What is Burnout?

According to HelpGuide, “Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.”

What is energy management?

We all have energy. There are even different types of energy that we all have: mental, physical, and emotional. Your energy levels may vary based on what’s going on in your life. We don’t always have the same amount of energy or the same type of energy as someone else though. Your energy levels can vary based on a lot of factors.

For example, you might be physically very tired after a day of spring gardening, but you might have a ton of mental energy since pulling weeds doesn’t take a ton of thought. You might feel emotionally drained after a tough conversation with a friend, but you might be overflowing with jittery physical energy that you want to work out.

Energy management lets you check in with your energy levels to figure out what you have the capacity to do. Instead of assuming your productivity stays the same day in and day out, checking in with your energy levels allows you to make more informed decisions. Instead of managing your tasks through the amount of time you have available, energy management asks you to manage your tasks based on the type and amount of energy you currently have.

A lot of productivity advice assumes that we all work the same. There’s sayings like, “You have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyonce,” which do little but shame folks for not being a multi-talented superstar. But remember: we aren’t all starting from the same place. Some folks have access to more support than others, which makes it easier to outsource draining tasks and leaves more time for big things, like creative endeavors. Burnout is also usually not considered when talking about productivity. We’re not machines that can be endlessly productive. We’re humans, and we have thoughts, needs, and feelings. We don’t need to be productive to have value.

Read the rest here

Our staff recommends the book "Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle" by Emily Nagoski PhD and Amelia Nagoski DMA

“Burnout. Many women in America have experienced it. What’s expected of women and what it’s really like to be a woman in today’s world are two very different things—and women exhaust themselves trying to close the gap between them. How can you “love your body” when every magazine cover has ten diet tips for becoming “your best self”? How do you “lean in” at work when you’re already operating at 110 percent and aren’t recognized for it? How can you live happily and healthily in a sexist world that is constantly telling you you’re too fat, too needy, too noisy, and too selfish?

Sisters Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Amelia Nagoski, DMA, are here to help end the cycle of feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Instead of asking us to ignore the very real obstacles and societal pressures that stand between women and well-being, they explain with compassion and optimism what we’re up against—and show us how to fight back. In these pages you’ll learn

• what you can do to complete the biological stress cycle—and return your body to a state of relaxation
• how to manage the “monitor” in your brain that regulates the emotion of frustration
• how the Bikini Industrial Complex makes it difficult for women to love their bodies—and how to defend yourself against it
• why rest, human connection, and befriending your inner critic are keys to recovering and preventing burnout

With the help of eye-opening science, prescriptive advice, and helpful worksheets and exercises, all women will find something transformative in these pages—and will be empowered to create positive change. Emily and Amelia aren’t here to preach the broad platitudes of expensive self-care or insist that we strive for the impossible goal of “having it all.” Instead, they tell us that we are enough, just as we are—and that wellness, true wellness, is within our reach.” Read the rest here.

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