The phases of healing from burnout
Healing from burnout can be a wild ride: one that takes months to years, depending on how severe your burnout got before you started taking recovery seriously. I’ve personally been through this process myself, and over the last two years I’ve supported dozens of professionals in healing and managing burnout. Here are the most common phases I’ve noticed:
The denial phase
You're starting to get irritated with your coworkers and have a harder time waking up in the morning, but you're ignoring it. This is just how work is, right? Nothing to see here. Your body will keep sending you signs of too much stress, but you'll shrug and think there is nothing you can do about it.
Pro-tip: don't stay in this phase too long - the time it takes to heal burnout correlates to how soon you intervene.
The angry phase
Why the f!ck is it this hard to feel good while building a career?! Why are we all facing so much stress?! BURN IT ALL DOWN. You might even feel like there is no way out of the cycle - that burnout is an inevitable part of work. It does NOT have to be, but it's an understandable feeling to have. It sucks that we have to do so much stress management to stay above water in this culture.
Rage all you need to--then eventually channel that energy into advocating for policies that protect workers.
The couch potato phase
When how bad things have been finally hits you, and you let yourself get a little rest... it might be hard to get back up. This phase can last weeks or months, if your burnout got severe enough. Be gentle on yourself and lean into the rest if you have the privilege of doing so.
The half-capacity phase
You might start feeling like more of a human again, but you aren't able to handle all of the tasks on your plate like you used to. Maybe you're feeling easily overwhelmed, or just exhausted mid-day. Accept that your capacity is down for a bit - the more you can offload, the quicker you'll feel.
The rebuilding phase
You're hopefully getting to a point where you accept that the level of stress previously present in your life is no longer sustainable. You'll be more open to delegating, saying no, and shaking things up. You'll want to prioritize self-care that doubles as effective stress management, and set up systems and routines to make life run smoother. Struggling with this? Book a call to discuss getting support.
The scared phase
A lot of the clients I've worked with experience a fear of expansion once they've healed from burnout: you have more capacity (yay), but you're worried about going back to your old ways. Here's the thing: as long as you did the work to understand your major stressors and implement systems that really help you - you won't go back. Trust yourself to notice the signs before they get bad again, and to adjust as needed. Go out there and live!
