How to Avoid Burnout In A New Country
Strategies to recover and build a system that works for you
‘Burnout happens when you avoid being human for too long.’
Recent studies show around 84% Gen Z and 74% millennials face burnout annually. This is alarming!
Add to that how many of them are dealing with the stress of settling outside their home countries.
People who have lived in one place have well-established year-round routines. They know which month to take a skiing break, or when to send their kids to football or hockey lessons.
If you are an immigrant settling in a new country, you’ll need to figure out all that besides your careers, investments, meals, and chores.
We had help for household work in India, so we were not used to managing house work.
Then, once we became parents, we had far more on our plates than anything we could have imagined! Burnout is a real risk, waiting to happen with our lives and we certainly need more burnout recovery stories.
My Burnout Story
In the autumn of 2018, I realized how I failed to set clear boundaries since moving to Europe in early 2016.
I found myself on the brink of a burnout in my plush expat job, so I quit and set out to find my balance. I understand I could afford to quit as my husband was well-settled at his job.
It was my responsibility to improve my life, as that’s the only thing I could control. I needed to look within and connect with my inner strengths.
There are 3 things that helped me:
1) Leveraging The Healing Power Of Nature
When you miss connecting with nature for a while, you feel out of sync with yourself.
I started going for daily runs along the river Rhine (in picture), which was right across from where I lived in Bonn, Germany.
This serene place became my solitude sanctuary where I was completely at peace and at one with my surroundings.
2) Forming Meaningful Connections
It is a basic human need to connect with others. Often, meaningful connections forge when we connect with others’ passion and purpose.
I was in a new country with no previously known contacts.
I started connecting with new people through expat groups and other professional networks. This was unlike my former introverted self.
During one such event, I recall listening to about 20 women share:
- What they were most proud of in their past?
- What excited them about the present ?
- What was their biggest aspiration for the future?
Instantly, I felt connected to this group.
3) Devoting Time To Interests Outside Work
Spending time on interests outside of work fuels creativity, wonder and joy.
I experienced this by joining an in-person class to learn German. I also volunteered my time to teach school kids via online classes.
These 3 simple strategies can help anyone avoid burnout.
I know I wouldn’t have experienced it if I’d done some of these three things every week.
What Next After Recovery?
Once I felt better, I developed a system around habit tracking, inspired by Marshall Goldsmith, the author.
It involves responding with yes or no to a list of questions about your habits at the end of each day. This helped me sustain my balance during the pandemic, when we also had a baby.
Below are some aspects I consider in my weekly planning:
- Set clear expectations around boundaries, communicate them, and follow them. Also, respect other’s boundaries.
- Prioritize and schedule family and friends’ time.
- Review values along with your calendar to ensure everything aligns with them.
- Recognize when I need a pause.
- Schedule many 1-minute meditations throughout the day. After struggling with meditation for years, I discovered this worked for me.
- Practice gratitude and empathy.
- When stressed, work out rather than distract myself with social media, Netflix or food.
- Working out in the evening fits better into my schedule of managing work and baby.
- Schedule household chores at low productivity times for the week.
- Decide 3 major tasks for each day and delegate the rest.
- Set aside time for writing or volunteering.
- Be comfortable knowing work never finishes; embrace imperfection.
- Remind myself what I accomplished each day to overcome the ‘Zeigarnik’ effect. (Your brain thinks more about unfinished tasks than completed ones).
What About You?
Is there anything you would add to the above list of weekly planning?
- Be in touch with yourself by having a healthy mind and body
- Develop meaningful connections
- Devote time to your interests outside work.
- Finally, design a routine that considers all your priorities and works for you.
As you go about recovery, consider the words of Julia Cameron (author of “The Artist’s way”) -
“Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself.”