Are you resting or are you recovering?
What's the difference between resting and recovering? Everyday life can leave us wiped out and burnt out. Lianne Weaver founder of Beam Training & Development Ltd explains the importance of having recovery time to prevent the build up of stress, anxiety and even total burnout.
With Christmas fast approaching along with pressure from the pandemic, you may well be counting down to your own break, looking forward to some well-earned rest and relaxation. However, the reality for many of us, even if we manage to get a good block off time away from work, is that we end up spinning even more plates during holiday times.
The pressure of Christmas meals, visiting family, managing childcare, keeping children entertained, arranging pick ups and drop offs seem anything but relaxing, on top of that you may find it hard to shut off from work, checking emails and taking calls when out on a family day trip.
Many of us can feel so wiped out by the stress and busyness of our lives that when we do get the chance for some downtime we end up finding ourselves with no energy and/or even feeling unwell. This can potentially lead to more serious mental health problems including burnout.
Burnout is insidious and does not just appear overnight, you don't wake up one morning and all of a sudden "have burnout" it is something that creeps up on you. There are many signs, but all too often if we are heading for burnout we may dismiss or not see them. Some red flags are:
- Chronic fatigue
- Insomnia
- Inability to concentrate
- Irritability
- Pessimism
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Lack of productivity
- Self-medicating
One of the main factors for burnout occurring is our inability to allow ourselves proper recovery time.
Many of us think that if we have had a weekend laying on the sofa watching Netflix, then we have rested the whole weekend, but if our minds are still churning thinking about all the things we have to do at home and or at work, then the reality is, we are getting no recovery time.
Think of it like this, you’ve spent a whole night in bed wide awake, totally incapable of getting any sleep. Whilst you’ve been laying there, your body has been technically resting but when that alarm eventually goes off in the morning you certainly feel anything but rested.
The importance of fitting in recovery time into our lives is crucial to avoid a build up of stress, anxiety and even total burnout.
Recovery time is essentially anything that takes our mind away from the issue that is causing us stress and experts recommend we build in two types of recovery time into our life;
Internal Recovery – Taken roughly every 90 minutes during the day to enable your brain to switch off during a stressful task. Think of going for a brief walk, chatting to a colleague about anything other than work, doing some breathing exercises, etc.
External Recovery – Taken when you have finished the stressful task (for example at the end of the working day). External recovery is a period time where you are totally focussed upon something else, for example an hour of exercise, meeting with friends, meditation, reading a book etc.
When we build in recovery time, we allow ourselves the opportunity to build up our physical and emotional resilience.
If you are beginning to notice some of the signs of burnout, it is important that you seek some help today.
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Lianne set up Beam Holistic Therapy & Training in 2013 with one main intention “To help people to feel happier and healthier.” She describes herself as a ‘life long learner’ and constantly builds new skills and technique to help create a bespoke therapy practice to help people with a wide variety of issues.
Originally Released On 06 December 2021