Why We Can’t Think Our Way Out of Stress & Burnout

Have you ever had a panic attack? Or witnessed someone having one?

Have you ever tried telling the person to “just relax” or “think calming thoughts”?

Although well-intentioned, providing (or hearing) those phrases at best does nothing and at worst can actually make the panic worse (notice, what tends to help is focusing on the breath).

But that’s just it, the Western world loves the brain, the mind and intellect and fears the body.

The mind is an incredible and absolutely vital part of our human existence, our experience and our evolution.

However in a society where:

• 19% of adults in the United States report having an anxiety disorder

• nearly 9% report dealing with depression

• 77% of employees have dealt with / are dealing with burnout (and these are only the people who have openly acknowledged and reported it)

It’s very clear that the way we approach stress is not working.

OK let’s be honest, a lot of things aren’t working right now and are crumbling to the ground daily but the way that we approach mental, physical and emotional well-being is pretty high on the list and has been for a very long time, especially within organizational spaces.

Which brings me back to the title of the newsletter: you can’t think your way out of stress and burnout.

A lot of these wellness programs will tell you it’s a mindset issue but this is (mostly) not true.

Why is that?

Because stress is not rooted in the mind, it is rooted in the body and more specifically, the nervous system.

The primary job of the nervous system is to KEEP US SAFE.

One of the ways it keeps us safe and has kept us safe for hundreds of thousands of years has been through the stress responses: fight, flight, freeze (and in more recent years, fawn).

Back in the ancestral days, these were the responses that were needed in order for survival. When an enemy or wild animal was fast approaching, these were the tactics that kept us alive (hopefully).

Most of us are not faced with those same issues that our ancestors were faced with in regards to our safety; however, our nervous systems don’t necessarily know that.

With the constant emails, meetings, facetimes, deadlines, social media scrolling, screen time, fast pace / high demand / high stress that permeates our modern culture, our nervous systems still believe we are in the same type of danger that we were in when we were getting chased by tigers.

Any why does this matter within organizations in particular?

Because an organization is comprised of humans. Every human being has a nervous system. The state of the collective employees’ nervous systems directly impacts an organization’s capacity to be innovative and authentically / sustainably support the growth of both its people and its work.

An unhealthy and destabilized nervous system holds more stress which creates less space for creativity, vision, focus and all of the other goals and issues that arise for an individual and within an organization (+ life in general).

I'll be diving deeper into these in the following weeks but here's a glimpse of what those stress responses could look like in real time:

1.) Fight

• impulsive, urgent and wired: "I have to keep going, I have to be responding"

• High performing but also breaking down behind closed doors

• Anxiety

2.) Flight

• Extreme avoidance

• Avoiding or Fleeing conversations / conflict / situations / environments

• Fidgeting during interactions

3.) Freeze

• Needing to make a move in some way but feel stuck and/or you don’t have the resources to make a move

• Procrastination; only doing something when the heat is on

• Not being able to speak up when you want or need to

4.) Fawn

• Trying to appease people and situations

• No boundaries or struggle to maintain boundaries

• Don’t speak up to personal opinions or desires

Many of us have no idea how to regulate our nervous systems and properly release stress which impacts not just our careers and business but every aspect of our lives.

More times than not the way we are told to help ourselves is to work on our thoughts and mindset or more likely, we completely avoid it and begin to experience anxiety, depression, dissatisfaction, stress and burnout.

However, the mind can only go so far with this.

Remember, Intellect is in the mind; however, wisdom is in the body.

The body is where the nervous system is stored. When we can begin to address the nervous system, we can begin to shift our relationship to stress and burnout (which positively impacts every other aspect of our life).

For organizations specifically, a healthy and stabilized nervous system not only manages and reduces the stress of its people, it also creates more space and adaptability for the expansion and success of the business itself.

Here are 4 Simple Things You Can Do To Start Regulating Your Stress Response(s):

1.) Fight / Flight Response:
While sitting at your desk (or wherever you are seated), look around your room or whatever space you’re in for 1-2 mins using very slow eye movements

• Slow movements sends signals to the amygdala that it’s safe and lowers the stress hormone i.e cortisol

2.) Freeze / Fawn Response:
While sitting at your desk (or wherever you are seated), look all the way to the right corner periphery of your eye and stay there for at least 30 seconds while breathing deeply into the belly

• this allows the nervous system to slowly integrate the movement safely and re-balance itself

3.) Body Check-In Questions (shout out to Brionna Ned / @deathdominatrix for these prompts):

• Am I Hungry?

  • Hanger is real. Go get a snack.

• Am I thirsty?

  • DRINK WATER.

• Am I Tired?

  • Take a break. Stop looking at your screen

4.) Re-Ground / Connect to Nature

• Our nervous systems have a preference for wildlife environments; it supports feelings of safety in the body (go figure after thousands of years of our Ancestors living in natural environments)

• Connecting to nature for at least 5 minutes has proven to support nervous system recovery. This can be real nature (highly encouraged) but it can also just be scenes of nature if you don’t have immediate access.

These are very preliminary tools that can help regulate our nervous systems when we feel ourselves becoming dysregulated (i.e stressed). Nervous system healing is not a one time deal. It is a lifestyle and takes time, patience and consistency.