All posts tagged: Burnout

What to Do When Experiencing Advocacy Burnout

What to Do When Experiencing Advocacy Burnout

Published by Jenni Sidey

As the school year approaches, most parents have back-to-school shopping on their mind, helping children pick out new clothes, shoes, and backpack essentials. However, for parents of a neurodivergent child, things look, well, a bit different. Cue the list of meetings and updates you need to coordinate across teachers, therapists, and other providers to share news about your child’s progress, ongoing needs, and recent milestones and/or challenges. For any parent in this situation, this likely sounds all too familiar, and I’ll bet that at some point, you’ve already dealt with advocacy burnout. Advocacy burnout is very real and occurs when the ongoing demands of supporting, monitoring, and seemingly fighting for your child’s needs begin to put strain on your emotional and mental resources. Although a positive action, advocacy is also never-ending. In my experience, every “successful” meeting often leads to more emails, follow-up calls, and maybe even more evaluations. When a parent feels as though they’re always working but never truly completing a task, this can lead to burnout. I mean, it feels exhausting just …

Your magical burnout cure is in this Miyazaki film

Your magical burnout cure is in this Miyazaki film

Published by Sam Flores

Throughout July, The Swell is celebrating the lasting cultural inspiration of animator Hayao Miyazaki and the legendary films he created with Studio Ghibli. As part of GKIDS’ annual Studio Ghibli Fest, which kicked off in June, you can enjoy theatrical re-releases of some of his most famous works. Writing about culture means thinking about the world in magical terms. Or maybe it’s just me. I frequently struggle to find the right words to describe the elements weaving together the concrete and the conceptual, so I find it simpler to sum up all that as magic. All of us understand magic. Not everyone believes they have the capacity to express it, which is a shame. That’s why I think everybody needs a little “Kiki’s Delivery Service” in their lives. Out of all of Miyazaki’s movies, “Kiki’s Delivery Service” may be his most timeless. It’s made for young hearts but also has a way of growing up with us, taking on new meaning when viewed at different life stages.   “Kiki’s Delivery Service” is not a Hayao Miyazaki …

Burnout Is Now The Default For The Majority Of Mums. WTF Can We Do?

Burnout Is Now The Default For The Majority Of Mums. WTF Can We Do?

Published by Sam Flores

!function(n){if(!window.cnx){window.cnx={},window.cnx.cmd=[];var t=n.createElement(‘iframe’);t.display=’none’,t.onload=function(){var n=t.contentWindow.document,c=n.createElement(‘script’);c.src=”//cd.connatix.com/connatix.player.js”,c.setAttribute(‘async’,’1′),c.setAttribute(‘type’,’text/javascript’),n.body.appendChild(c)},n.head.appendChild(t)}}(document);(new Image()).src=”https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb”;cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({“playerId”:”8b034f64-513c-4987-b16f-42d6008f7feb”,”mediaId”:”eba97976-f596-4dee-924c-0d7195ccf52b”}).render(“6a1ed776e4b0ba3173036069”);}); If you’re a mother who isn’t running on fumes thanks to a prolonged state of burnout, you are doing pretty well.  Burnout is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, according to Mental Health UK. It can occur after periods of long-term stress and constant pressure. New polling of 4,000 mums has revealed burnout is very much the new normal: nine in 10 mums (93%) have experienced burnout and almost six in 10 (58%) say they feel burnt out “often” or “almost always”. (A previous survey found 81% of mums had experienced it, so the issue is clearly on the rise.) It’s got to the point where some medical professionals are using the term ‘depleted motherhood syndrome’ to refer to the deep, chronic burnout many mothers are quietly living with. Many of us are working, parenting, caring for ageing parents, and trying to manage a household, on repeat, with little respite and support. The latest survey, from Peanut and baby brand Nuna, found seven in 10 mums are doing more childcare or domestic labour than their partner. …

