A Better Job Won't Help - The Truth about Burnout | Karen Curry Parker | TEDxColoradoSprings

[autonomydepthconsciousness]

Burnout can result when we are spending most of our waking hours not being connected & expressing our inner creativity. Thanks.

[babyboylovesmusic]

My burnout has nothing to do with unresolved trauma. The trauma is the jobs I've experienced - repeatedly negative experiences. I legit have lost 3 jobs in 6 years, experienced 2 additional company closures, filed 2 lawsuits because I was not being paid fairly, and yet to find a job in my field that is stable. I think it's simply I need a new profession.

[amuseern]

I'm 64 years old, been stressed all my life, over weight and have type 2 diabetes. Recently I've been to coaching sessions to address my weight issue. What I discovered is somewhere in my troublesome childhood I took responsibility for everything! I was stressed all the time! This was my core value. I'm now putting my needs first and I've starting to think more about what I eat, not through self discipline, but easily through self love. Suddenly my job has become alien to me because I was in it to rescue situations. What's interesting is these six coaching sessions have been funded by the UK National Health Service, where I live, via a charity that helps people like me. Keep up your great work, there must be so many people out dying because of unnecessary self inflected stress. Thank you 😊

[ayahlifemiraclelife]

"A new definition of trauma.... "any event, perception or experience that causes us to lose our connection to our sense of value and our unique gifts that we have to bring to the world"
Yes! this new definition is so much more honouring for the infinite variety of human experience. Burnout is so insidious and old definitions of 'trauma' cause many people to feel "undeserving" of the medicine (rest) they truly need & do not feel worthy of receiving help. Thank you, I appreciate your offerings immensely.

[coffeerevival]

This is, by far, the best, most accurate definition of burnout. I resonate with this, not as a person trying to function in this matrix, but also as a human-being.

[Nokss]

1. Corporal punishment
2. Strict parent (mother)
3. Domestic violence
4. Parents divorce
5. Mother leaving to study when I was young
OMG the list is very long includinghealth conditions caused by the trauma, yet nobody wants to listen to my pain and I should get "over it, it happened years ago".
I've experienced burnouts all the jobs that I've worked.

I ended thinking maybe I'm just failure 😔😪😕

[GuidetteExpert]

There should be two different words for particular burnouts. There is a different burnout for work and different burnout because of personal life.

[letmeseemm]

This was great! I had a major episode of burn out at the beginning of the pandemic and went to therapy to address past traumas. Still not sure if I'm ready to reenter the workplace though.

[mythicalmelodies]

I feel like Karen takes some real scientific and psychological principles but she combines them with New Age psychobabble and well-placed buzz words and it really dilutes the message. DSM-V doesn't actually define trauma in the narrow ways that she describes; it doesn't only have to include explicitly violent or life-threatening situations. Neglect, negative social situations such as school bullying, or having a physically or mentally ill or incarcerated family member can all contribute to Adverse Childhood Experiences (as measured by the ACE Test). In addition, there have been many studies conducted on the long-term costs of childhood emotional abuse and neglect, which can sometimes lead to even longer-term mental health and self-esteem issues because children who are mercilessly criticized, ignored, or denied food, medical care, or affection often grow into adults with a deep sense of abandonment and the belief that their value as human beings is dependent on their performance or productivity.

People with these kinds of problems are not just experiencing "burnout", they are very likely to have developed serious psychological problems such as depression, mood disorders, anxiety, addiction (including to caffeine like the man in the example given) that may require the treatment of mental health professionals and possibly a medical intervention. For many people whose illnesses have progressed to this point, hiring a life coach and just "getting in touch with your creativity and life's purpose" are not going to be enough; the work of dealing with early life trauma is extremely difficult and takes YEARS to complete. There are people who have been able to do the work without the help of medical professionals, but this requires a supportive system of family and/or friends, a healthy dose of introspection, and proper education on physical and mental health and wellness, as well as the willingness to utilize healthy coping skills (including but not limited to dietary adjustments and exercise).

I also believe that we need to stop talking about cortisol and "the fight or flight response" in these dumbed-down, unscientific ways. Chronic stress truly does have extremely negative effects on your health, but cortisol is something that is required for human metabolism, it is the EXCESS production that causes the issues. You can reduce excess cortisol production by low-impact exercise or engaging in your hobbies in a meaningful way (like some of her clients did). The YT Channel Therapy in a Nutshell explains what is really happening in the so-called "fight or flight response" when she describes the machinations of the sympathetic vs. the parasympathetic nervous system in the human body.

