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Banning Burnout: Practical Steps For Pre-empting Stress |
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Written by Dylan Penner
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Tuesday, 02 March 2004 |
Many an activist has faced the prospect of burnout at one time or another, when life seems to spin out of control, collapsing under the burden of too much awareness and too many commitments. Often, that's also when the immune system gives out, landing the burnt-out activist in bed for an extended period of rest and recovery. These days, the pace of life in itself can be enough to cause total exhaustion, even without the added burden of trying to heal an ailing planet. Severe burnout can lead to very serious physical and mental health problems. Awareness of prevention and treatment strategies reduces the risk of burnout. If life seems too busy, consider whether you have taken on too much. Try to avoid overworking and stay organized, even though, at first, that may be hard to do. Put aside the guilt and reduce your commitments, at least temporarily. Sometimes one needs to restrict the level of activism in the short-term to remain effective in the long-term. It has been suggested that we are of the greatest value to the Movement once we realize that it can go on without us.
This lesson is so crucial to well-being--how to manage your life without becoming overburdened. People need to know their limits even as they work to reach their full potential. Activists can be especially vulnerable as they do double duty, taking on social issues in the midst of already challenging personal lives.
Burnout is gradual in its onset, so activists must be ever watchful for its early signs. You may be burning out and not recognize what's happening. Or, you may feel alone, overwhelmed, and helpless to do anything about it. Ironically, it is those who are most dedicated that are at highest risk, because they have the hardest time letting go of it all. And if they're new to activism, they may be more severely affected than more experienced world changers. Burnout is essentially the collapse of the spirit as the emotional and immune systems overload, not from stress itself, but from lack of effective coping mechanisms.
It is natural for you to have some stress in your life. Without it, there would be no room for self-improvement. Exercise, for example, can be a form of good stress. Going for a brisk walk every morning actually raises your energy levels for the entire day, by speeding your metabolism. However, too much exercise without periods of rest, can take a serious toll. The key is moderation.
It is also important to recognize that burnout results from a variety of interactions with our environment. These are not always easy to isolate, which is what makes the creeping onset of burnout a challenge to detect.
What follows are a number of well-developed techniques people can use to stop burnout before it stops them. This anthology of recommendations does not constitute medical advice, though much of it does come from medical sources. The techniques that will prove most suitable to you will depend onyour personal situation.
RELAXATION PREVENTS STRESSThere are two kinds of stress: short term and long term. When a bout of short-term stress has passed, we need to breathe a sigh of relief, and really take advantage of that period of reprieve, that wonderful feeling of having finished a flyer needed for the next day, or fixed the sound system for a rally of 5000 people you organized. If we don't put the stress of these challenges behind us once they have passed, they may compound future stresses. This leads to long-term stress, sometimes called the stress of life, which is more of a challenge. Build-up of long-term stress results from accumulating new stresses before we have time to work through those that have already piled up. Burnout can be the final result, often accompanied by a toxin overload in the bloodstream. Meditation, yoga, tai chi, and aikido provide the ability to fully return to a relaxed state - cleansing the mind, body and spirit - before new forms of stress enter our lives.
Spirit Exercises
Yoga, tai chi and aikido are practices rooted in the principles of refined meditation and harmony with our own spirit. By focusing on the energy systems of the body, these diverse, yet related practices can help a person achieve a sense of balance before problems manifest in the physical or emotional systems. These disciplines are thousands of years old and have much wisdom to offer. By finding peace within the self, a person might find it much easier to be at peace with the outside world, no matter what their circumstances. Try one or a combination of these and then decide which is most beneficial for you.
Reiki, acupuncture and shiatsu are also effective ways of healing our energy systems. These spirit exercises and others like them, are embodied within philosophies which themselves can sometimes be enough to put the mind at ease. These three are best explored with a skilled--and, ideally, licensed--practitioner. The spirit exercises help to turn us into the eye of the storm, an island of calm in a tumultuous world.
