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Woman enjoying sunshine and rest after overcoming overwhelm

Burnout in Teachers: Why You Can’t Relax (and How to Recover)

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Overwhelm and Burnout. No Comments on Burnout in Teachers: Why You Can’t Relax (and How to Recover)

If you’ve experienced burnout as a teacher, you might recognise this feeling…

The other evening, I was sitting in the garden enjoying the sunshine…reading, sipping a cold drink, catching a squirrel in the act of trying to steal the bird feed…

And I remembered a time when I hated the sun coming out. Not because I don’t like the heat (though I do love embracing the cosiness of winter), but because a sunny day made me feel like I ‘should’ be doing more.

At that time, I was so overwhelmed and burnt-out that I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than sit in front of the TV. Even getting changed after returning home from work felt like a huge effort. And the weekends would pass by without me leaving the house – just getting up, getting settled on the sofa…and staying there. So if the sun came out? I would fight this inner battle with myself: I should be going out for a walk; I should be getting some Vitamin D; I should be out meeting friends for coffee in the sunshine; I should be doing some gardening…the list went on.

But I just couldn’t summon the energy. I would long for winter and the dark nights – where my desire to be indoors could be excused.

This went on for years. And I put it down to just being pretty ‘normal’ for a woman working in education; even though I knew other people managed to live some sort of life outside of school, there was just enough chat about burnout in teachers, about being exhausted and surviving till the school holidays that I could brush off the nagging doubt that this was certainly NOT how I should be living.

When I left teaching and moved into a pastoral role, things eased slightly. I left work behind at 4pm (no longer bringing piles of work home to do well into the evenings), so I could recuperate enough to find some enjoyment outside of the house again (or at least, not just parked permanently in front of the telly). But there was still something taking charge of my body – something that still made me panic if my half-term holiday calendar started to fill up with plans or ‘stuff’ I needed to get done.

I realised my nervous system hadn’t caught up – it was still braced for survival; for just getting through a day at a time. Having to deal with anything else (like the thought of going for a healthy walk in the sunshine) was still too much.

And this is what I see in so many of the women I work with – stuck in survival mode. Scraping through to the weekend or the school holidays – but crashing when they get there. And of course the irony is that these things I avoided (like going for a walk in my sunnies) would have been just what my body needed. So, the work starts with creating just enough safety in the body (and a healthy dose of gentle accountability) to introduce these healthy, healing habits. This, along with reconnection with the self – our needs, our boundaries, etc., is the beginning of a path out of burnout and overwhelm. And, along the way we find clarity and direction.

So if you’re a woman in education who’s struggling with burnout, overwhelm – and you just want to feel like yourself again – you’re in the right place. I offer face-to-face burnout reset coaching sessions in Leeds and online – arrive as you are, and leave with a sense of calm and just a little more headspace.

If you’re interested, or want to know more about my full overwhelm to clarity coaching programme, you can book a virtual coffee with me here.

Why are so many women on the edge of burnout?

Why are so many women on the edge of burnout?

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Overwhelm and Burnout. No Comments on Why are so many women on the edge of burnout?

Why is it that there are so many women who seem to always be on the very edge of burnout?

I’ve been there…

And I always thought that just ‘pushing through’ to complete my to-do list would fix things…

‘If I can just get through this list, then I’ll have time to relax and finally feel at peace.’

But the truth is, your to-do list is infinite. It’ll never be done. And even if you somehow managed to complete it, I can tell you now that the void…that numbness you feel at the end of the day…it’ll still be there.

I speak to so many burnt-out, overwhelmed women who describe life as being sort of ‘flat’, even though on paper they have it all.

And they’re feeling guilty for feeling ungrateful…they’re wondering what’s wrong with them and if they’ll ever feel ‘normal’. Add to that the weight of all the things they ‘should‘ be doing, and they’ve got the perfect recipe for just scraping through each day in survival mode.

What these women come to realise through our work together is that the external accomplishments and productivity they’ve grown up thinking are the key to happiness…just, aren’t. In fact, the to-do list has simply been yet another tool of distraction:

Distraction from their authentic selves

Distraction from their natural feminine cycle and rhythm

Distraction from their calling and innate wisdom

So the answer isn’t in yet another productivity or time-management tool. The answer is in stillness. In turning inwards. In reconnecting with your own self.

If you’re a woman feeling like you’re always ‘on’, I can help. I offer face-to-face burnout reset sessions in Leeds: Come as you are, and leave with a weight lifted and practical tools to support you.

Support for women who are overwhelmed and burnout

The Freeze Response Behind Burnout

Written by Hannah Young on . Posted in Overwhelm and Burnout. No Comments on The Freeze Response Behind Burnout

The ‘freeze response’ is the sneaky nervous system behaviour that might be sitting behind the fact you feel on the edge of burnout.

We all know from secondary-school science that, when faced with a threat, our bodies can go into ‘fight or flight’. But what I never remember being taught about in school is the freeze response. It was only really when I got to A-Level and Degree Psychology that I learnt more about the lesser-known siblings of fight/flight – that is ‘freeze’ and ‘fawn’.

To ‘freeze’ is a pretty good survival instinct for your nervous system to have developed. Faced with a sabre-tooth tiger, your cavewoman ancestors may have survived by ‘freezing’ – making themselves hidden, smaller (think ‘playing dead’).

But when our modern-day threats are no longer the sabre-tooth tiger, but instead often a cumulative build-up of pressures – at work and in our personal and social lives – that lead to feelings of emotional overwhelm, the freeze response doesn’t feel too helpful. In fact, it can lead to us feeling numb, dissociated, anxious or unable to participate in life.

Feeling overwhelmed and burnout is something I experiencing myself during my teaching career.

And it literally felt like I was going about my days in a trance. I was still functioning (we now know about functional freeze), but I wasn’t participating in life.

And something that I completely abandoned (and I see many women I work with doing the same) was a connection with my self. As well as being numb to the world, the volume on my own needs turned down too. Nutrition, exercise, time in nature, engaging in conversation about how I was feeling – I didn’t do any of it. Until one day I literally could not open my front door to leave for work.

When life feels overwhelming, disrupting the pattern of life in a small way can be a good place to start. I found such relief in stepping out into nature, booking a massage, or speaking to one of the amazing women healers I had around me at the time. It was connection I needed – and a space just for myself.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed and teetering close to the edge of burnout, start small. Why not make today the day you begin to reconnect with yourself. Step out into nature – feel the grass underfoot, observe the new buds of spring – heck, hug a tree! – and by doing so, you’ll feel yourself gently stepping back into your self.

And, if you’d like a space to escape to, my in-person Reset Session might be just what you need.