So a few days ago, I asked a question about burnout and the replies were pretty revealing - thanks to everyone who replied for their honesty in talking about this stuff.

#Burnout is much more than just feeling a bit worn out.
Settle in... 🧵

@coachblueprint1
Burnout is far more than just feeling worn out, or a bit over-stressed.

It is a complex and ongoing syndrome with three major characteristics...
1. Feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion.

Often this is described as being overwhelmed by everything, not having the energy to make even the simplest of decisions.
2. Feeling like we're just treading water.

No matter how much effort we're able to muster, we can feel like we're just not achieving anything at all. Pretty demoralising, especially if we're already exhausted by life.
3. Feeling really cynical about work and the relationships that we have with other people at work... and at home, I guess!
So we throw the term burnout around quite a bit to mean tired/exhausted, when there's more to it than that.

Exhaustion is part of it, yes, but there's also this reduced sense of accomplishment and a developing cynicism as well.

And it's long lasting.
By definition, burnout is an "ongoing syndrome"
If you read through the replies to the original tweet, you'll notice that the impacts of burnout are many and varied, and can be really severe...
➡️Sleep disturbance
➡️Compromised immune function
➡️Ill health
➡️Anxiety and depression
➡️Withdrawal
Generally speaking, burnout is a response to prolonged stress. But there are a couple of other factors involved too.
So if you're stressed out, but you love your job, feel really happy in it, and want to keep doing it, you're less likely to burnout.

If you feel trapped or stuck in your job, pressured to continue (for whatever reason), and can't see the benefits... you're much more at risk.
So what can we do?

Well, prevention is obviously better than cure. So we can start at the source and attempt to address some of the stressors that we experience AND/OR work on our ability to cope with them...
We can work more on self-care (something a lot of people find really difficult, especially those in caring professions - teaching, nursing, COACHING, and so forth.
We can spend time really considering what we actually value and think about even small things we can do to work towards *those* things...
But all of this stuff, the self-care, the stress management, the coping strategies for stress... all of this places the blame for stress and burnout on the individual.

Like it's your fault for not being able to cope!
As if it's your fault for not being able to cope with a cost of living crisis, a global pandemic, an impending environmental catastrophe, all playing out 24/7 on your TVs, Radios, Phones, Facebook, twitter, Instagram...

And that's on top of your regular day-to-day stress!
So the first thing you can do... the most important thing you can do... is to give yourself a break!

And I don't mean like a holiday, I mean like practise some self-compassion here.

It's okay to be fucking stressed out to fuck at the minute! Honestly, who wouldn't be!?
And the second thing you can do... is to give yourself a break!

And I still don't mean a holiday, I mean like take minute. Take 30 seconds. Take 10 seconds, just for yourself. Just breath. Ground yourself. Notice where your feet are.
Burnout is pernicious. It creeps up on you. It's really hard to see how difficult things are when you're in the thick of it!
Get better at paying attention. Get better at noticing, so that you can notice when you're more irritable than usual, when your relationships are starting to suffer, when you're just fucking sad and pissed off all the time.

Listen to your body.
I work in sport. I research stress, burnout, and wellbeing in high-performance sport. That's a pretty tough environment.

If you're a #coach reading this, I'm putting on a free webinar next week with @coachblueprint1 to talk about burnout 👇🏿

mailchi.mp/0d8a89dc5ec1/b…
Thanks for reading the thread. If you've gotten this far and didn't read the replies to the original burnout question, take a look below, know that you're not alone.

Thanks again to everyone who replied.

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More from @PeteOlusoga

Sep 18
I'm actually a bit sad that The Queue™️ is going to end.

Can we not just keep it going forever? A permanent art instalation.

Join The Queue™️

What's at the end of The Queue™️?

No one knows.

It changes every 6 hours.

You don't know what you're going to see.

It could be...
A giant Toblerone

A chance to win a holiday

Some breakdancing

Wasps

An episode of Hey Duggee

Mischief

A hairy dog

Michelle Roux Jr

Whimsy

A vast collection of pies

Too many MCs

Not enough mics

The finest gravy
Hedgehogs

Beans

Fruit

Optimus Prime

A video of Roy Castle singing thr theme from 'Record Breakers' on loop.

Dierdre Barlow

Ken Barlow

Wizbit

A life-sized replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza built with Eggs

A game of Kabbadi
Read 9 tweets
Sep 17
ATTENTION COACHES!

😫 ever felt totally exhausted by the career you’ve chosen?

😫 ever feeling stuck in a job that you’re meant to love?

😫 ever feel a little despondent about your work?

Check out this free webinar on #COACH #BURNOUT. Sign up here 👇🏿 mailchi.mp/0d8a89dc5ec1/b…
If you want to know a little more about coach burnout, check out this episode of the #EightyPercentMental #Podcast episode with @NutritionDanny.

eightypercentmental.com/2021/01/18/1-1…
...and this epsidoe of the Leave Your Mark #Podcast in which @coachblueprint1 and I spoke with @builtbyscott about Burnout and Wellbeing in Sport.
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/bur…
Read 4 tweets
May 20
When you say we shouldn't teach kids about racsim, you forget that young Black kids and kids of colour HAVE TO learn about racism. They have no choice in the matter.

This breaks my heart. He's just a baby. 11 years old. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
Think about the things that stick with you from being a kid. The time you called you teacher 'mum', the time you read 'orgasm' instead of 'organism' in a biology textbook.

I doubt 'having your finger ripped off while trying to get away from racist bullies' is on your list.
Well it's on this kids list.

But it's okay, he'll be fine...

...cos we'll reassure him that the UK isn't racist, that #BlackLivesMatter, that actually it's our fault anyway for making it all about race, that he's just playing the race card, that he has a chip on his shoulder.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 20
As usual, the replies to those pointing out the racism involved in the Child Q case are full of people shouting "Bollocks!" or "what about Muslim rape gangs?"

Well please allow me to retort.

Settle in... 🧵
It's all very well and good to say "this wouldn't have happened if the girl was white," or "this is a clear example of yet more racism," but I think it might be important to explain how and why we *know* that to be true, rather than just repeating it over and over again.
We know that Black children are more likely to be perceived as older than they actually are. I know this from personal experience, but no one cares about my experience. We want facts and evidence, remember?
Read 25 tweets
Feb 15
Yet again, "woke" is trending on Twitter as it continues to be used (deliberately) as a pejorative.

But why is being aware of very real issues of inequality and injustice something to be derided?

I'll tell you why... myblackface.wordpress.com/2020/09/01/the…
One of the stats I cite in the above is that Black women are 5x more likely to die in childbirth than white. It's one that people seem to have real difficulty with.

"Are you saying that midwives are all racists?"

No, obviously bloody not...
There's inequality that drives the inequality that drives the inequality. And inequality behind that too. You just have to dig deep enough.

bmj.com/content/376/bm…
Read 30 tweets
Oct 29, 2021
Would you like to hear about an all-Black Ice Hockey League? An often forgotten, yet crucial piece of history that actually shaped the way the game is played today?

Oh you would? Wonderful.

Let's begin.
#BlackHistoryMonth
So I think we can all agree that Ice Hockey is pretty white, and I’m not talking about the ice. In today’s NHL, about 5% of the players are players of colour. As of last year, it was just 43 players out of over 700.
But it wasn’t always that way. Way back in 1793, not too long after the American colonies drop-kicked the British out of a country that didn’t belong to either of them, Canada passed an act to end slavery and grant any slave arriving there automatic freedom. Yay Canada!
Read 20 tweets

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