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Episode 7: Stress or Burnout? Signs to Watch For

Writer: Tina Boogren
Tina Boogren
12 minutes ago
8 min read

Description: Stress or burnout? Mid-October is when many educators start to feel the difference. Tina walks through the dip between survival mode and disillusionment, the three burnout indicators from the World Health Organization, and the tiny habits that helped her reset this week. Start small, and catch it before it spirals.


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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Everyday Wellness with Dr. Tina H. Boogren. I am your host, Tina Boogren, and I'm so happy that you are here. As we think about episode seven, which is what this is, which is crazy, it's an indicator that some of you have been in school for quite a while now. This is going to come out about mid-October, this episode, and that means that some of you may be feeling like you are on that downward slope between survival mode and disillusionment.


Many of you know what I'm talking about, but for some of you, this might be new, and so I want to pause and just explain what I'm referring to here is the incredible work of Ellen Moir out of the New Teacher Center, who identified the typical phases that new teachers go through and their attitudes towards teaching.


I reference this in numerous books because I'm just kind of obsessed with it. We can learn a lot from it. So I talk about this, the whole Beginning Teacher’s Field Guide is based on this. When Adrienne and I did the update for volume two, it's the second edition, we used that graph once again. I talk about it in Supporting Beginning Teachers, I talk about it in Coaching for Educator Wellness.


Because for me, personally, and for so many of you that I get the opportunity to work with, we all kind of look at that and go, "Huh, that's not just new teachers." So what she describes, and , we can kind of attach what we're talking about here, is this, what I refer to as the dip chart, which again, these attitudes towards teaching, I'm going to broaden the audience to talk about not just new teachers, but all teachers, I would say.


We start the year in anticipation, right? We're anticipating, "This is the year. This is going to be a great year. Everything is great." And then very quickly into the school year, we typically start to go on this downward slope into survival mode. That doesn't mean everything is terrible, it just is a reminder of, "Oh my goodness, this job is really hard."


I always say this is where we're feeling stress. Stress is the price of a meaningful life, but if we do not get that stress out of our body, it continues to build and build and build, and then it just feels like we're on this treadmill that's getting faster and faster and faster, and it's hard to keep up. 


And that typically then can lead into disillusionment, which oftentimes, it's not always true for everyone, but can start to hit mid-October, late October, into November. I always say these -ber, the B-E-R months, can be really challenging for educators, and that shift between survival and disillusionment is the difference between stress and moving towards burnout.


Stress is something we can handle. It's not great, don't get me wrong, but it's how we get things done, right? And so oftentimes that survival mode is described as this like, we're just starting to get a little bit overwhelmed, but we still have the passion. That's the key. 


We know we're moving from that survival into disillusionment when some of those indicators of burnout, if not all of them, start to creep up.


As a reminder, the three main indicators of burnout as identified by the World Health Organization are, number one, this negativity and cynicism. When we start to just feel, ugh. I always say it's like that, just not in a good mood. I'm just crabby all the time. When I show up at work and someone says, "Good morning," and in my head I say, "I hate you," that is an indicator that I am starting to feel the effects of burnout. And for me, that's the one that, that I recognize first and most clearly in myself as a red flag, uh-oh, something needs to be done. 


The second indicator is this decreased sense of efficacy, which is kind of this like, kind of hopelessness. It's that feeling of , "Why bother? It's not going to work. We shut it down anyway." When we think about it in education, this is when we start thinking, "I don't want to go to your professional development. I have already decided it's not going to work. I'm not even going to try it." And you can see how that's closely related to that negativity and cynicism. And that third indicator is that emotional exhaustion. We often refer to this as compassion fatigue in education. 


And burnout, remember, is on a spectrum, so you know, we might just be feeling one of those. We might be feeling a couple of those. If we're feeling all of those, woof, we are burned out, right? And I know our audience is not just educators, and here's what I know from talking with, with friends that aren't just educators. We all have these phases that we go through in our job, in our life, maybe via our kids, right? 