Addressing Burnout: Re-Igniting the Flame

Addressing Burnout: Re-Igniting the Flame

Published by Jenni Sidey

Burnout is an intense, full-body breakdown resulting from longer-term exhaustion. The term burnout was coined by Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, Ph.D., who described it as “a state of fatigue or frustration brought about by a devotion or cause.” And, as another traumatic stress pioneer, Charles Figley, Ph.D., noted, there are “costs of caring” that deserve our attention. Certain careers (such as those who often interact with human distress, trauma, or grief) and certain job settings (such as those with more communication breakdowns, unrealistic demands, or lower autonomy) can make people more vulnerable. And research has also shown that burnout is more common among those who are dedicated, high-achieving individuals with high-demand jobs. Knowing more can be immensely beneficial in preventing and coping with this difficult occupational phenomenon, and several metaphors related to burned-out flames will be utilized to cover several primary domains. A Light Wind or Continuously Strong Gale: Stress versus Burnout A candle can tolerate a gentle breeze but can’t generally survive ongoing, targeted strong gusts. Similarly, we might distinguish stress versus burnout. Stress is …

Misophonia and Neurodivergent Burnout

Misophonia and Neurodivergent Burnout

Published by Jenni Sidey

Burnout is a concept that is most commonly referred to in autism, ADHD, and AuDHD circles and research. Since misophonia is most likely a neurophysiological condition and neurodivergent (Brout et al, 2018), with a sensory-motor and brain basis (Kumar, 2021), it is not surprising that persons with misophonia also experience burnout. Burnout refers to a sensory state that is beyond shutdown (the point where persons with neurodivergent conditions are no longer able to function properly), and is caused by persistent exposure to triggers, masking (refers to the process of acting ‘normal’ or hiding misophonia), and an overall lack of capacity to regulate the nervous system. Since persons with misophonia are in fight-flight-freeze whenever they are triggered by the misophonic response, it stands to reason that burnout is the end result of not being able to regulate one’s nervous system. Burnout is not just an emotional or psychological state; it is a physiological state where the nervous system is taxed beyond its capacity. Common symptoms of burnout are exhaustion, limited function, a ‘low battery,’ social withdrawal, …

“Wellnessmaxxing”: When Self-Care Leads to Burnout

“Wellnessmaxxing”: When Self-Care Leads to Burnout

Published by Jenni Sidey

We can probably all agree that self-care, as a general concept, is a good thing that promotes healthy attention to our own well-being. But what happens when we overdo it on self-care? Enter the recent TikTok trend known as “wellnessmaxxing” or “habit stacking.” Whether it’s answering work emails while doing a facial peel or attempting to meditate while running on a treadmill, the idea is that we can maximize our well-being and personal productivity by performing as many self-care tasks as possible at the same time. But this is inherently contradictory to the very idea of self-care, which has its roots in concepts like mindfulness and meditation, practices that extoll the virtues of slowing down and doing less rather than taking on more. The current dialogue around self-care is often driven by social media, influencers, quick-hit TikTok reels, and other less-than-scientific platforms. Trends have supplanted real, data-driven or evidence-based methods for coping with stress, fatigue, and burnout. So, all it takes is for one catchy-sounding idea to take off and the multiverse runs with it, …

AI Is a Burnout Machine

AI Is a Burnout Machine

Published by José Betancourt

Some software engineers are finding that AI is speeding up their work, but at a cost: it’s also accelerating them towards burnout. Siddhant Khare is one of those programmers. In an interview with Business Insider, he lamented that while AI has made him more productive, it’s also led him to feel that his job was harder than ever. “We used to call it an engineer, now it is like a reviewer,” Khare told BI. “Every time it feels like you are a judge at an assembly line and that assembly line is never-ending, you just keep stamping those [pull requests].” AI, he argued, creates a productivity “paradox” by lowering the cost of production, but increasing the cost of “coordination, review, and decision-making,” all of which falls on a human to solve. “I shipped more code last quarter than any quarter in my career,” he wrote in an essay, titled “AI Fatigue Is Real,” posted on his blog. “I also felt more drained than any quarter in my career.” Khare’s account echoes the findings of a …