Breathing Exercises
A technique called focused breathing is a powerful, yet simple, healing tool. Here's how it works. Much of the time people only use about 10-15% of their lung capacity. Simply taking a few moments each day to sit up straight, close your eyes and breathe deeply has enormous benefits for your spirits and your outlook. Bringing more oxygen into the bloodstream and the brain also helps relax muscles and achieve clarity of thought.
Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant essential oils, has also been shown to have positive results in improving how we cope with various kinds of stress. By inhaling various fragrances, we can achieve a much calmer attitude. For a detailed reading list of aromatherapy sources visit .
Biofeedback
In the same way as stepping on a scale provides us with information (how much we weigh); biofeedback provides valuable information about how to cope with stress. Biofeedback is a non-invasive machine-assisted technique used to achieve the benefits of meditation. A set of sensors or electrodes that provides feedback on skin temperature, heart rate, muscle tension and/or brainwave function is attached to the patient, who can see the display readout. With this information, the patient gradually learns to alter their body response in ways that can bring relief and improvement to a variety of disorders. A trained physician should carry out this process.
The techniques used by yogis appear to be similar to biofeedback but are practiced without mechanical assistance. They allow the user to let go of excess levels of self-stressing brain activity and simply quiet the self. According to clinical psychologist Dr. Kenneth Pelletier, this process is akin to the Zen philosophy "in which you perceive an event, react to it, and then let it go." Pelletier suggests that through experiencing burnout people are forced to change the way they view their lives, and reassess deeply held values. That is why he looks at illness as a creative experience, a catalyst for transformation instead of a breakdown. Pelletier adds, however, that burnout prevention, through becoming aware of the problem early on and making changes, is preferable to experiencing burnout.
YOUR OUTLOOK ON LIFE CAN PROTECT YOU Optimism
Studies have shown that optimists have a greater than average ability to activate immune cells and eject viral and cancerous infections from the body. The immune cells of an optimist become what you might call molecular activists. They change the world around them, albeit on a slightly different scale than the one we're familiar with. Optimistic people also tend to have more energy. By maintaining a positive attitude, we can cultivate alliances and coalitions with our own body cells.
Visualization exercises, during which a person imagines the immune system working at peak efficiency, have been shown to have dramatic effects. If we can picture our white blood cells successfully fighting off infections, then the defense is more likely to succeed! You could envision them staging a sit-in to stop the oppression of a power hungry flu. You may be surprised just how well this can work.
Levels of Engagement
Have you ever helped move a heavy, bulky piece of furniture, boast that you'll carry one end while two or three people carry the other? Chances are that you either dropped your end, or had to stop and put it down. Over-commitment in activism is similar. If you take too much on, you might drop all of it. Be realistic as to what you can comfortably carry, redistribute the load, and take on only what won't lead to burnout. It is lso important to focus on other aspects of a balanced life: friends/family, exercise, healthy eating, work, and spiritual, sexual, and financial well-being, though not necessarily in that order. And don't forget to take time for the small, quiet pleasures: a robin's melody, the fluttering of leaves in a gentle wind, the hypnotic dance of a candle flame. Without these quiet pleasures, we each step closer to the abyss of burnout, a risk not only to ourselves individually but also to the community. If our efforts are to continue to activate others, we sometimes have to put long-term health before short-term activity.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT There are many natural foods and herbs that are ideal for boosting and maintaining your physical and emotional well-being. In particular, organic vegetarianism as a dietary choice has immediately apparent benefits. Given the tendency of toxic pesticides to accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals, an organic vegetarian diet means a significant decrease in the amount of pesticides ingested through food. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that fish, meat and dairy products account for 95% of the pesticide residue in our diet.
