Covid Burnout and Why You Need a Holiday Pronto (E92)

Happiness for Cynics podcast

This week, Marie and Pete talk about Covid burnout, how it may be affecting you and why you need a holiday pronto.

Show notes

What does Covid burnout look like? – Sourced from Covid Fatigue and Burnout: How to Cope (healthline.com)

• Feeling cynical and emotionally exhausted. Two of the most common burnout symptoms are feeling emotionally drained and cynical about the world around you. Researchers have observed these symptoms in people who have worked in demanding environments during the pandemic. 
• Being less effective on the job. Burnout happens when you’ve run out of personal resources. Self-doubt creeps in and, over time, you may not be able to pay as much attention to work tasks. Researchers have noticed that some people with pandemic-related burnout begin feeling like a failure at work. 
• Having a deep sense of anxiety about the future. Your anxiety may be related to your own future or the future of your community and the wider world. Researchers think this anxiety comes from the fact that you can’t predict when the pandemic will end. When things are unpredictable, people often feel they have no control over their lives. 
• Being less willingness to comply with health guidelines. As the pandemic drags on, more people are tiring of restrictions such as mask-wearing and social distancing. Growing tired of inconvenient public safety measures may be natural, but experts say it could prolong the pandemic even further. 

Transcript

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M: Welcome to happiness for cynics and thanks for joining us as we explore all the things I wish I’d known earlier in life but didn’t.  

P: This podcast is about how to live the good life. Whether we’re talking about a new study or the latest news or eastern philosophy, our show is all about discovering what makes people happy.  

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P: Plus, sometimes I think we’re kind of funny. 

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P: And we’re back.

M: We’re back.

P: Here we are. Glad to see you all again. See you? See you? We’re seeing you. Laugh.

M: We’re seeing you?

P: Yeah, we’re seeing you today. We’re exploring our auras. We’re seeing the world.

M: Nice to see you and be seen.

P: Laugh, yeah. Ok, that’s nice.

M: Yes. How you doing?

P: Really!? Been a bad week, laugh. I’ve hit saturation point, I think.

M: Okay. Too much going on?

P: Either that or I’ve hit the point where I know that it’s the end or I know that it’s close to the end.

M: Mmm.

P: And so, I’m a big believer in The Body Keeps the Score [by Dr Bessel van der Kold M.D.]

M: Yeah.

P: Which is a very good book. The body lets you know when you’ve had enough, and it will hold off if you tell it to but it will hit you in the backside, laugh!

M: But then you crack.

P: Laugh, yep.

M: And just when you take holidays you get a cold.

P: Yeah, because you’ve turned off.

M: Laugh.

P: So, I kind of have hit this week going, ‘Oh, the end is in sight and I’m up to date with everything I can actually take a little bit of a load off.’

M: Laugh.

P: Oh dear, there goes my back and there goes my face, and you know, I was all weepy eyed.

M: There goes your face?

P: Yeah, I had a bad face day on Sunday. I was out for lunch and my, my eyes just wouldn’t stop weeping.

M: Aww.

P: And my right eye started to actually close in on me.

M: I have a lazy eyelid. You have to look closely.

P: Laugh!

M: But when I get drunk! It’s out there for everyone to see.

P & M: Laugh.

P: Are you looking at me? Or around the corner?

M: Laugh, not a lazy eye. Just a lazy eyelid.

P & M: Laugh!

P: So, yeah, hitting the wall.

M: So, this is really topical, actually, because today we’re going to talk about covid burnout. We’ve spoken a bit about work burnout and World Health Organisation, a couple of years ago now, started talking about burnout as a medical condition.

P: Mmm.

M: But today we’re not talking about normal burnout. We’re talking about covid burnout.

P: How is that more specific?

M: So, the World Health Organisation defines, its pandemic fatigue so they define pandemic fatigue as being demotivated and exhausted with the demands of life during the covid crisis.

P: Hmm.

M: So, the World Health Organisation warns that this fatigue could ultimately lead to longer, more devastating pandemic. So how this plays out in real life is you know, at the beginning of the pandemic, when we were scared and unsure, we were willing to follow the rules, we chipped in and did the right thing.

P: Laugh, everyone was doing the right thing, yeah.

M: Yeah, we made, we made an effort to wear a mask even outside.

