Coping with Covid Burnout

If you’re feeling physically and emotionally rundown and world-weary, you are not alone. A new form of burnout has taken hold over the past few months; and these feelings, taxing in every way, have little to do with work (burnout is generally spoken off in a career setting). Siobhan Murray knows a thing or two about this topic being a Resilience, Burnout and Stress Coach, Psychotherapist and best-selling author of The Burnout Solution, so here, she shares her insight on what exactly Covid Burnout is, how we can deal with symptoms and why we shouldn’t hold out waiting for a return to ‘normal.’

Why COVID burnout is different from 'regular burnout'?

Yes, Covid burnout is somewhat different from what we call ‘regular burnout’, because if we look at the term burnout, which has been described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as “an occupational phenomenon.” it would insinuate that burnout was purely work-related. I have previously described burnout slightly differently; as the result of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion brought on by emotionally demanding situations of periods of three months or more. If you take Covid Burnout, the main difference highlighted is the time frame of the emotionally demanding situation. People have been experiencing Covid burnout since the middle of March, which is a much shorter time frame than ‘regular burnout’.

The reason for this is people have been in a constant state of high stress and emotional trauma on a continual basis with no let-up. There has been no respite, and situations have been changing at such a fast pace, so there has been no space to reset for the next phase. Then, there has been added pressure through social media to make banana bread, homeschool like a professional teacher, take up online gym classes or learn a new language – but the reality is, for most of us, just simply figuring out what to cook for dinner has been stressful enough.

We are all feeling a degree of physical and emotional burnout right now, is it possible to feel ‘normal’?

It is very easy to get caught up in the thought process of ‘getting back to normal’, but the biggest problem with this is we stay focused on the past and not on the present. In this way, we get stuck on wanting the present to be like the past and therefore, emotionally resist finding a new way of responding to life now. The main thing we can do right now is to look at what we can control rather than what we can’t.

I describe this as ‘Controlling The Controllables’ when we allow ourselves to focus on what we are in control of and stop using energy negatively, which is exhausting. This allows us to start becoming more in control of our lives.

What are the main (and unexpected) symptoms of burnout?

There are some obvious, and not so obvious, symptoms of burnout. They can range from lack of sleep, irritability, feeling disengaged from family, friends and work, negative thinking, muscle fatigue, increased alcohol (and food) dependency as perceived stress relief, lack of energy, anger, depression, higher levels of anxiety, continual stress, teariness – and these are just some of the symptoms! However, it is important to remember that we can all feel some of these symptoms for short periods of time but we recover quickly. It is when we are experiencing these feelings for prolonged periods of time and we can’t seem to change how we feel that it becomes a bigger issue.

Are you seeing any atypical symptoms that come with COVID burnout in particular?

One of the biggest issues I’ve seen with clients who are experiencing Covid burnout is being overwhelmed and burnt out with spending so much time with their immediate families. For those that have children and have had the added pressure of ‘homeschooling’ which I prefer to call ‘crisis schooling’ or ’schooling from work,’ there has been an increase in burnout.

What can we do to ease symptoms?

To start with, the most important thing is to acknowledge that you are not coping. All too often, women try to manage everything, or compare themselves to others who they think are managing life fabulously.

Acknowledging that you’re not coping is the first step to asking for help.

Whether that is speaking to your GP, family friend, partner or therapist, it really doesn’t matter who you speak to, just that you speak to someone – bottling it all up will only create more emotional and physical issues for you in the long run. From a practical point, I suggest looking at the following areas:

Sleep

Getting good sleep will most certainly not make situations you are dealing with go away, however it will allow you to manage situations in a much better way. Obvious things to do include putting an end to scrolling on your phone in bed, creating healthy sleep routines, reducing news consumption. There are also great Sleep Hypnosis recordings that will help if you struggle to fall asleep.

Nutrition

Reducing sugar and alcohol consumption not only helps with sleep but also with increasing energy levels to manage day-to-day situations. All too often, both sugar and alcohol can be seen as perceived stress relief when in reality all they do is increase stress, affect sleep and reduce energy levels.

Exercise

This is so important, and I don’t mean feeling like you need to do an exercise class every day, but it’s what I refer to as learning ‘Intelligent Exercise’, learning what is good for your body. Right now that may be a simple 20-minute walk as opposed to a high-intensity HITT class, exercising (simply moving preferably outside) will help with sleep, help you eat and drink healthier and help you manage life that little bit better. I’ve yet to meet someone who said, “I felt so bad after that walk.”

Clutter

Clutter isn’t about the level of chaos we might be living in, but about the toxic relationships we have that might add to our experience of burnout. Taking this time to question why we stay in friendships that make us feel exhausted or think negatively about ourselves, gives us a perfect opportunity to reassess relationships and to clear out negative relationships.

Jennifer McShane, August 2020.

Have you been dealing with Covid Burnout? Share your experiences in the comments below…