Does being healthy prevent burnout?

These days we are getting a new look at the importance of health and wellbeing, but we are also realizing, that eating well and exercising is not all we need. We are learning that being healthy means we have to include our emotional and mental health and wellbeing, because stress, anxiety and uncertainty is challenging us on a daily basis.

If you, like me, have burned out in the past from working too much, you may feel like you are on the edge of burnout right now, because there’s more on your plate than you can handle. With the economy sliding and work-pressure increasing, you might also realize it’s not just about working too much, it’s about worrying too much.

SOMETHING IS CHANGING

We are facing a challenging, which is also an opportunity. We have the possibility to rethink self-care and build a new relationship with ourselves. With our very own body. With our core human needs, and start questioning what does it really mean to be healthy.

Daily, we are faced with questions such as; do I have COVID, have I had COVID, if I get COVID will I have symptoms, will I get really sick, will I be able to handle it or worse... could I die?

As someone, who’s deemed high-risk cancer, these are typical questions for me, except cancer isn’t contagious, so I would not get it from other people, I would get it from me. My lifestyle, habits and behaviors. My genes, which may or may not come into expression, based on my lifestyle, habits and behaviors. Which is also where stress comes in, which by the way is contagious so to speak. Especially in a work-culture environment.

I learned a long time ago that I couldn’t live healthy and live in fear at the same time, I had to focus on living in awareness and it started my journey to figure out what makes us healthy. Truly healthy. Whole human healthy.

WHOLE HUMAN HEALTHY

Healthy is not just a physical function of a well-cared for body, that we expect to function like a well-oiled machine, when we need it, want it and expect it to work without fail to serve our whims.

Healthy is about humanity. People being seen as human beings, being treated as human beings, being respected and cared about as human beings and being understood for what we offer as human beings.

We also need to shift the way we think about ourselves and what we contribute, learn about our human advantage, which essentially is what the future of work needs by the way. It also means, that instead of thinking that our emotions are a problem, we need to consider what would change, if they are the very gateway we’ve been looking for, so that we can grow and thrive?

EMOTIONS ARE NOT EMOTIONAL

We tend to judge emotions as emotional, which is a behavior. Instead, we can learn to use our emotions as information, which essentially is what we need to use empathy as a tool for better communication. Oh… and that starts with the communication we have with ourselves.

I think we’re all learning how critical it is, that we take better care of ourselves, respect and care about our needs better. It’s about time that we change our mindset about self-care so that we can not only see it as how we stop losing our health and burning out, but also the foundation for how we work better, grow and foster better relationships.

We have a funny thing with self-care, we put too much emphasis on “self” instead of “care”.

SELF-CARE IS HOW WE CAN CARE MORE

Rethinking self-care means that it’s not just about how to get the habits aligned so we can be physically fit, which essentially is what we’ve been pursuing for years in the name of health. The self-care industry has been making sure we think of self-care as a treat for ourselves, something we do for us, something that helps us find calm and inner peace. Well some of that is true, however also misguided.

Just like mindfulness is not just about being quiet and relaxed, it’s also about being engaged and focused, self-care is essential to finding our inner confidence, clarity and courage to keep showing up.

We need self-care, because it makes us better at life and work. We need self-care, because it makes us better leaders. We need self-care, because it makes us better friends and family members. We need self-care, because it makes us people.

Better people… Now that’s a leap you might say. Well self-care is born out of the relationship we have with ourselves, because self-care is not a list of habits, but rather a mind-set that affects the relationships we have with ourselves, which that affects the relationship we have with everyone else, and work too. 

My point is; right now we have the opportunity to discuss what it means to bring our whole self with us to work, beyond sounding like a good culture-brand that cares about people. But how? What does it mean to care?

A WHOLE HUMAN HAS EMOTIONS

Emotions are a good thing and we tend to like them when they are happy and optimistic. But right now being human includes anxiety and worry, uncertainty, loss of hope and trust, fear and depression. Show me someone, who can say they are immune to stress, anxiety and worry right now.

HEALTHY DOESN’T PREVENT BURNOUT, HUMANITY DOES. 

Can we finally accept that being human means having emotions and it’s completely normal? Can we finally talk about it, so we can focus on getting the tools to take better care of ourselves, have better conversations and cultivate the kind of work-culture where people really matter. All people matter, not just the chosen few, who are better producers and top sales people, all people. All the way to the front-line workers, those who sort our packages and get them shipped out or take our orders when we’re hungry.

Being healthy means understanding what it means to be human. Not only do we need food, water, rest and I can’t believe I have to say this in 2020, but we also need shelter. But to be truly healthy, we need to be truly human, which means we need to feel safe, heard, included, and that we matter. To be truly healthy we need care. That someone cares about us and that we care for ourselves.

Self-care is no longer a personal problem, it’s a culture possibility, because our humanity is what’s so unique about us and we can only harness it if we nourish it. It’s not how much or how fast we work that makes us great, it’s who we are that makes us great.