P: Yes.

M: Even when the rules were unclear.

P: Yes.

M: We kept our distance in supermarkets and followed those little stickers.

P: Laugh.

M: Just to make sure we were 1. 5 metres away.

P: Laugh.

M: And we went got our vaccines when they were made available to us in general. We even did that weird elbow bump thing for a while.

P: Ahh…

M: Did you ever do that?

P: No, I didn’t. I did the fist bump, but not the elbow bump.

M: Uh huh. We did that, because we wanted to follow the rules and chip in and do our part for society and for helping to end the pandemic.

P: True.

M: Now, over time, we’re not as fearful. We kind of know what to expect we’re more frustrated, right?

P: I agree with that. Yeah.

M: So, this has been going on for a really long time and to be quite frank we’re just tired of it all.

P: Hmm.

M: So, that’s when exhaustion and complacency set in. And that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about covid burnout.

P: Mmm. Would you be able to apply this to maybe other pandemics like the Spanish flu as well?

M: You can apply it to any negative long events. So, if anyone’s ever cared for someone who’s terminally ill –

P: Yes.

M: – for a particularly long period of time, you can burn out with that.

P: Yes. Yeah, totally.

M: If you have, perhaps been in a war situation. I mean, these are extremes, right?

P: Mmm.

M: War situation. You can be extremely resilient. Humans are so resilient.

P: Very much, yeah.

M: But there comes a point where you’re just, you’re just over it.

P: I think when the threat is removed, I think what whilst you’re in the threat, you’re going, you’re in fright or flight, you’re in sympathetic nervous system response.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: You are running from the lion, and humans can do that for a very long time.

M: For a certain amount of time. But, you know, if you go back to World War II, that was a number of years. So, 1939 to 1945. I’m guessing after two, three years of, you know, Anne Frank hiding in a tiny upstairs room, she would have hit the wall at some point and gone. ‘I’m done. Maybe I want to go outside’, right? So, whether or not she did, um, I don’t know. I don’t know enough about her story even though I’ve read the book.

P: Mmm.

M: But at some point, people sort of would take more risks. She might go downstairs and look out a window.

P: Yeah, yeah. That’s true.

M: Right? There just comes a point where you go, ‘Oh, is this really worth it?’ And without any foresight and knowing when a war might end or a pandemic, how the pandemic might end or what the future could look like, It’s really hard to make rational, proper decisions.

P: Now that’s an interesting thing to explore scientifically, I imagine. What our brain does –

M: Mmm hmm.

P: – after a sustained period of fear.

M: And not only the brain, but how it impacts you physically. And there are so many studies of kids that were born during the war.

P: Mmm.

M: Not only the mental health implications on the mother and how that translated in utero to the kids and their personalities and all the rest of it, but also the physical implications of high stress.

P: Yep.

M: To the person experiencing the stress, but also they pass it through in different ways to their kids.

P: Definitely, yeah. And those hormones have an effect on foetal development.

M: Yep.

P: And more importantly on brain development.

M: Yep, absolutely.

P: Certain parts of the brain develop quicker or lag.

M: Yep. And so many of us have been in that low level fright phase, not so much flight phase for the last 18 months, which is low levels of stress, really is what we’re talking about.

P: It is, but the stimulus for the sympathetic nervous system doesn’t differentiate between stress.

M: Yep.

P: So, we could be having a less stress or more stress but the hormonal release is the same. The access which is activated to the adrenal glands still fires. So, the body doesn’t necessarily go, ‘Oh, this is a 50% stress.’ It just goes, ‘It’s stress!’

M: Yep.

P: So, that in built reaction of the brain releasing hormones from the hypothalamus into the pituitary gland down to the adrenal cortex.

M: What does differ, though, is our reaction to that stress. And so, if it’s unmanageable, then we’ll go into anxiety, depression, etcetera and a lot of people around the world have. A lot of people have been dealing with that stress and coping with it. And this is where they’ve gone from, perhaps flourishing and dealing with good mental health and doing all the things they should to coming back to languishing in a way. And maybe we can look at what are some of the signs of this covid burnout. So, in a lot of ways, it’s very similar to normal work burnout and everyone is different.

P: Yes.

