the narrative behind
Heavy shoulders all around us. Caving-but pushing on in spaces that do not perceive the load placed upon them. Perhaps these shoulders are on you. You are tired from the weight. The heaviness of unfairly divided work labour but also the emotional labour that comes with pointing at the weight many ignore.
You are burnt out. How could you not be?
This ‘invisible’ load of Burnout is not only an accumulation of all your life experiences related to facing systemic barriers and stigmatization due to your identities. It also stems from the emotional exhaustion that comes from having others ignore them.
People often ask how we can recover from Burnout. But some of you go further and ask how we can support other people recover from their Burnout. You are the allies much needed to folks marginalized even in burnout recovery. One question to ask ourselves when we encounter a brave soul who openly declares they are experiencing burnout is this: Does our advice focus on shoulders or the weight placed upon them?
Most societal discourse around Burnout focuses on the strength of individual shoulders. We give advice on how to rest or strengthen them. And when those with ‘invisible’ extra loads don’t measure up, well… perhaps they are just naturally not made to bounce back as quickly? Even in burnout, many do not find rest… Instead they are handed additional weights: shame, feelings of inadequacy, and isolation.
Burnout is a complex phenomenon, a process rather than simply an outcome, and one that is informed by multiple causes related to individual, interpersonal, and broader systemic factors. However, mainstream discourse in our individualistic Western culture has more often heavily focused on personal factors involved in both cause and recovery.
How can we help others with burnout in their healing journey?
shifting it
We can start by changing the way we talk about Burnout. We can come together to shift our mainstream narrative. In this blog mini series, we will focus on recognizing common unhealthy Burnout narratives that do not acknowledge the larger picture.
Over the years, due to my own lived experience, as well as due to the type of work I do, I have encountered a fair share of narratives that over-estimate the amount of personal power in situations where systemic barriers and contextual factors are prevalent. While personal power needs to be acknowledged and emphasized, structural obstacles cannot be ignored.
It’s time to reconsider some of these stories we tell about Burnout and reframe them to create more inclusive spaces for recovery and growth.
Click here for Part 1 (coming soon) on this mini series to learn more.
In the meantime, here is also a creative audio-visual video presentation (narrative and music composed by me) about the experience of going through Burnout when there is no one to turn to. Likening it to a fire spreading, The insidious flames move from one room to another. The feeling of being cornered can only be alleviated with being provided with space. Space held, space to be understood.