Hard to believe but we have been living through a pandemic for nearly 2 years now. Take a moment to look back at the past 2 years and what you have experienced. Looking back isn’t easy but is key to overcoming stress and preventing burnout.
We highly recommend the book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia & Emily Nagoski. It has helped us get through the early days, and continues to have a solid message that can help us avoid Burnout. One of the key take aways from the book Burnout, is that we have to respond to the stressors and the stress separately.
Stress: is the neurological and physiological response that takes place in our body when we experience a stressor.
Stressor: is something that triggers the stress response cycle.
When a stressful event happens, simply dealing with the stressor is not enough to tell our bodies to stop the stress response. Our body instantly initiates the stress response cycle whether the stressor be real or perceived, physical or emotional, our body responds the same way.
To Complete the stress cycle two important steps are necessary
1. Resolving the stressor that caused the stress response and
2. Actively doing something that tells your body to stop the stress cycle.
When we don’t complete the stress response cycle, our body is poised ready to respond to another stressor. Which can look like sustained increase in blood pressure, headaches, slow digestion, poor memory, feeling anxious…...
The solution? Dealing with both the stressor and stress. Practicing stress management activities daily so we build our reserves for coming out of the stress cycle efficiently and effectively.
We have to acknowledge that there are many factors that have pushed our stress cycle into action the past 2 years and even if we don’t feel the extreme stress response the same way we would when being chased by a lion — it’s still having a impact.
Check in with yourself — what are you feeling?… Are you more tired than usual, are you having more disagreements with people around you, is your motivation low, how is your quality of sleep?
There are a lot of natural options to support you and help build resilience. But there is no denying it - the way you handle the stress and stressor is the most important piece.