Lived Experience Forum

[Cara_in_Yellow]

Hi SANE Forum Users,

I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for coping at work when you’re burnt out from trying to fix your mental health.

Last year I was hospitalised for mental health issues and since then I’ve struggled to get back into work. I think the meds I’m on are making my brain foggy but it’s hard to seperate the effects of the meds from the effects of the PTSD/depression/anxiety/OCD traits they’re prescribed for. 

Before I was admitted to hospital I was mostly able to force myself to push through but now the more I push the more “spacey” I get. 

Has anyone else had a similar experience/does anyone else have anything that helped them get out of it that they could share?

[TuxedoCat]

heya @Cara_in_Yellow ❤️ I'm sorry things have been so tricky for you. I really relate to the

feeling of wanting to push through with work things ❤️ 

What kind of things have you tried so far? 

I've had burnout before and it sucks so much. I'll include a few articles, but I think some things that have helped me recover from burnout include

• realising that a lot of burn-out comes from organisation culture of the workplace and I can't always control for those things
• focussing on things which I enjoy about my work and trying to do more of that
• making sure I make time outside of work to do the things I enjoy. Even if I'm super tired! 
• taking my time to recover where it's needed and seeking support from my manager if I need it

Here are a few articles I've found helpful ❤️ 

• https://hbr.org/2016/11/beating-burnout 
• https://hr.harvard.edu/files/humanresources/files/burnout_toolkit.pdf 

Is this the kind of thing you're looking for? 

[David_888]

@Cara_in_Yellow 

Electricity both manmade and natural goes against our head.

We usually use the front parts of our head more and so for most people the back of our head deals with most of the interference.

Try to use the back of your head more to pierce through the shadow caused by interference.

It's how people meditate, by using the back of your head a bit more.

Your not alone. We are all doing it too okay.

[Cara_in_Yellow]

Hi @TuxedoCat 

Thanks for your reply 🙂

HBR can be such a good resource.

It was helpful to be reminded that the inefficacy is a symptom of burnout because that’s what causes me the most stress at work. All three burnout symptoms are there, I’m exhausted, things feel meaningless and I feel like I can’t do what I need to. A challenge is that I feel that way about everything. I’d love to do more of the things I enjoy but right now I can’t enjoy anything.

The suggestion in the article about dealing with inefficacy was to look for development opportunities or support. I don’t think I have the capacity at the moment to do even the easiest of my normal tasks, let alone development. And I have no idea what kind of support could help. My supervisor has said to ask him for anything that will help which is super generous of him by I don’t know what to ask for… any suggestions?

I think reading that article made me realise the type of suggestions I should ask for.

Any suggestions on how to practice self-care when nothing makes me feel better and even simple stuff like doing the dishes feels overwhelming?

Any suggestions on how to distance myself from stressors when my own feeling of exhaustion and  inability to do anything are the stressors? (Work itself isn’t stressful, just my inability to do it)?

Any suggestions on what might make it possible for me to get stuff done at work without getting overwhelmed by exhaustion/feelings of inability/feelings that it won’t matter even if I do it well?

As for what I’ve already tried, I’ve tried breaking the tasks down, starting my work day later, taking breaks, putting pressure on myself, not putting pressure on myself, I just seem unable to actually do anything…

I will keep thinking about those articles though because they have really good ideas, I just need to work out how to apply them.

[Cara_in_Yellow]

For anyone who reads this thread things I have found helpful this week have included:

Having a meeting with a colleague to discuss the project and spitballing ideas with them to get my brain “into gear”. 

Finding specific tasks that I can do which will be directly useful to someone I will get feedback from. 

Although I’m too exhausted to exercise to get my body from a passive state to an active state tensing various muscles, hugging something/myself as tightly as possible, stimming and other mild activities that are activating rather than relaxing. 

Additionally, for me personally, realising that when trying to pressure myself makes me go more numb/foggy then the issue isn’t that I don’t care enough because the numb/foggy means I’m already overwhelmed. For me, that overwhelm was coming from the feeling that I don’t deserve my job and the inability to do things was a reaction to that (subconscious belief that I deserve to be fired and so am responsible for making that happen maybe?) and the temporary solution to that is to tell myself “I may not deserve this job but I have been given it and I need to give more weight to what I have than what I deserve or I will act in ways that conflict with my values and get overwhelmed by guilt for having the job and guilt for not “feeling grateful” so I need to focus on the fact I have my job and the best ways to counter self-sabotage and bring my body from numb/foggy/DPDR and into a more activated state which I can do through muscle tensing and connecting with people. 

[FloatingFeather]

Hi @Cara_in_Yellow,

It is really good that you have found a few things that have help you this week. It is also really nice of you to share what you have discovered has worked for you on the forums so that others may benefit. Your tips are really interesting and sound really practical.

One technique I remember learning around stress which can help self-sooth is to place one hand on your forehead and one hand on the base of your neck for a couple of minutes. I've tried it when I need to calm down and it helped me feel a bit calmer.

Maybe other people reading this thread have some other suggestions? 

Warm wishes,

FloatingFeather

[Amethystfan]

Hi I've been there too. The drugs definitely make you spacey. Could you take long service leave and have a break from work?

[Hope2Recovery]

Hi@Cara_in_Yellow sorry to hear you are going through this at work. I went through a similar situation at work. I spoke to my manager, and I had a few weeks off, it was really good, I was calm, and relaxed but it didn't last long, as soon as I went to work I was starting to get burnt out, and stressed straight away. I was questioning if there was something wrong with me or is it the job? Everything would tick me off, and there were a lot of triggers. I did manage to talk to my manager about it again, I was surprised by the support I received. Every day, I walk away and have quiet time for myself whenever I need to, it's been helping a lot. I also reduced my days to only working 4 days a week. With the support from your manager and your company, I'm sure they can assist you in your work arrangements that suit you, it might help. Hopefully, everything will work out for you soon, take care. 

[tyme]

@Amethystfan , how are you going?

[Cara_in_Yellow]

@Amethystfan and @Hope2Recovery 

Unfortunately I hadn’t been working long enough to take much leave. Fortunately my work has a really good extended sick leave policy. I dropped my hours, then increase them too quickly and crashed, then switched from a medication that blocks dopamine to two that increase it in different ways. I’ve been doing much better for the past few months. That was the 9th or so medication I’d tried and no others had worked. I hope sharing that gives someone else hope because I thought having tried so many meds that I’d never find ones that worked. I’m still struggling to work through some stuff but I’m able to get myself to work and do my job most days, and being alive doesn’t feel constantly intolerable anymore which is huge. 

Also Hope2Recovery, thank you for sharing about your experience. I’m really glad you were also able to find a solution that works for you. Supportive managers are the best and I’m so glad you also were well supported.