Burnout? Just Do Nothing
The Dutch have a word for essentially doing nothing: “Niksen.” Lately it’s been recognized as a method for restoring one’s mind after doing too much work. It seems staring peacefully out the window acts as a simple and easy cure for burnout.
Burnout, these days, is unfortunately widespread. In a modern era where smartphones allow the office to follow us home and the workplace is more fast-paced than ever, people feel overworked and in need of an escape. Burnout has been described as an “occupationally-specific dysphoria.”
Three characteristic aspects of burnout are exhaustion, disenchantment with one’s job, and a feeling of not being useful or accomplishing anything. People may confuse it with stress, but burnout and stress are really two different things.
With burnout, the work-related loss of enthusiasm, exhaustion, and feelings of “pointlessness” drive one to give up or reach a sort of working paralysis. It can be seen as falling somewhere on the depression scale. With stress we become overwhelmed and tense, but oftentimes are still working towards some resolution (whether it’s a good idea to or not.)
In recent years burnout has been seen as a chronic workplace problem so it’s being addressed by more and more companies as time goes on. But some jobs are inherently more burnout-prone than others. What can someone do when they feel themselves becoming overwhelmed and giving up?
A big part of it is learning to say “no.” Turning down favors, superfluous tasks, and extra opportunities isn’t as easy as it may seem - for a number of reasons like wanting to please others, fear of doing badly at one’s job, or getting fired. These issues can be addressed in a healthy way often with help from a sympathetic boss or mental health professional.
Learning to prioritize and delegate responsibilities is vital when overwork causes burnout. If we can think strategically about saying yes it can lead to more time for recharging, which then leads to better health and wellbeing.
Here are a few tips to overcome or prevent the dreaded burnout:
Learn to manage your time - Time management is key to avoiding and overcoming burnout. We need to analyze the amount of time spent on tasks that are perhaps unnecessary, difficult, and/or stressful. We can either choose to spend less time on these things or take sufficient time afterwards to give our mind a break.
Ask for help - It’s never a bad idea to reach out when we go through a hard time. Talk to trusted friends and family about your burnout, get various ideas for how to deal with it, and gain a new perspective. Sometimes a bit of reframing does wonders to how we see and interact with our problems.
Decompress - Burnout often causes people to crave an escape from what is overwhelming them. What do you do to take a break? Some people go to the gym, read books, watch movies, or listen to music.
Practice relaxing - It sounds funny needing to practice relaxing, but if you’ve ever tried to chill out on a weeknight but keep thinking about the workday prior you know it’s not so simple. There are different ways to practice relaxation of the mind and body, such as meditation, gratitude practices, yoga, and other methods available online or at in person classes.
If all else fails you can learn from the Dutch and their concept of Niksen - just do nothing for a while and let yourself recharge!
For a discussion about this topic you can tune in to our podcast “The Breakdown with Dr. B” available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and other streaming sites as well as our website www.bregmanmedicalgroup.com
If burnout is getting serious and threatening your professional and social/home life, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Bregman Medical Group has decades of experience treating patients for workplace mental health issues and many other conditions. We offer psychiatry and therapy treatments directly to your device, simply schedule online at www.bregmanmedicalgroup.com or call 305-740-3340.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4911781/
https://time.com/5622094/what-is-niksen/