What is Boiled Frog Syndrome and How Not to Get it?

Perhaps many people have heard the story of the boiled frog and I won’t present a cooking recipe, but it is said that if you put a frog in a pot of water and start heating the water, the frog will try to increase body temperature. It will do this until the water temperature is too high and its body is tired and exhausted enough that it can’t do it anymore and it will die.

What’s sadder is that this story happens in our everyday lives too, whether it’s in our jobs or family relationships.

Most of the time even if we are no longer comfortable in an environment we try to adapt and accept the stress without making some changes. Thus our stress and unhappiness keep accumulating and instead of doing something about it we continue to adapt. This happens until one day we learn that our body is no longer capable and we reach burnout. We end up just like the frog that instead of getting out of the boiling pot decides to adapt to the rising water temperature.

In order to avoid this syndrome we must measure our level of stress, stagnation and unhappiness in life every day. The moment it exceeds a certain level it should already be an alarm signal and it is the last chance to do something about it. Even if it is hard to leave a job it is better to do it than to end up with health problems or even depression.

The same applies to a relationship where you feel more unhappy and unfulfilled with each passing day. It is certainly not easy, because I have been through these moments and I know how hard it is but now after a while I realize that I got out of the pot that was starting to boil in time.

The advice that I have also received from my mentor and to whom I thank him enormously is „Jump out of the hot water before it boils”.