Is it Holiday Burnout or Regular Burnout? (PT 1)
The short answer is that this headline is mostly just click bait. Does it really matter what type of burnout you’re experiencing, whether it's due to the holidays or because of everyday stressors?
Unsubstantiated by any data, we think that every human, whether you participate in the consumer crush of the U.S. holiday gifting season or not, is impacted because the capitalistic frenzy is at an all time high, all around you.
You also might be a person who has obligations to attend family holiday parties or holiday gifting and gatherings at work. Well then, with some certainty we can say that you are experiencing holiday burnout on top of regular burnout and here’s why: Most Americans, 53 percent of workers, reported feelings of burnout in 2021. A more recent study, conducted by Asana in 2022 found that 63 percent of people had experienced burnout in the past year. So, it seems that the phenomenon of burnout didn’t burn out (sorry) at the height of the pandemic. Instead, people appear to be shouldering and recognizing increasing levels of chronic stress. (It’s interesting to note that Millenials and Gen Z folks reported higher rates of burnout when surveyed, 74 percent and 84 percent respectively.) Basically, odds are you are already dealing with a fairly high level of chronic stress and likely even burnout.
“Millenials experienced burnout at a rate of 74% while 84% of Gen Z reported burnout. ”
These ‘unprecedented’ rates of burnout (fyi, burnout is a term that originated in the 1970s) are happening for a number of reasons. The Covid pandemic immersed us all in some real nervous system damage. The threat to safety was high, everywhere, and our nervous systems -- elegant and intelligent as they are -- had to kick into high gear. Hypervigilance became a life-saving tool and we began perceiving threat in things that are normally life-giving and restorative to us. As social animals, connecting with other people is the stuff that makes us feel a part of something larger -- from close relationships to the casual exchanges you have in the grocery store checkout line.
After living like this for a significant period of time, our nervous systems are now programmed to stay activated. We need alternate information or deprogramming in order to flow back to regulation. In many cases, this requires intentional body work or time spent coming back into calm.
The Covid pandemic is not over and we are still seeing its reverberations in our hospitals, schools and the way we interact with each other on a daily basis. There’s also an impending Recession (capital R) being held over our heads. If your nervous system thought it could take a break from pandemic hypervigilance, now we have additional economic insecurity to destabilize us.
Even before we all begin our descent into holiday madness, shit is stressful. Unfortunately, our modern world is not conducive to nervous system regulation. It’s something we have to intentionally create for ourselves.
So, to answer our clickbait headline, the answer is probably both. Now that we’ve methodically and scientifically (lol) answered that question, another arises. What do we do about burnout?
Stay tuned for Part II when we explore some burnout alleviating strategies.