How can stress management coaching reduce burnout and improve resilience?
At a glance
Stress and burnout are the reason our society is suffering from an epidemic of anxiety and depression.
Stress management coaching can help you in two ways: reducing burnout and building resilience.
With value-based goal setting, decluttering the mind, and shifting meanings and mindsets, you can rediscover the element of choice and agency that is quintessential to saying no to stress.
Read the blog for detailed know-how.
Introduction
Has the hustle culture convinced you that stress is a normal state of being? I am sure some of you do recall the good old days when doing nothing was considered ok. When was the last time you let your mind wander off aimlessly due to boredom? It's hard to remember, right? Turns out, the art of doing nothing was the antidote to all the stress caused by progress and productivity. That doing nothing was helping us keep our anxieties and angst at bay.
A perpetual feeling of stress is neither desirable nor normal. But a lot of stress has become unavoidable unless we don't pause, reassess our perspective and mindset, reframe it, and then retrain ourselves to make unconventional choices.
As opposed to our ancestors, whose reason for stress was a dingo, we are stressed by an endless scroll of perfection followed by the dread of not doing enough.
Understanding Burnout
When stress is prolonged and unchecked, it leads to burnout. Burnout, in turn, can be hard to navigate as it affects both your personal and professional life. You may feel exhausted, detached, and overwhelmed.
Some visible feelings include
● an overpowering feeling of cynicism,
● loss of interest in work as well as personal well-being and
● a considerable decrease in motivation to do everyday stuff.
The prevalent notion may lead you to believe that, like stress, even burnout is an inevitable state of being, but as a stress management coach, I disagree.
How Can Stress Management Coaching Combat Burnout?
Understanding the Sources of Stress
Most stress we feel today is psychological rather than physical. And now, more than ever, we are triggered into a fight or flight response with a persistent state of stress and anxiety. Our stress comes from a pervasive yet invisible threat: comparison and expectation.
Stress management coaching can bring into awareness these stressors and triggers so you can prevent burnout. Whether you are stressed about work or personal life, a stress management coach can bring insight and perspective into why you are stressed and what is keeping you from feeling better.
Developing healthy coping strategies
Effective stress management requires healthy coping strategies. As a stress management coach, I've introduced my clients to relaxation techniques such as breath work and mindfulness exercises that can help self-soothe in a moment of stress.
Knowing how to develop healthy coping strategies is not just beneficial for reducing stress; it also acts as a safety against co-dependant relationships and addiction hazards.
Improving work-life balance by effective boundary setting
More than learning, sometimes it's unlearning that can help us create a life of balance. I've often witnessed my clients fall prey to the vicious cycle of 'If I can only get through this one thing.' Unfortunately, once that one thing is done, there's a series of other tasks we add to the list, and the cycle never ends.
Prioritising a healthy work-life balance is not something to put off once that big goal is achieved. As your stress management coach, I can help you set boundaries, delegate tasks, and find ways to prioritise self-care and relaxation.
Setting value-based goals and pursuing them with self-compassion
In your chase for the next big thing, the next perfect moment, what you already have can feel trivial. It's easy to take our blessings for granted. Having an attitude of gratitude can flip your story. Once you see what you have, you can begin to ask what you truly want or desire. But here's the thing. Knowing your 'why' helps you clear the mental clutter that comes from fabricated desires arising out of competition and unrealistic expectations.
As a stress management coach, I provide guidance and support to my clients to find that 'why' and help them set value-based goals. Stress coaching also helps you develop the quintessential skill of self-compassion. Because there'll be tough times, and in those dark moments, you must learn how to treat yourself with compassion.
How Does Stress Management Coaching Help Retrain the Mind for Resilience?
Building resilience and stress tolerance is a crucial life skill that a stress management coach helps you develop. Let's look at how:
Focus on Mindset and Perception
You must understand that negative self-talk is like telling yourself a story with an end that defeats you. If you wouldn't wish that upon your friend, then why do it to yourself? If you start believing the story of self-sabotage, your mindset and perception shift from that of self-confidence to self-doubt, and you are less likely to approach a difficult task or situation.
By examining evidence for or against these perceptions, a stress management coach helps you challenge these long-held beliefs. I help my clients reframe such negative mindsets by encouraging them to attach a different meaning to them. When you learn how to ascribe a different meaning to a past event or a future challenge, you see growth and healing opportunities instead of threats.
Building Coping Strategies and Resilience Skills
A moment of stress and panic can be taxing, and you can even spiral down the anxiety loop if you don't know how to cope. When you resort to cheap dopamine releases like binge eating, drinking excessively, or endless scrolling, you seek to forget your problems and not give a damn about the rules for a while. But these momentary coping habits leave you with guilt and mental exhaustion.
During stress management coaching, you learn how to self-soothe and pick up healthier coping habits that can translate into self-care, like yoga, gardening, pottery, etc.
There's an element of reflection and mindfulness that comes with activities such as these that help you feel grounded and engaged. It can also offer a wonderful outlet to think about your problems and possible solutions.
As a stress management coach, I help my clients build effective mental constructs that offer an alternate way of thinking, problem-solving, and building overall resilience.
Developing a Support System
You can't exist in a void, and you can't escape the fragility of human nature. No matter how much you work on your healing and managing stress, not all relationships are built equally, and sometimes people can get the best of you. There are relationships we have to live with and some that we can choose. Knowing that difference can help in managing expectations. As a stress management coach, I help my clients build a support system by encouraging strong personal and professional relationships based on shared values.
This helps in negating the effect of any negative experiences you might have with people. For e.g., we cannot choose all our co-workers, but by having a friendship with a supportive co-worker, we can surely reduce our woes.
Conclusion
You may be heading toward burnout if you feel like you are stuck, and despite the best of your intentions, you've lost the energy to live fully. It won't pass on its own. And trust me; there's hardly much you'll solve through that quick vacation with your squad. There may be underlying issues and patterns holding you back.
Rather than being stuck in that cycle, I suggest you seek help and explore stress management coaching as a long-term solution to stress and burnout. Not just will it shift your mindset and perception, but it'll also help you build tolerance and resilience for future challenges.
You can contact me for a free stress management session and discuss your unique situation. My session starts from $300, but I offer customised sessions based on your needs.