A break... to avoid breaking up

More and more people are experiencing burnout. Burn-out is the term most often used! It's become a real public health problem, but if you stop in time, it can be an opportunity for some great experiences. Here's how!

Why is burnout on the increase?

Workers and students are increasingly solicited. Smartphones and social networks have made it difficult to disconnect from work.

Another problem is diagnosis and detection, according to harassment.eu[1]:

"Burn-out is all the more difficult to diagnose and treat because it is often denied by the person facing it. For example, for fear of being perceived as weak by superiors or colleagues. And yet, it's essential to seek help, both within the company (better distribution of work, or even a change of job) and outside (consulting a doctor or psychologist)."

What causes burnout?

Burnout is not simply due to fatigue. Other factors may have a causal role in the manifestation of burnout.

According to this study published on Researchgate[2] and echoed on HBR[3], six factors that can lead to burnout have been identified:

1. Workload: It's possible to cope with an occasional work overload. However, it is not possible to be in a continuous state of overload. The overload may be due to the actual quantity or to the person's desire for perfectionism. Beyond the world of work, students who strive for the best possible grade in every course sometimes fall into burnout too. It's important to be able to dose one's efforts within the limits of what the individual can bear.

2. Perceived lack of control: The feeling of lacking autonomy, access to resources and the ability to participate in decisions that affect your working life can be detrimental to your well-being.

3. Returns: If the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards of your work don't match the amount of effort and time you put into it, you're likely to feel that the investment you're making isn't worth it.

4. Work relations: Burnout can also be linked to harassment or psychological violence in the workplace.

5. Fairness: A lack of fairness can aggravate burnout.

6. Inconsistent values: If your values and those of the organization are too far apart, you may lose motivation.

Why take a break?

Before suffering burnout, it's important to be able to stop. The person on the verge of exhaustion needs to be able to realize this, either on his or her own, or with help to avoid a much more serious situation.

Taking a break can take different forms, depending on the person's activities.

How do you organize a sabbatical year? How can you learn new things?

Websites specializing in sabbaticals[4] offer some original ideas for taking advantage of a sabbatical year. Depending on your academic or professional situation, you'll have access to a wide range of options:

• A student could very well take a gap year in the form of a working vacation visa, as we discussed in this article. [5]
• A teacher can choose to totally or partially interrupt his or her teaching activity to train using digital tools. [6]
• An employee can devote himself to training to specialize or change career direction.
• All profiles can devote themselves to volunteer projects, either locally close to home or in more distant destinations.

Becoming a volunteer

Volunteering is one of the most memorable experiences you can have and learn a lot about the world. Volunteers are extremely valuable resources for any organization or association in need. As a volunteer, you can get directly involved in a noble mission, serving those in need. These may be seniors, children, refugees, the sick, animals or causes that appeal to you.

What is volunteering?

What volunteering can do for you

Volunteering is all about building incredible things while eliminating the need for money.

Volunteering is all about learning

You're exposed to a community you're often not used to, and you learn so many new things.

Volunteering helps you learn different things about people and cultures, allowing you to grow personally and professionally. Volunteers often discover skills or passions they didn't know they had.

Working for any organization will enable you to gain experience that you can put to good use on the job market, whether in the private, public or NGO sector.

Building social links

The community in which you volunteer is also very enriching, as it's made up of people from different backgrounds with different mindsets.

Enhancing the well-being of those you help, and your own

Your contribution as a volunteer makes a real difference to the lives of those you help. These efforts help to build the various elements that make up a community in its own right.

Giving your time can have a direct effect on your mental health. Your stress levels are reduced and your mood improves. By focusing your efforts on improving the lives of others, you become positive and overcome with a sense of happiness. Engaging in a volunteering experience is also important. You feel good because you're helping others. Developing your ability to empathize does wonders for your self-confidence and self-esteem.

For good reasons

Knowing how to take the time to do things for yourself or for others will benefit you. You just have to get your head out of the sand before it's too late. You'll be able to enjoy yourself, feel useful and develop personally at the same time.

Sources

[1 ] https://www.harcelement.eu/bien-etre-travail/burnout-boreout-brownout/

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12693291_Six_areas_of_worklife_A_model_of_the_organizational_context_of_burnout

[3] https://hbr.org/2019/07/6-causes-of-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-them

[4] http://www.gap-nanterre.org/

[5] https://cursus.edu/21780/les-nouvelles-formes-dhabitat-et-leducation

[6] https://cursus.edu/21344/lenseignant-et-les-outils-numeriques-la-voie-de-lauto-formation