M: We read a great article from healthline talking about some of the symptoms, so things like feeling cynical and emotionally exhausted.

P: Mmm.

M: So, probably two of the most common burnout symptoms for all types of burnout is just being emotionally drained and starting to get a bit negative, just really not having that well of positivity and mental health to draw from.

P: Yeah. All of a sudden, the coffee that won’t taste right becomes a dramatic throw it against the wall kind of moment.

M: Yeah, and we’re observing a lot of that with frontline employees, your nurses and doctors who have been in it for a very long time, who started out really positive and gung ho.

P: Yep.

M: And we’re going to save as many people as we can. And now a lot of the discussion in our media is about, ‘I can’t believe they’re still not vaccinating. I’m done with this. I’m not staying in this profession.’ You know, they’ve really just had enough.

P: Mmm.

M: And they can’t see the forest for the trees. They need a holiday, really. Laugh.

P: Oh, yes.

M: They need a break from all of the stress.

P: Yeah, don’t we all get to that point sometimes where you just need –

M: You need a break.

P: – a moment to step away, yeah.

M: And no one can step away from Covid. So, that’s the catch here.

P: Yeah, you can’t escape it in a way, especially when it’s restricting your movements.

M: Yes.

P: And I’ve noticed that with a lot of my clients, the things that they’ve usually dealt with that have helped them deal with stress, they haven’t had access to.

M: Yeah, like going to the gym.

P: Yeah.

M: So, the second one is being less effective in your work. So again, burnout happens when you just run out of that well of energy and resilience.

P: Mmm.

M: And things like self-doubt start to creep in. You don’t pay as much attention to work tasks or your family and really, the negative emotions that come with that, that lack of satisfaction from doing a job, start to spiral.

P: Mmm. The self-doubt one is a big one, because that’s like a little wedge that gets inside the door, and it grows.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: It is like a cancer. It starts to spread, and so all of a sudden, you’re making rash decisions. You’re making emotional decisions.

M: Emotional, yes.

P: Not logical [decisions]. Or you’re not having that that calmness because you’re second guessing everything that you do.

M: Yep, and not only that, you’re then doing a worse job, which then reinforces that.

P: Mmm.

M: And the smallest suggestion or criticism or, you know, opportunity for improvement, otherwise known as a shit sandwich –

P: Laugh!

M: – from the boss. You get really defensive. You take it personally.

P: Yes, yeah.

M: You come home and have to vent. It gets blown out of proportion. It’s tough to get good perspective on what’s going on.

P: Mmm, mmm. I agree very much.

M: All right, so the third thing or symptom that you could be seeing if you’re experiencing Covid burnout is a sense of anxiety about the future, so heightened anxiety levels. So, that could be related to your future, whether you’re uncertain about your current job or going back out into society now that everything is opening up, your future for your community or your family or the world in general.

P: Mmm.

M: So, the anxiety comes from the fact that you can’t predict when things are going to end or how they’re going to turn out. You’ve got little control over what’s going to happen. So, again, having less resilience and having been on that heightened level of stress for such a long period of time. That’s taken away your resilience and taken away your, your stock. Your well.

P: Your well of well-being.  

M: Yep, it means that you can start dwelling on this and going down that spiral and just being more anxious in general.

P: Mmm.

M: We’re seeing a lot of that as companies return to work.

P: The workspace?

M: Yeah, and they’re asking employees to come back in. And there are quite a few people who are just really unsure about going back into the office.

P: Mmm.

M: Getting on public transport, sitting in an office space where there’s recycled air all day. All of those things that are at higher risk for catching Covid.

P: Mmm. That’s the fear factor of it all, isn’t it?

M: Mmm hmm.

P: It’s playing into that fear. So, is it possible to remove that fear? Is that where, is that part of a? I’m probably jumping ahead of the gun here. We haven’t gotten to the fourth one yet.

M: Mmm hmm. Look, if you can predict the future, you can.

P: Laugh, well true. I guess it is about addressing those areas of control and addressing the areas of resilience and doing the work that we’ve talked about in many episodes about your mental health work and your homework and your emotional understanding.

M: Mmm hmm. And we’ll get to that in the next section.

P: Ok, sorry.

M: So, the last Covid burnout.

P: [whispers] I’m going to be quiet now I’m going to go over here.  

