Burnout Blows Chunks

Working on "The Resiliency Advantage". Al Siebert, the author, points out that Hans Selye, in the first half of the 20th century, pointed out a 3-step process for stress. First comes the "alarm reaction" (fight/flight). Second, the "Stage of Resistance" when our bodies try to moderate the stress. And lastly, the "Stage of Exhaustion" arrives when our body's ability to moderate the stress is depleted.

There are psychological correlates to these stages, obviously. In the first stage, we feel lots of energy and usually an intense emotion or emotions. In the second stage, we start trying to understand what's occurring, expect the immediate future, plan for that future, and justify our responses (at least to ourselves). When we are running out of physical energy and justifications, it becomes harder to plan and will any sustained actions, and we are sliding towards exhaustion. The stage of exhaustion brings mental burnout. Not only do we feel that our ideas no longer matter much, but our emotional energies feel spent, and we are ready to give in. We end up in a state of mental, emotional, and physical burnout or exhaustion.

The second stage is what interests me psychologically. Our brains use such a large amount of our oxygen and metabolic energy that most folks waste of lot of what they've got in all the mental cycling and backpedaling involved in the second stage. It's literally a waste of brain energy and mental focus that could be poured into will or rested if we were good at intentionally relaxing. It's interesting, though, that for most people to be able to actually relax mentally when they're stressed and trying to cope in any given moment, they've had to previously practice intentional relaxation. When most folks tell themselves to relax while they're stressed, it just feels to them like one more demand, draining more energy. Previous practice brings relaxation rather than one more demand.

This is part of why relaxation as an attentional ability comes before mindfulness (as a function). While we might find so-called "mindfulness" techniques relaxing, were we to feel in a stressful moment that we should be relaxed--if we hadn't already actually practiced intentional relaxation to the point of competence--we'd take the idea that we should be mindful in our stressful moment as one more draining demand on our focus and energy. Relaxation is more simplistic of an explicit goal or function of "meditation" techniques, which means, in an educational-developmental sense, relaxation should come first as a practiced function of meditative or concentrative techniques. The ability to relax intentionally allows us to conserve energy at the "stage of resistance" (or adaptation). The ability to relax means that we are much more likely to put our energy and attention towards reasonable problem-solving at this stage, perhaps even into a positive interpretation of some challenge and an enjoyable emotional tone.

Burnout blows chunks, but it is possible to learn the attentional abilities to most often change the "stage of resistance" into a stage of intentional agency and adaptation, perhaps allowing intelligent action and avoiding exhaustion/burnout altogether. At the very least, going through the second stage with even a minimum of intention allows us to separate the physical exhaustion from a negative feeling-tone and mental burnout.