My Healing Journey – How I recovered from burnout

 

The phenomenon of this millennium, the burnout or mental exhaustion has unfortunately got to me as well.

During the pandemic, in a highly empathic state in my team and passing through a globally emotional period, like the rest of the world I was working locked inside a tiny apartment (this latter part only relates to my situation), with non-stop working hours Monday to Sunday, in back-to-back calls from 9 to 19, no bio breaks when needed and most of the time skipping lunch. My organisation was having never ending peak periods and we were all under a lot of stress because of chaotic deadlines. This was all too much for me.

After a very thorough assessment by burnout specialists in The Netherlands, they have diagnosed me with 2 untreated burnouts in the past 3 years and a severe current one, that needed immediate treatment.

At that point I said, like most people – ‘What is this nonsense, I am a young, active and joyful person, I cannot be burned-out! They must be wrong! In 2 weeks, I will go back to work.’ Of course, this didn’t happen as the moment I took a forced break of a few days, my entire nervous system finally relaxed, and my symptoms were stronger than ever. To take you to the end of my healing journey, to the recovery part – I went back to work, full time, 1 year after; 6 months in (with no direct contact with my company and in full sick-leave) I slowly started being reintegrated at a rate of an hour per week, increasing the hours every 6 weeks, exponentially until 1 full year.

My main symptoms – mental and physical exhaustion, feeling helpless, insomnia with vivid dreams (nightmares), anxious behaviour, impossibility to concentrate or to follow simple instructions, memory loss, need to be alone and desire to stay in the dark, loss of confidence in my strengths, no appetite and I could go on.

*For more information about burnout, its causes, its symptoms, and its stages, please go to the end of the article for some relevant sources.

Here it is what helped recover from burnout and become a better version of myself, with a lot of lessons to carry into my future professional and personal activities:

I.       External influence

  1. Specialised burnout therapy: 4 months, one primary therapist once a month, bi-monthly shorter interventions from a secondary therapist + continuous dialogue, exercises, and advice on an online chat system
  2. Support from my employer and work-colleagues: time off work, government specialist check-ins and slow reintegration
  3. Emotional support from family and friends: most important – they offered me support & allowed for much needed space

 

II.     Internal efforts

  1. Acknowledged my condition and didn’t blame myself
  2. I needed some time alone: went by myself into a mountain cabin to reflect on my next steps, without a phone, a TV or any other distractions, only a book and my journal
  3. Morning grounding and energising rituals: any routine was helpful during empty days, as I was waking up and having nothing planned for the day
  4. Self-healing with Reiki energy and sound: freeing my voice, singing with my healing instruments and attending singing circles, mantra singing sessions, and sound baths
  5. Accepted specialised help: was doing all homeworks and was eager to learn how to help myself faster
  6. Discussed with people in the same situation, in a way I created my support group
  7. Initial focus was on improving my sleep quality and duration
  8. Took the necessary time off: I ended up respecting the doctor’s indication to be in long-term sick leave
  9. Went into a full mind, body and soul detox                                                                                          – Mind: took a pause from mental endeavours and started to meditate daily, journaling my days, my feelings and talked about my fears and anxieties with my husband

Meditations – Twin Heart Pranic meditation, Full Moon meditation, Dynamic meditation, and Active Osho meditation

  • Body

Walking in nature daily: connection with nature, walking barefoot on the grass, hugging trees are taking us back to our roots

Physical exercise – medium level intensive body trainings, pilates and swimming

Nutrition – with a nutritionist, followed 3 months of cleansing diet

Massage – relaxation Ayurvedic massage, acupressure massage

  • Soul

Spiritual detox – less screen time, more reading and attending a long series of group classes:

  • Ecstatic dance
  • Shamanic dance
  • Yoga: Kundalini, Yin, Yin/Yang, Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Slow flow yoga, ACU Yin, Lu Jong Tibetan yoga
  • Singing Circles
  • Breathwork (Pranayama, Conscious Breathing, Wim Hof)
  • Restorative classes
  • Qi Gong
  • Tai-chi
  • Tea ceremonies
  • Crystal healing
  • Chakra balancing sessions
  • Fascia release and trigger point
  • Mindful being classes

Spiritual development courses: Mindfulness, Pranic Healing, Tibetan Singing Bowls healing, Aromatherapy, Crystal therapy + tapped into sources about burnout recovery, a peacefu

l life and learning to SAY NO and LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

  1. Opened up for new activities and hobbies: Spanish and singing classes
  2. Talked openly about my situation and my needs
  3. A clear cut from work: shortly after I started my sick leave, I had 0 contact with work, no access to emails and communication channels; furthermore, any conversation I had with my friends from the work environment were not at all related to work
  4. Feng Shui home consultation – Invited Qi in: improved the energy of my home with a consultant. We decluttered and freed up the walls, the shelves, the closets – donated unnecessary material objects, change the colours in the bedroom to be more restful, brought in new plants

There were 3 main lessons I learned though this healing journey:

  1. Therapy, in both its offerings – psychotherapy and holistic healing (energy, sound and colour – the 3 I helped myself with) – are the KEY to getting healed of emotional and mental exhaustion.
  2. Your body knows best what you need – you just have to LISTEN to it.
  3. Saying NO when you cannot do it, it’s not something shameful, but the only mature thing to do. Saying NO helps avoiding these unhealthy outcomes and also improves communication with your peers

In my healing practice, I do welcome people that are in any of the 5 stages of burnout. In case you are in burnout or would like to prevent burnout, I would be glad to support you into the prevention or the recovery from burnout, by using a combination of energy healing, sound and colour healing and Traditional Chinese medicine.

 

Many thanks for taking the time to read through my article.

Love and light,

Teo