What’s on the Other Side of A Burnout?

On the East coast of Australia during the summer of 2019/2020 we had the worst bushfires on record. These fires were devastating and had an unmercifully destructive force. The combination of heat, undergrowth, wind and climate all created a perfect tinderbox for destruction. Then we had the pandemic.

It was during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 that my wife and our little family found ourselves driving to our closest botanic garden (within government lockdown requirements … of course).

It was then that we noticed something.

It was a few months after the bushfires had devastated much of the landscape surrounding Sydney and as we were driving we noticed new growth on the sides of some of the trees. A bit of green here and there, a spot of colour as the light shone through the blackened charred stumps of previous undergrowth. It was then that we noticed new life. New wonder. New beginnings. A burning away of old undergrowth and brambles and things that can get in the way of the future.

And that brings us to the point of today's BLOG. What is on the other side of burnout.

Gordan Parker, Psychiatrist at University of Sydney, has written a brilliant book on burnout detailing that a way through burnout is to keep our eyes on the silver linings of life. Looking for the wonder and new growth in the middle of burned and charred remains of the previous growth. When we walk through the terrible impacts of trauma and difficult circumstances we are not alone. Millions and millions of people past and present (and probably future) know how we feel (or will know in the case of future). Let alone a higher power if you believe in one. Which leads me to say let’s get up one more time, let’s look through the rubble and look for the wonder. Let’s walk through nature and allow our senses and ourselves to connect with the new (there is actually a lot of Psychology behind this statement).

You see when we engage our senses we are actually connecting with the brain's natural way to relax. An example of this is when we are in our mother womb the three main senses we connect with are auditory, touch and vestibular (balance mechanism). Auditory, we hear our mums heart beat (THUMP THUMP THUMP), touch sense is the feeling of being enclosed and wrapped up (this is why we swaddle young babies)and vestibular is the rocking sensation while in the womb (when our mums walk around like penguins …sometimes). Well fast forward to when you are a 18 year old lining up outside a nightclub on a Saturday night … you are hearing auditory (music), you want to have a bit of a dance (vestibular) and you are desperate for touch (well at least mildly interested). These all can relax us …the same with nature … When we go for a bush walk (vestibular), we hear the birds (auditory) and feel the warmth of the sun (touch). It relaxes us and helps us get a sense of the new. This is all

Breath it in and launch into your new season in life.

My wife and I did and we are so much the better for it.

Hope this helps you today.