In my article , “Getting back to you”, I touched on the themes of toxic workplaces, teams, the first effects of burnout and presented the term languishing. According to Adam Grant, languishing* is a cycle of stagnation, joylessness, and emptiness that we sometimes find ourselves in after going through difficult periods like Covid, traumatic situations, loss or burnout.
I recently returned from a scheduled six-week holiday whilst visiting friends after my own languishing funk. What began as a working holiday quickly became a ‘take my power back, gain confidence, mental health break and country politics vacation’.
This was my wellness program:
• Sleep recovery. I slept. Months of surviving on 4 – 6 hours sleep caught up and my body clock was completely out. High performance athletes will always tell you that the recovery is as important as practice.
• Journaling. I forced myself to write even when I had nothing concrete to say. Getting the words on paper is the process of letting go and reflecting on events. Reflection promotes self-awareness.
• Share your experience with friends. I openly shared what I was going through with friends that had worked with me before. This helped me remember the value I bring to a high performance team. They reminded me of past work successes, memories, my unique contribution as a team player and the value I find in being in a psychologically safe team.
• I didn’t do it on my own. During this time, I had my personal therapist and career coach advising me on how to exit and process the emotions I was experiencing. This helped me pre-plan, identify issues and deal with the consequences of the decisions I was making at the time.
• Create goals. I wanted to start a side business before I accepted the job and started working on it again before I resigned. Once I was at home, I got working on my new life and career goals. I am still working on it today. Giving me a sense of purpose and something to aspire to.
• Get away from the environment that you are in. Going overseas allowed me time to think and step away from what I had just experienced. Talking to professional friends about my experience, validated that I was not losing my mind but the environment I had found myself in was toxic and psychologically unsafe.
• Closure. I was fortunate to get closure from the company that I worked for. They acknowledged my feedback and even offered to keep the channels open to talk about it if needed.
• Do something for you. I picked up my hobbies again of reading, writing, learning, and making my home beautiful. I enrolled in a few courses. Started researching how to transition into a second career and become a multi-hyphenate.
*nytimes.com. 19 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.html.
