So many people burn out because they have too much on their plate, whether it’s work, home life, caring responsibilities or a combination of all three it’s like they’ve packed the boot (trunk) of their car rammed full and it’s ok, they are holding it together, they are surviving, until one extra thing comes along and in a moment they are overwhelmed. Whether it’s a rising feeling of panic, being irritable and snappy or bursting into tears, the signs of impending burnout are there. And they may manage this time - they may unpack the boot, get the suncream and repack it and it seems ok once more, but it’s only a matter of time before it happens again, and will keep happening until either they see the signs and take some things out of the boot, clearing some space in their lives, or they collapse in a heap and are forced to stop.How full is your boot? Do you have space to breathe and recover or are you living on the edge of burnout? And, if so, what could you do about it? This is a hard one, as sometimes it seems like there a nothing you can do, but even a small change can help, and I believe there will always be some small change we can do if we are only prepared to make it. Whether it’s pulling out of something, putting back a deadline, lowering our standards from perfect to good enough, or having the courage to ask for help, there is always something.#mentalhealth #burnout #burnoutprevention #anxiety #depression #gp #nhs
If you are prone to catastrophic thinking it can be like your brain only knows one path to take, and it doesn’t matter how muddy or unpleasant that path becomes, the path of thinking the worst case scenario is where your brain will go, because that is where it always goes. We might hate that it does this, it might stress us, exhaust us and leave us frustrated and angry with ourselves that we always do this, but our brain just goes and does it anyway!What can really help is to understand that neural pathways in our brain - patterns of thinking - are not fixed. We really can learn new ways of thinking and create new neural pathways, and gradually put old pathways into disuse. It can seem hard initially, like the new path is full of brambles, and so we are best to take it slowly.The next time your brain jumps to the worst case scenario, take a moment to notice what it is doing. Thank it for trying to look out for dangers and trying to keep you safe. And then try to think of one other explanation for whatever it is you are worrying about - like the reason someone hasn’t got back to you, or another explanation for that pain in your leg. You don’t have to believe this new thought, and you don’t have to think it for long but, while you are thinking it, just imagine yourself taking your secateurs and cutting one of those brambles, and then treading the bramble down with your walking boot. Then tell yourself well done, that’s enough for today. Take a last look at this new path and have a quick wonder about which bramble will be next, and then get back to your day! 😊Over time the new path will start to clear and get easier to navigate, and what’s even better is that brambles will start to grow in the old path. We will still go there from time to time (and sometimes we do need to consider the worst case scenario after all! It’s ok to use this path, we just don’t want it to be the only one our brain knows about).Let me know what you think about this! Is it so
How do you stop catastrophic thoughts? The simple answer is that you don’t! If you are prone to catastrophising, you will probably have great difficulty persuading your brain to not go there, because it is so used to heading that way - it is like a well-worn groove or a train on a track and it goes to the worst case scenario every time.The way to start to change how your brain works is not to try to stop one way of thinking, but to introduce it to a new way of thinking. Think of it like an exercise, so that you give yourself 2 minutes when you think about the best explanation for what you are worried about. So perhaps the lump you have felt could be a normal, healthy lymph gland, or your child hasn’t texted you because they are having a nice time with their friends (and you like them not being glued to their phone anyway), or you could actually pass that exam! The key thing is that you don’t try to persuade your brain that this alternative explanation is true, because you will likely fail to do that. Instead you simply discipline your brain to consider it for 2 minutes, then you can go back to worrying! Since it is only 2 minutes, you will probably manage to do this. Then the key thing is to practise thinking of alternatives like this - every time you find yourself catastrophising, practise spending 2 minutes considering an alternative explanation. What you will find over time is that this way of thinking develops it’s own groove, and that your brain becomes more likely to think this way in the first place! Of course, there are other techniques you can use at the same time, like acceptance of the worry and using grounding techniques to manage the symptoms of worry, but this is a key part of gaining mastery over our thoughts. #worry #anxiety #catastophising #worstcasescenario #anxietyrelief #anxietysupport #anxietysupport #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthrecovery #psychology #mentalillness #mentalillnessawareness #mentali
Panic attacks are tough! They are hard work and they are going to leave you worn out like you’ve run a race or done a workout! Don’t be surprised! But try not to see it as a terrible thing either. If you have had a bad day and come through it, that is something to be proud of - that you came through it! And how ver bad it was, it is a useful yardstick to compare future bad days with and that can help you grow and make progress! 😊🎉Do check out Reasons to Stay Alive by @mattzhaig #panic #panicattack #anxiety #worry #anxietyrelief #anxietycoach #anxietysupport #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #gp #generalpractice #doctor #medicine
I posted this on Instagram and TikTok on Sunday and have been asked to repost here for people not on those platforms. The PM’s welfare reform speech stirred me up a little!!
But I’m not the sort of person to become depressed!!
But I’m not the sort of person to become depressed!
Burnout is tough to deal with, and even more so if we are not expecting it. People are often bewildered when they are affected by burnout as there are such misconceptions about it. There is the idea that as long as you are strong enough (dare I say, resilient enough, to use a word that has become quite toxic lately?!) then you won’t burn out. In fact, the opposite is true! Strong, capable people are the most likely to be affected, because they take on too much and fail to heed the warning signs until it’s too late.