Finally, the reason the definition of "burnout" has been limited to work-related fatigue by the WHO organization is due to the fact that, as I expressed, there are other mental health terms that can better explain what is happening with some of Karen's clients. Karen, from what I can tell, is not a psychologist, so I do not believe she has a right to arbitrarily redefine a term that has been created SPECIFICALLY to explain work-related fatigue and dissatisfaction and disillusionment related to job satisfaction. The reason why burnout didn't encompass what was happening to Karen's clients is because they weren't experiencing burnout! Also, to assume that workplace dissatisfaction doesn't interact with "systemic racism" is absurd and really shows that authors like Karen have no understanding of how chronic stress at a job that requires long hours and does not provide financial stability can take a psychological toll on minority workers that WILL bleed into the rest of our lives; in fact, ANY GROUP, including poor white people, locked into physically demanding, unrewarding jobs is bound to incur physical and psychological strain that could affect them long-term and will negatively affect other areas of their lives.

It's really that simple.

[ibrooks]

Woooww, bravo! We need more free-thinking people to conduct their own research like Karen and bring new solutions and ideas to the global table. I wrote a book on Burnout, so this talk was especially valuable to me and has added to my prospective. Thank you!

[norahidalgo]

So timely! Your wisdom synthesized the "obvious/ not so obvious" theme that keeps most of us up at night! Thank you for your light!

[chelseahenry]

Beautifully stated and great observations and points. I’ve experienced “big traumas” and plenty of day to day in childhood and adulthood. Even when I’m high on my career and ambitious, I’m equally floored and burnt out. I have felt burnt out for many many many many years. Now I have kids and want this to shift for so much more than myself. It’s getting there but still have some ways to go. What I always loved was music but I was never “the best” at it. I certainly wasn’t good enough to go to school for it so I followed what made me feel competent and strong and smart, unlike anything before and that was health and wellness and public health. I do love it and it’s near to my heart but I think there is a core much deeper I need to remember and stop being afraid to explore and try to enjoy again.

[thereplenishinglifeproject]

Beautiful talk Karen. Thank you for sharing this timely message of compassion & understanding 💜

[SamSam-tofb]

I disagree. Actually in most cases a better job where people are valued and efforts are rewarded would definitely elevate work related trauma and burn out.

I worked for Walmart software side of things. I was worked like a horse, promised the sun and the moon on projects but in the end passed on like a banana peel after that project was finished. My bosses took all the credit and rarely would give credit. I never got a pay raise for 3.5 years. I never went on vacation. And I never got a pay raise. Despite all promised to me before every major project.

In the end I burnt out and couldnt even look at programming for while. If my work did not bash my expectations over and over again, gave me some credit and valued me especially in reward ie salary I would not have burnt out. I still feel trauma and wish I left sooner when I saw other people leave. I just thought they could not hack the work until it hit me.

[amandalemus]

Thank you Karen! I heard your talk 2 years ago for the first time, and listening to it again. Now I am your Student finishing QHDL4 THANK YOU SO MUCH, Human Designa and you and your team saved my life! I love you with all my heart! So proud of being part of the tribe! ❤❤❤

[alibi]

I'd love to give you 10 thumbs up just to help spread this video! Excellent message, thank you so much. It really fills that gaping hole in the vicious circle of self-accusation around not having the right to be "traumatised" in comparison to the trauma cases you listed in the beginning.

[lynndebienne]

💃💃💃💃So good Karen!!!! I totally This made my heart dance with hope and love💞 Thank you Karen for speaking up🙏⚘🙏⚘A big hug of love and gratitude for being you💗💗💗

[sandraleemiracleinspirations]

It was worth the wait. Thank you for bringing attention to a pervasive issue. Well done. Thank you. Breathe

[new.earth.]

you are such a gift to this world. thank you for sharing your astute wisdom with us all.

[DrPreetiSahu]

Thank you! The internal disconnect between one’s own values and the perceived ones, due to whatever external reason in the past, can be so damaging. You lose the sense of self worth because the values are not your own in the first place. But also, it’s not one’s mistake that the trauma happened to them. Yes, being observant and mindful growing up can probably help keep an eye on when exactly there is a conflict in values.