Often, burnout comes in two waves:
- Overworking – trying to do way too much in not enough time.
- Wilful ignorance – refusing to acknowledge that the status quo isn’t serving us, even when our bodies and minds start to self-destruct.
If you’ve ever found yourself struggling with the cognitive dissonance that often comes with leaving a once-loved situation or environment that has become toxic, you’ll know that this combination can be complicated and difficult to escape.
It gets even harder when we compare what we’re experiencing to what we assume others are going through, and inevitably decide that our experience isn’t “difficult enough” to warrant raising the white flag.
Still, many burnout sufferers will agree that it’s much easier to give advice to others than to take that advice for themselves and slow things down for their health, perhaps because they consider their work to be an integral part of who they are, and they’re afraid to lose it.
The good news is, there are tools that can help with unraveling and defining those unhelpful behaviors, as well as strategies for confronting loud inner critics and setting effective goals – and if anyone knows about those things, it’s Dr Jacqueline Kerr.
A behavior scientist and burnout survivor, Dr Jacqueline researches health behavior change solutions for individuals and communities. After two decades in her career, she is on a mission to prevent burnout through comprehensive strategic planning for employee wellbeing and sustainable, impactful organizational change – and we think that’s worthy of ALL the airtime.
In this episode of the She Burns podcast, Hannah and Dr Jacqueline talk all things burnout, from the environments and belief systems to the darkness it can seed and grow.
So what’s this episode really about?
- The value in perceiving burnout as an institutional rather than individual problem
- What it means to bridge the gap between the internal and external world
- How our jobs tend to inform our identities
- The truth about suicidal ideation
Why you should listen
We could all do with more self-compassion, particularly during such a difficult time in world history – but, often, we have to take a few tumbles before we arrive at this realization. Dr. Jacqueline Kerr has been through many of these tumbles herself and come out stronger on the other side with plenty of wisdom to share.
Links
Dr Jacqueline Kerr on LinkedIn
How to stop burnout before it starts – Dr Jacqueline Kerr
A quick guide to behavior-based systems change for workplace burnout – Dr Jacqueline Kerr
You can quote me on that…
“When [we] don’t believe in something or [we] think something should be changed, I feel like it is our responsibility to be a part of that change.” – Hannah Austin
“We can have a lot more self-compassion [when] we know that the system and these multilevel influences, they’re not excuses – they’re actually reasons why behavior change is so hard.” – Dr Jacqueline Kerr
“If you have a framework for how to solve problems in a much more comprehensive way, then through that, you’re not only going to be able to have more compassion and be able to touch people more clearly by your greater understanding of life’s whole problems, the whole person, and their community, but you can actually also then come up with much better solutions and create better connections in that process.” – Dr Jacqueline Kerr
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