Burnout for helping professionals
You love what you do, helping people has always been your passion
Do you remember the time when you used to enjoy your job and every day was a new adventure?
Working for so long and dedicating most of your time to others has taken a toll in your life. You can’t seem to stop putting other’s needs before yours, you can’t even tell how you feel, it’s hard to describe (and takes a lot of energy to do so). Now, your alarm goes off and that’s it, your autopilot mode is on.
This past year has definitely changed everything
Covid made every helping professional adopt extremely high demands to provide the best care they could, sometimes at the expense to risk their health and their family’s.
We are now trying to get back to normal, but you know something is off, the emotional numbness does not seem to go away, it’s hard to be present for work, your family and even for yourself at times.
You finish your working days and all you want to do is lay on the couch and watch a little TV until you dose off (lucky if you eat something). You think you’re just tired and that you just need to give it time.
Your body is even telling you something is off, the aches, muscle tension and lack of energy are signs that your balance is not where it used to be and most importantly where you want it to be.
BURNOUT IS REAL
And happens to the best of us, trust me, I’ve been there. I know the feeling of wanting to go, go go and focus on work so we can focus on something else rather than in what is missing in our lives…
It’s hard to turn off your working mode at times, your loved ones try to connect with you and you try your hardest to be present; however, it takes an extremely high amount of energy to listen but you still try…
You know it’s getting worse
Now, you’re irritable most of the time, everything bothers you at work, at home, with your partner, with your friends and family. It’s like you’re not yourself anymore.
Sleepless nights keep your mind racing thinking: what is wrong with me? When did all of this start? How can I snap out of it? But unfortunately, you don’t have the answers because you are not asking the right questions.
It’s time to take care of YOU
Burnout is the result of not being able to balance internal and external demands, but what does that mean? It means that at times you struggle to prioritize what needs need to be taken care of first before you can start tackling others.
As helping professionals, we are so used to pause our needs to help others, we focus on what our patients/clients need so we can heal them, and this can be dangerous at times. Because if we can’t balance and compensate what is necessary for ourselves, then we take the risk to stay in a constant state of burnout and lose everything that is important to us.
You are important too!
Counseling can help you to remind yourself of this, to focus on what is important and needed for you so YOU can be the best version of yourself to provide the best care at work.
Being in tuned and acceptant to what is happening to you is key. Unloading is not only relieving but imperative when we do the work that we do. We are humans and also need to stop and reflect on what is disrupting our balance to find outlets and other ways to return to our functional state.
In my work with helping professionals, I focus on assisting them to first accept what is happening to them by identifying and describing feelings without justifying them as there is no room for judgement in my sessions.
I can help you refocus your attention on what and how it is happening to you by increasing awareness of neglected needs. You can learn what your body is trying to tell you as the interventions I use will assist you connect with the meaning behind these symptoms and most importantly make sense of it all.
Imagine going back when you used to wake up with excitement to go to work….
I can help you return to the old you that was able to enjoy work every day to then relax during your time off instead of playing catch up with sleep or some errands. You can expect to go back to give your 100% and not what you can drag out of yourself each day.
By finding balance, you can remember what is important and what can wait and most importantly, build the motivation you need to make those changes happen.
Working on yourself will help you be present and remember what it felt like to enjoy the moment with family, friends and even with yourself.
Your needs will be priority
We will work together to find ways to restore balance; but you are the expert! I am a firm believer that each person knows what they need to do to restore emotional balance, but they just don’t know they know! And that is my job: to guide you in this journey as you find your own ways to be the best version of yourself.
Take action before it gets worse, know help is here, you’re not alone.
Call me now to see how I can help: (786) 520-5122.