Lifestyle - managing burnout video
Posted on 2nd July 2024 at 11:45
Listen to Shelley Crawford, an EMCC Global Accredited Master Practitioner and Accredited Supervisor, talk about how to manage burnout.
In this video, we are going to explore one of the ways to help you manage overwhelm and potential burnout. When life feels chaotic or overwhelming, it can be easy to feel out of control and get stuck in a cycle of stress and worry. But this is not always 100% our fault. Humans have survived and evolved over many thousands of years because our modern-day brains are constantly scanning the environment to identify what it sees as a potential threat. Are causing us to feel stressed and often respond negatively in a way that our primitive brain might have reacted in the past by fighting, fleeing, or doing nothing else but worry about the situation. There are a couple of easy things we can do if we get stuck in that cycle of worry and stress where we feel overwhelmed. These things can help us to overcome those instant primaeval responses. One of my favourite ones is called the CIA Model. This three-step process helps us to identify what we can control in the situation, what we can influence, and what we can accept, even if only for a short while, so that we can give our brains a break.
If you can't stop thinking about something that has happened in the past, or you feel really worried about something happening at the current time, or you think may happen in the future, stop for a moment and take three deep breaths. Then ask yourself these questions saying, What in this situation can I truly control? Most times, you will only really be able to control your response. You might do this by using breathing or mindfulness techniques to help you calm your nerves. Control is the first letter of the CIA. Secondly, you can ask yourself, What in this situation can I influence? So think about how you could influence it. As an example, you are furious with someone's behaviour and you You want to let them know in no uncertain terms how you feel, but you know that this won't help the situation, so you have ended up worrying about it instead. But imagine that you offload your worry by writing your thoughts and feelings down in an email to that person. But instead of sending that email straight away, you wait until the next morning when you've had some time to cool off. Then you look at the email again with a clearer head and decide to change some of the wording.
This way, you may not have been able to control that other person's behaviour, but you have been able to influence the situation. Then finally, the A for accept is if you still feel like you cannot control everything and you have done what you can to influence it, but you are still worrying about it. Try by asking yourself what you may need to accept. Now, I never recommend that anyone accepts any behaviour that is harmful to themselves or someone else. But sometimes giving ourselves permission to accept something just for now, just for a certain time frame, for instance, this morning or overnight or just for a day, it can help us let go of the worry for a while, knowing that because we've given ourselves permission to only accept the situation for a short while, we can come back to it at a later stage to see whether there is any more we can do to control or influence it. If you feel you need more support or things deteriorate for you, please get hold of your doctor or otherwise, log into your Verve portal and click the link to request a survey. You will then be able to access all the support you need.
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