M: Laugh, ok you go sit in the corner.

P: [whispers] I’ll go sit with the cat.

M & P: Laugh!

M: So, the last burnout symptom to keep an eye out for is being less willing to comply with health guidelines.

P: Oh! This is me!

M: It’s me, too. So, today. So, we still have in our building mandatory mask wearing in common areas. So, when you go through the lifts and lobbies and today, I had to run downstairs and pick something up from a friend and I went out the door, pressed the buzzer on the lift and went, ‘Oh, I don’t have my mask, I forgot my mask.’

P: He, he.

M: ‘Oh, well, I’ll be quick.’

P: Yeah.

M: Went down the lift, out the door. Don’t tell my building manager.

P: Laugh.

M: But you know, when this first began, I would have quickly run back into the house and got my mask. This is probably the first time I’ve gone, ‘Oh well’, and done it anyway.

P: It’s very common at the moment, though.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: I’m seeing a lot of people, and I’m a big, very guilty of this, I will take my mask off to walk down the street because I’m so sick of wearing it, laugh. And when it’s a beautiful sunny day, it’s like I just want to enjoy it. And if I’ve got my [mask]. When the Covid ban was still in and we were still being obliged to wear masks, I would walk away from people. If they were walking against me, I would maintain the 1.5 metre distance –

M: Mmm hmm.

P: – but I’d have the mask down, I must admit. It was just a sense of freedom for me.

M: Yep.

P: And it was that, I think what you’re saying here is right is that willingness to comply. My willingness is gone. It’s like, I’m over this. I don’t want to do this anymore. And, you know, we haven’t had a COVID case in that area yet, and I was like ‘Oh bugger it, I’m just going to walk down the street without my mask on and enjoy the sunshine.

M: Yep, yep.

P: But only in that one moment.

M: Yep. And everyone is getting to that point now.

P: Mmm.

M: To varying degrees, we’re just over it, just over it.

P: Yeah.

M: So, what that means for how far you’re willing to break the rules probably comes down to whether you’re naturally a rule breaker or whether you believe in rules? I imagine, if you’re a big bang theory person –

P: Laughter!

M: – Sheldon would still be wearing his mask, laugh.

P: He would be doing virtual presence.

M & P: Laugh!

M: Mmm hmm. So, what all this means is, we’ve spoken before about the difference between flourishing and languishing. And when we’re flourishing, we’re at our peak mental health. We’re not simply living life, but we’re loving life.

P: Yep.

M: What we’re talking about here is that a lot of us are coming from the top end where you find passion, energy, excitement, love, awe and hope.

P: Mmm.

M: And we’re moving into this languishing space, which is not the negative mental health space. It’s not depression, anxiety and a place where you really should be seeking professional help.

P: Yep.

M: It’s really well summed up as just ‘meh.’

P: Bleurgh. Yeah, right. Does that affect the people who are more used to being in that upper space a little bit more?

M: You would probably notice a difference more, but this is a phenomenon we’ve spoken about before, and I think Episode 70 we’ve talked about from languishing to flourishing.

P: Yes.

M: And so if you’re normally a ten on the scale or a nine and you’re now sitting at a six, that ‘meh’, you know, you’re not in the under five space where you really need to take action and there are serious consequences for not.

P: Yep.

M: You’re not in the ill health space.

P: Mmm hmm.

M: You’re just kind of going through the motions of life. You know, what a waste of your life in that space for too long.

P: Laugh, yeah. And that’s where the techniques that we talk about, I think can come in really, really advantageously. The first one that comes to mind for me is the physicality shaking off literally do a Tay Tay [Taylor Swift].

M: Laugh!

P: Go out running, running out into the world half naked, for example and just go “Aaaahh!!’

M: Legally.

P: Yeah, completely legally, where a sarong, do something crazy, wear a crazy hat put a wig on. Do something that’s going to shake yourself up physically and that’s enough sometimes to flip that switch and get just that little bit out of languishing I feel.

M: Yep, absolutely. So, let’s go into what we can do.

P: Oh, I did it again, didn’t I? Laugh.

M: How can you take action?

P: [whispers] I’ll go sit in my corner now.

M: Well, no. We’re in this section now.

P: Oh good! I’ll get out of my corner now, laugh.