So I want you to think about that survival mode, that disillusionment. When does that creep up for you? And educators as well, it might not follow exactly Ellen Moir’s path here. You may feel like, "Ooh, I am already in it."


You may, I hope, feel like, "Nope, not there at all. going to set that over there." Great. This is not a prescription. But what I know is we need to talk about it and identify it because if it is starting to creep up, remember, this is your time to pause and stop and get some good habits back under your belt.


Everything that we talk about in this podcast and what I try to offer in my texts, especially thinking about the 180 Days books and Take Time for You and Educator Wellness, are strategies, teeny tiny little things that we can think about to get ourselves back on solid ground. And nothing is too small here.


In fact, the more burned out we're feeling, I would say the smaller the strategy we want to try. So for myself, I know I've mentioned this before, when I start to get in that kind of crabby place, and I will tell you, the reason I'm doing this is because I felt it happening this week. I just was feeling kind of blah.


I have been away from home quite a bit. There's a lot of news stories that have greatly impacted me, my heart, my, ugh, thoughts, and I just found myself interacting with people just not in this joyful way. And for me, I want to have fun every day. I want to be joyful. I want to be delighted. And so when I find myself kind of losing that spark, that is my indicator of, "Uh-oh, if I don't do something, this is going to continue and get worse and really move me into that disillusionment, so I need to pause and do a reevaluation and figure out what I need."


And for me, it is always the smallest things: Drinking the stupid water, getting myself to bed. That was the biggest one this week. What I had discovered for myself is, because I was consuming too much news and social media, I was having a hard time getting my brain to settle down to go to bed. And so it was just taking too long to fall asleep.


And so I said to myself, "Okay, I feel it happening. I'm on this road to disillusionment. I don't like it at all. I am going to prioritize sleep and drinking the stupid water during the day." Water, water, water, water, water because I know when I'm dehydrated, everything is worse and I don't feel good, and I get headaches and all of the things.


And so during the day, I'm going to chug all the water I possibly can, and I'm going to prioritize sleep. So I literally said, "Okay, I want to be in bed by 8:00." I know that sounds a little crazy, but my alarm was set for 4:00. I had to be at a school early, and I do my PT exercises in the morning, and I like to have a slow roll to my morning.


I never like to feel rushed in the morning. It's not good for me. So I knew I got to be ideally, in bed by 8:00 and falling asleep by 8:30. So that meant, Tina, device done 7:30. No more screens. Pick up your book. I do a little journaling in the evening, so start there, and then pick up my fiction book, and get into bed, and make the room really dark.


Like, do all of those things, and it worked. And I woke up this morning, and I was like, "Ooh, I fell asleep right when I needed to." I slept throughout the night. I feel so much better this morning. I am not mad at the whole world. And really, all I did were those teeny, tiny things. I made sure that I drank the stupid water yesterday and I went to bed.


So I offer that to you as- check yourself. Identify your red flags. When do you know things are starting to go off the rails? When you're moving out of stress and into a more dangerous place of disillusionment, and what do you need? Only you can answer that. Everybody is different. I always say, again, start small.


Is it drinking the stupid water? Do you need to eat without distractions? Do you need to eat? Do you need to prioritize your protein? Do you need to spend some time outside? Do you need to get away from your devices? Do you need to go for a walk? Do you need to call a friend? Do you need to prioritize rest?


What do you personally need? And commit to those teeny-tiny little things. You don't have to overhaul your whole life. Now is not the time to do that. When you're feeling overwhelmed, start small, and that's what I want you to think about this week. Start small. If you are feeling those indicators of disillusionment, let's catch it before it spirals out of control.


I am cheering so hard for each of you. Thank you, thank you for tuning in. Thank you for being part of this badass wellness squad. Thank you to Adrienne. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources. I just am so grateful for each and every one of you. And as I work to keep myself out of that low, low point of disillusionment, know that I'm cheering for you so you can do the same. Make it a great week, you guys. I love you.

If this episode resonated with you, find more emotional wellness episodes here.


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