Best burnout therapy is travel
The best therapy you can have for corporate, or even emotional burnout is travel.
Yes, that’s what the doctor recommends!
From personal experience, I know that bouncing back from burnout is not a straight line and it is a journey that you need to navigate and find out what works for you.
While there might be different solutions to burnout, travel is certainly high on the list. Think of travel as a package of solutions in itself for the burnout at hand.
When I personally experienced burnout the biggest favor I paid myself was to take time out. My cup was empty, I was running on an empty tank and I just couldn’t give anymore, that was emotional and career burnout at its finest.
I set off to travel the world, a decent part of it, over five months.
I wanted to look for answers on how to refill and refuel. I found that travel in itself was the answer.
What is burnout?
Typically, the term burnout is used within the context of employment. However, with it being a chronic state of stress, exhaustion, anxiety, and also overwhelm that builds up and persists it can result from any unhealthy situation or relationship.
Regardless of where it stems from if you have it you will know it.
Careless, callous, and cynical, that’s how you will feel and be described.
And trust me, my friend, that’s no way to live a life.
You can check out more symptoms of burnout on here.
It’s not uncommon, to have burnout, and it’s not a stigma to admit it.
A review of international studies found 31% of doctors in the NHS admitted to high burnout, and 26% suffer traumatic stress.
Between 4% and 54% of nursing staff in the NHS intended to leave their jobs due to burnout.
75% of social workers experience burnout at least once in their career.
Business development strategists have a 44% rate of burnout.
All high-performing professionals suffer a significantly high rate of burnout in their careers. What’s more astonishing than those statistics is employers produce little or no meaningful change in the work environment to prevent or manage burnout.
In most instances, burnout is not due to the individual’s inability to manage the work or emotional stressors. It is due to an imbalance between demand and resilience.
Over time if you don’t fuel your resilience it will erode and it will be easier for burnout to take place. Add to that inability to recognize and admit it and you have an almost lethal combo.
Why travel is a great solution for burnout?
It can be intimidating, I know what you’re thinking. You’re feeling the stress and anxiety and someone is asking you to leave everything behind and go on a holiday. How does that work?
Trust me I thought the same, it was hard to leave. Being an overachiever and finisher completer I was thinking to myself how can I just leave? I need to stay and complete this project and do that thing and hand in the report.
It took me a while to realize that the vicious cycle of reports, projects, and deadlines is not going to stop and they are going to continue to take a toll on my health and wellbeing.
I needed to press the pause button and trust in myself that I can do it.
Trust that I can walk away, clear my mind, and come back stronger.
And so I did.
- Once you distance yourself from the state that brought you into burnout you will be surprised at how small and irrelevant all of those things seem. The new perspective you will gain is life-changing.
- Being out in nature is healing for the soul. The beach, the sea, the forest, the sounds of the birds chirping will all instill calmness back in you.
- Find time to recalibrate and figure out what is important to you, not what’s important from society’s point of view but what will contribute to your own growth and wellbeing.
- Being away from the everyday hustle and bustle is the best way to sit down with yourself and have a good think about all of that.
- Travel puts into perspective not only your relationship with your work environment but also your relationship with yourself and those around you. It can impact your thoughts and attitudes in so many positive ways
- Travel experiences are unique to those who take the trips! You won’t be able to have the same experience by watching a movie, reading a book, or talking to someone over dinner. You have to be there to feel the pulse of the city, the people around you, the culture, their problems, and their joys – it will broaden your horizon.
- Travel shakes up the daily routine, gives you new tasks to focus on, keeps you fit and healthy, provided you stay on the move and watch those calories 😉
- It gives you independence and powers your confidence and self-esteem.
- And finally travel is an act of self-care.
Be kind to yourself and take that trip!
Nothing made me bounce back to life more than the travel experiences that I had, and continue to have.
Other things you can do: regular exercise, scheduled downtime from work, morning and bedtime routines, focusing on old hobbies, or creating new ones.
You can read about my travels under travel stories, more adventures to be added on there.
Did you get some value from this post?
I hope you did because each week I put my heart into making sure you get some good tips so you can rock it in your travels while creating a life you love.
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