A vegetarian diet also has the added benefits of minimizing animal suffering and mitigating climate change. There are a number of chemicals, like carbon dioxide and methane, which collect in the atmosphere because of diets high in meat. As well, factory farms require a tremendous amount of energy to run, which results in increased levels of climate-changing chemical emissions. Decaying animal refuse also produces large amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. According to author Guy Dauncey, every pound less meat we eat offsets the equivalent of 10.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. That said, it is important to keep a keen eye on nutrition when eliminating or minimizing meat consumption. It is usually best to consult a health professional prior to adopting a vegetarian diet.
COMMUNITY Humour, Music and Fun
People with a strong sense of humour seem to have stronger immune systems following exposure to stress. The healing powers of laughter are quite well known, though often forgotten in stressful situations. However, it is exactly then that we may need humour most. Involvement in music is also an effective therapy. Music making, regardless of our level of proficiency, has been shown to be very beneficial in reducing stress. Such recreational music making goes along with exercise, nutrition and stress reduction. It can be especially worthwhile in group settings.
Building Bridges
If we all had a special place to go all the time or someone to confide in - a friend, a loved one - perhaps burnout wouldn't happen. One major cause of burnout is the stubborn denial that we need help. When you go to a demonstration and only five people show up, it can feel as if no one cares. Not only do we need help speaking out against the injustices of the world, but we also need help to cope with the psychological stress that comes with following that path. This is perhaps why community building can be the most potent form of activism. By engaging in the process of setting up community groups, and connecting existing initiatives, we strengthen our communities and ourselves, simultaneously.
There are many inter-personal and inter-organizational differences in the Movement that slow us from reaching our goal of a more equitable world. Differences in personal opinion and political mandates are not only divisive; they can be self-defeating. We do not always agree with how everyone is working towards a better world, and this limits our potential sense of community. The smaller our sense of community, the faster we will retire out of pure exhaustion. Overcoming these differences through universal compassion, occasionally, at the expense of our egos, is critical for our own health. If we are to evolve beyond the planetary crisis we find ourselves in, it is time we put our ideological differences aside, and explore new ways of working together. What we are creating goes beyond ideology, beyond nation, beyond species.
The Movement is becoming broader based than it has ever been before. Despite the mainstream propaganda and intimidation, we are making a difference. We need to take special care of our health to keep the tide turning. If we are going to push our mind, body and spirit to their limits on a daily basis for months on end, then banning burnout should be our primary campaign. To avoid collapse from exhaustion, the best bridge to build can sometimes be the one to our bed. Smell the flowers instead of running by them. Take a long bath. Breathe deeply at least once a day and take a few steps back from everything. Make time to enjoy life and revel in the beauty of the moment. The opportunity won't magically materialize. Don't wait for time-out. Create it. Otherwise burnout may just ban you.
SUGGESTED RESOURCES
The Immune System Cure: Nature's Way to Super-Powered Health. Vanderhaeghe & Bouic, 1999.
Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Climate Change. Guy Dauncey and P. Mazza, 2001.
The Doctor's Herbal Book Of Home Remedies. Rodale, 2000.
The All-In-One Guide to Natural Remedies and Supplements. Esalan, 2000.
A Field Guide to Stress http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/Interview.asp?Id=253
Lung Pressure And Power http://www.ncvs.org/vpt/tutorial/lung.html
What Is Biofeedback? http://www.biofeedback1.com/whatis.htm
Relaxation Practices http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/Column.asp?Id=376
Burnout Study http://www.cmaa.org/publish/burnout/
Doing It All http://staffweb.lib.uiowa.edu/ktonella/oob/features/worktime/feature02.htm
Good Humour, Good Health http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/Column.asp?Id=187
Spiritual Healing of Music Making http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/Column.asp?Id=407
Beyond Vegetarianism http://www.beyondveg.com/
Environmental Vegetarianism http://www.wstar.org/Windstar/Education/LivingLightly/veganlivinglightly.html
Dr. Arne Anderson, Managing Stress with Biofeedback http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/farticles/Anderson.html, Dr. Anderson can be reached at jabiofeed@aol.com |
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