This is Me talks to Hannah Holden about burnout

As we approach Christmas and many professionals start to reach end of year work fatigue, This is Me presents a two-part blog series on burnout.

In the second part of the series, we talk to Hannah Holden, IT Consultant turned Stress & Burnout Expert and Podcast Host of Burnout isn’t Necessary was flying high, with a rising career as a business consultant, lovely house and happy marriage.  

On the surface Hannah was doing great, but underneath she had moved to the countryside away from her support structure of friends, was struggling to get pregnant and had developed adult acne.  

Eventually she found herself sobbing for hours, unable to step away from work without feeling anchorless and directionless. Unaware of the classic symptoms, she had plunged into burnout.  

Since then, Hannah has used her experience to change the focus of her own career and now helps others to avoid the same path. Putting her BSc in Biotech to good use, she coaches companies, teams and individuals on the biology of stress, how to manage stress, the risk factors for burnout and how to prevent burnout.  

Below she shares her top tips for spotting and reducing the likelihood of burnout:   

Signs of burnout  

• Exhaustion - mental, physical and emotional. Feeling tired all the time. Loss of emotional control or loss of emotions.  
• Cynicism - lack of enjoyment. Negative attitude. Feeling pessimistic about the future.  
• Reduced sense of efficacy. Feeling overwhelmed. There's no point - it's too late, nothing makes a difference.  
• Other symptoms: always anxious, skin issues like eczema or acne, low energy, easily triggered, anticipating danger, can’t relax, digestive issues, muscle pain, insomnia,  

Tips to reduce the likelihood of burnout  

• Understanding burnout can happen to anyone: it's the natural and normal response to chronic stress which has not been effectively managed.  
• Build self-awareness. Understand your values - someone who is in burnout will be acting in a way that isn't aligned to their values. Get to understand your values - either on your own or as guided by a coach or mentor. This will help to see where in your life things are going wrong and to get clarity on where and how to put things back on track.  
• Reconnect with your body. Anyone in burnout is all in their head and disconnected from their body. Practices like gentle yoga, breathwork, mindfulness are all helpful. Also body scan type meditations. Learn how to work with your nervous system to bring it down from high alert status all the time. 
• Learn to navigate stress better: from mindset interventions to stress reduction techniques to resilience boosting practices.  

Hannah says;

“Burnout didn't make any sense to me, so even if it doesn't make sense to you, know that others can help you.” 

Research has identified 6 areas of the work relationship that contribute to burnout:

1. Workload
2. Control
3. Reward
4. Community
5. Fairness
6. Values.

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