M: So, the first step is to be aware. And just by listening to this podcast, you are at least starting to think about whether or not you’re struggling.

P: Yeah.

M: Whether you’re losing focus or energy. So, now that you are a little bit more aware of the dangers of Covid burnout. It’s a great idea to take a little bit of time to see whether the signs apply to you and look at how you’re tracking.

P: Mmm.

M: Secondly, as we said before, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or unable to move forward, or if you have dropped into that mental ill health. So, if your anxiety levels are too high for you to manage or you think you’ve moved into depression, seek professional help.

P: Yes.

M: And then thirdly, I’m gonna say, work out. So, if you find you’ve been languishing, you might need a mental fitness plan to build up your mental strength.

P: Yeah.

M: And this is where Tay Tay comes in, Pete.

P: Laugh, yeah.

M: And many of the other things, I think for me the one thing that can really help to turn things around here is, book a holiday.

P: Yeah, and planning for the holiday is often enough to actually shake that, shake off those blues.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: It gives you focus. It gives you a goal to work towards. It’s got so many positives in it, and a holiday doesn’t have to be overseas, it can be up the coast for an hour.

M: Yep, absolutely. Not only that, but research also shows that planning future travel boosts mood and mindset. But also, when you do get there, get out and get some sun and do some walking and see nature. All of those things that we have talked about that bring positive mental impacts.

P: Yeah.

M: So, the next thing that I would recommend is, why not start taking a daily walk? Get outside regularly.

P: Mmm.

M: You can add, 10 minutes only. If you’ve only got 10 minutes.

P: Mmm.

M: Really good way to turn your mental health around and to start building that mental fitness.

P: And it’s good for your brain. The physical activity has so many benefits for brain activity and accessing positive emotions.

M: Yep, do you have any more recommendations? I’ve got one more before we wrap up.

P: I still think running around in a sarong this with the crazy wig on does it for me.

M: Laugh. Wig, ooh.

P: Yeah, I put a wig on. I’ve got a unicorn hat that I could use.

M: Laugh, I wonder who bought you that!

P: Laughter!

M: All right, well, lastly, then one that we don’t talk about enough, but which is so powerful is to practise love and kindness.

P: [soft sigh] Aahhh.

M: Yeah, so research shows that helping others through acts of charity or volunteer work can make you feel better and happier.

P: Mmm.

M: But more recent research finds that simply wishing someone well can have a similarly positive effect on our moods. So, really easy task for you to take from today is if you just kind of feeling a bit ‘meh’, put into your diary once a week to send a note, could be a text message, it could be an email, or you could pick up the phone and send someone a note to wish them well and let them know you’re thinking about them.

P: Mmm, I’ve got a good one for that too. Make a cake.

M: I love it.

P: Give it to your neighbours.

M: There’s two things there. So, the mindfulness of baking, which is a whole other episode.

P: Laugh. I think we just came up with another episode title.

M: And then giving it away as well and doing something nice for others.

P: Yep, and it doesn’t need to be the next-door neighbour, it can be the old lady down the street constantly telling you to put your bin inside the garage.

M: Tsk, tsk, tsk. Pete.

P: Laugh. Take her a few muffins. No, she likes me because I cleaned up the back alley garden.

M: Aww.

P: Jennifer, I know you’re not listening, but I love you.

M: Aww.

P: She has been my neighbour for 12 years.

M: Alright.

P: And now she talks to me all the time, laugh.

M: So, on that note, we might finish up for this week and hopefully, you are not feeling the effects of Covid burnout. But if so, hopefully you can take some ideas to help move you forward and take you from languishing back up to flourishing.

P: Oh! I want to do a pirouette.

M: But we won’t, so good night, laugh.

P: [whispers] I’ll go back in my corner.

M: We’re not doing TV, Pete.

P: Oh, damnit. Laugh! Have a happy week.

M: Let’s just say you did.

P & M: Laugh.

P: Bye.

[Happy exit music – background] 

M: Thanks for joining us today if you want to hear more, please remember to subscribe and like this podcast and remember you can find us at www.marieskelton.com, where you can also send in questions or propose a topic. 

P: And if you like our little show, we would absolutely love for you to leave a comment or rating to help us out. 

M: Until next time. 

M & P: Choose happiness.  

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