Bye Bye Burnout

The massage therapist relieves the annoying tensions, I take a hot shower and then off to the sauna. Wonderful. Barefoot in the snow out onto the balcony, steam off, take a cold shower and head over to the fireplace with a view into the distance. Pure wellness. Perfect day. Work is far away, as are the worries and problems that are usually on your mind.

But what happens after steam off? How long does it take for the valve to almost burst again? We know it, just like a pressure cooker, when the pressure is too high, it whistles and the kitchen windows steam up. But where is the valve in our head?

Burn out is no longer a foreign word. 

On the contrary, it is now lurking around every corner. And because it is already so widespread and it feels like every second person suffers from it in some form, it has already become the norm. That's why the symptoms are no longer even noticeable, because they are the topic of conversation with work colleagues or even privately in the coffee house or over a drink after work. Somehow everyone is beating about the same bush and it is no longer even noticeable.

Factors that lead to burnout:

• Too heavy a workload
• Too little time
• Too little recognition
• Too little fun and passion

If you read these factors and look at them with a critical eye, the boundaries between work and private life become blurred, as they are equally applicable in both areas.

At work

Let's first examine the work environment and imagine the following situation: Whether (solo) self-employed or employee, the demands are increasing, you have more and more to do, the To Do list is overflowing, and at the end of the day it is often longer than in the morning. And it's the same with your inbox. You have the feeling that you have achieved almost nothing, even though you have been busy all day. There are no results and you get no praise, no recognition, no pats on the back for all your efforts, neither from customers nor from colleagues or superiors. It's no wonder that you no longer need to look for fun and passion, because they are de facto non-existent. And at some point you ask yourself what you're actually doing all this for.

At home

Panning home: picking up the children, doing homework with them, taking them to ballet, breakdance, tennis, gymnastics or the skate hall, picking them up again, doing the shopping in the meantime, making or cancelling the dentist appointment, replying to school messages and organizing the playdate for tomorrow. Of course, the housework is already done and dinner is ready. "Mom, I don't like the food, and I also think you're being way too strict with us!" or "Don't you mind if I go out for a beer with my colleagues anyway?" This is the form of praise and recognition that you don't exactly crave, and togetherness is the exception rather than the rule, as are fun and passion. And here, too, you may at some point ask yourself what you're actually doing all this for.

Bye bye burn out

• Reduce your workload, and that means prioritizing, reducing and delegating accordingly
• Creating time to defend the time you have created and making use of it
• Actively ask for praise and recognition so that it becomes automatic
• Developing enjoyment and passion for all those tasks that do not already automatically include them

This is exactly what mental wellness means. Laying the foundation to sustainably change the things that lead to burnout. Turning them around so that they act as a lever towards a clear head. 

Yes, a weekend in a wellness hotel is exactly the outlet described above, but as many time-outs as the pressure cooker whistles are not even possible. Unless there was a hotel that focused not only on physical but also mental wellness, but how would that work?

This is exactly what the new managers of the Seehotel Jägerwirt on the Turracher Höhe have been working on, and they even have the patent on high flow time management, i.e. how to always have a clear head because you can achieve twice as much in half the time without burning out. They offer their guests exactly the environment and input they are looking for.

Podcast and YouTube tip: "Weekend from Wednesday"

The links can be found at www.wochenendeabmittwoch.com