnecessary stress and overwhelming ourselves with our goals and ambition. Perhaps it's time to take baby steps back into mental health? Time to start saying "no"?
I keep being reminded of that saying, “Happiness doesn't have to be chased...it merely has to be chosen.”
Are you ready to choose happiness?
More great articles to read:
How art can help you cope with mental illness
This is the wake up call you need!
WATCH: 5 minutes for the next 50 years of your life!
Video courtesy of Russell Brand YouTube channel. Image courtesy of Russell Brand Instagram.