The characteristics of someone who might burn out is that they are usually highly capable people who set high standards. When the going gets tough they peddle harder and hope for the best. They don’t like to delegate as they worry about dumping on other people and worry it won’t get done as well as they would like it. They find it hard to say no and feel guilty if they are off sick. Because they do things well, people turn to them for help and advice, they are often at the hub of the family or the person who holds things together in the office. And because they care about doing things well, and what people think of them, they can be vulnerable to criticism, especially self-criticism.
If you want to know more about this topic then I can highly recommend Tim Cantopher’s book Depressive Illness, the curse of the strong which I frequently recommend to my patients. This is not an advert - I have no links to the author, I just think it’s a really helpful book 😊
#burnout #burnoutrecovery #burnoutprevention #depression #depressionhelp #depressionawareness #mentalhealth #mentalillness #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthtips #mentalillnessrecovery #mentalillnessisreal #gp #generalpractice #generalpractitioner #psychology #doctor
Learning to let go!
Letting go is hard! You set high standards, believe things should be done properly and that the best way to do something properly is to do it yourself. It gives you a sense of control and calms your stress to hold on to things, but now you are holding on to so much you are set to break, burnout is heading your way and you don’t know what to do! It might be at work or in your home life but you find it hard to delegate or to watch someone else do a task and it’s killing you!
The trouble is it has become your instinct to hold on and you forget to ask yourself (or don’t have the time to ask yourself) if you need to hold on, so you end up holding on to everything! The answer is not to let go of everything, but to become more discerning. What areas are actually not that important? Where would good enough be good enough and if someone else did it then even if it doesn’t work so well it would be ok? Let go of those!
Perhaps harder is to recognise those areas in our lives where the reason no-one else can do it well is because we are in the way, where it is only when we step back that someone else can grow into the space we have left - and if we give them enough room they may even end up doing it better than we ever could, because they are the right person for the job! This involves risk, but you could end up both thriving if you were prepared to take that risk.
So don’t let go of everything, but become more discerning about what to hold on to, and embrace the freedom of learning to let go! 😊
#burnout #burnoutprevention #burnoutrecovery #letgo #stress #stressrelief #delegate #delegation #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthtips #mentalhealthrecovery #mentalhealthsupport #mentalillness #mentalillnessawareness #mentalillnessrecovery #anxiety #anxietyrelief #depression #depressionsupport #doctor #gp #generalpractitioner #generalpractice
Even in January you can give your mood a little lift by taking the time to go and look for the early signs of spring! If you have a garden, make sure you have plants there that give you those moments of joy, and if you don’t then you can even grow them in a pot! You just need to give yourself 5 minutes to go outside and notice them! 😊🌱🥀What signs of Spring do you look for??#spring #wellbeing #january #januaryblues #bluemonday #winter #selfcare #wellbeingjourney #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthsupport #mentalillnessawareness #mentalillnessrecovery #mentalhealthtips #psychology #garden #gardenforhealth #doctor #gp #generalpractioner #generalpractice #primarycare #wellness #wellnessjourney
You’ll have heard about a dry January where people stop drinking for the month of January to give their mental and physical health a boost, and that can be a really helpful thing, but what are we going to do about a wet January? In the UK we are usually faced with just that! (Sorry if you are the other side of the world and lying on a beach in the sun, this post may not be that valuable for you right now - maybe save it and watch it in July?! Do the winter blues happen in Australia? I’d love to hear about this in the comments! 😊).
Back to the UK where we love to blame the weather and so often assume that we can’t go outdoors in the winter and have to hibernate until the spring, but that’s exactly what we need to be doing at this time of year! To beat the blues we need to pay special attention to what helps our mental health, and that makes it more important than ever to head outside and embrace a Wet January!
If we wait until we feel like going for a walk in January we will probably be waiting a long time, but if we check the weather forecast so we head out when it’s not chucking it down, wrap up warm and head out even when we don’t feel like it, it’s very rare that we will get home and regret going!
#wetjanuary #january #januaryblues #bluemonday #winter #winterblues #winterbluesbegone #sad #seasonalaffectivedisorder #depression #anxiety #mood #wellbeing #selfcare #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthawareness #anxietyrelief #doctor #gp #generalpractioner #generalpractice #primarycare #mentalillnessawareness #mentalillness
Declutter your hard drive! When a computer’s hard drive becomes too full it can suddenly go from working fine to falling over and everything grinds to a halt. The same thing can happen in our own lives where we can cope with so much stress on our plate but just a few extra stresses mean there is no capacity left on our hard drive and we become overwhelmed and can’t face even the simplest tasks.
The good thing is that just as you don’t have to completely empty your hard drive for your PC to start working again, neither do we have to totally destress to avoid burnout. Sometimes just a 5-10% of decluttering how much we have on our plate can make a huge difference! 😊👍
#burnout #burnouts #burnoutrecovery #burnoutprevention #wellbeing #selfcarematters #selflove #selfcare #generalpractice #depressionandanxiety #depressionisreal #depressionsupport #depressionhelp #mentalhealthtips #mentalhealthrecovery #mentalhealthsupport #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealth #psychology #anxiety #anxietyrelief #anxietyawareness #anxietysupport #anxietyhelp #anxietyrecovery #doctor
