Course 2: Becoming a 7 Cups Leader - (Discussion #11) Avoiding Burnout

@Heather225

I have learned that I need to recognize the signs of burnout (chronic fatigue, insomnia, headaches...) and the pattern in the symptoms.

Giving myself time and care will help me to avoid burnout.

@Heather225

Please read it through and in the replies, tell us what you learned, and what you will do to stay healthy and avoid burnout!

Ohhh the most important part for me! I think I learned to remember by why for me. I think I learnt more about burnouts by being a leader here so I will write it down here so that someone else could take something from it if they read it. I would apply it for myself too to avoid burn out.

Remember that its okay to be burnt out even with the roles you love doing, it doesnt say anything about your passion with it but more about you needing a little time to rejuvenate yourself which is very okay!

It has been said in the manual, but be very mindful of taking too much roles, while it might not seem much at first glance, roles on top of roles getting added makes it a lot and you might not even realise how little time you have left for yourself.

Thanks @Kate for making me do this waay back but it helped me realise I needed to seriously drop a lot of my roles, list the times you have been spending on each roles and if it is healthy for me and if I am getting enough time for self caring.

Remember that its okay to drop roles! You might not have same interest in it as you did when you joined and its totally okay to drop it.

SELF CARE BREAK! Those breaks are very very necessary, if you are someone like me who has habit of just logging back in 7cups, you can always ask admins to keep your account in break for you by emailing community@7cups.com. That would ensure you wont log back in for that said time.

If the things you are doing in certain role or project getting too much for you, ask for help! Its okay too and it doesnt say anything about you being incompetent and more about you having way too much on your plate. <3

I know how hard it can be but you come first so never ever forget that!!

@Heather225

Questions:

Tell us what you learned

I actually knew what burnout was before, as I experienced it at work before (thankfully, no more!), and also some here on 7 Cups. But I learned of its growing importance and impact on our daily lives, its prevalence and the crucial it is for us to be monitoring our stress levels.

What will you do to stay healthy and avoid burnout?

Take self-cares always and when needed. Do the things I enjoy and love doing the most, with the people I care the most about.

@Heather225

I learned that Burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism and detachment, and feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.

Signs of Burnout: Chronic fatigue, Insomnia, Forgetfulness, Impaired concentration and attention, Loss of appetite, Anxiety, Anger, Loss of enjoyment, Pessimism, Isolation, Detachment, Apathy and hopelessness, Lack of productivity and poor performance. Even Depression !

How overcome Burn-Out:

Take time away (zero time online)

Do Self-Care activities

Reconsider my available time for volunteering: not take too many obligations

Eventually, talk to my Community Manager and reduce my commitments

I would monitor weekly my energy and ansiety levels, take frequent breaks, and eventually, reduce my commitments

@Heather225

actually not learning but remembering that "me" time is "must" time and when to know it's time for selfcare!

I learned that it's important to avoid taking on way more than you can handle to avoid burnout. You have to be a 100% to give someone else a 100%

@Heather225

Well the concept of Burnout is something we seldom talk about, I learned that it should be something more widely known, sometimes we feel that taking breaks or being burnedout is a sign of weakness, but thats not the case , its instead a sign showing dedication and diligence which cant be negative in a million years. When I experience burn out i tend to take a step back and recuperate myself. I sometimes love to get a small walk in the nature too, that helps me refill my tank and give back to the community.

Being watchful of the signs of burnout is easier said than done. Even when we see the signs, the ego can get in the way and let us not accept the burnout.

So, more importantly, we need to accept that we can burn out too, and only then we can take a break to recover.

I think the slideshow was very educational and beneficial. I'll be sure to watch out for burnout factors such as cynicism, irritability, lack of performance and the more serious symptoms such as headaches and GI issues 💙

@Heather225

I learnt that a burnout is a state of chronic stress, for example: physical or emotional exhaustion, cynicism and detachment, feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. To avoid a burnout, I can look for a pattern in my symptoms, get time away, set time boundaries for my time online and take care of myself!