Burnout Prevention [Podcast Series]
[:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Jacqueline Kerr
Dr. Jacqueline Kerr is host of the Overcoming Working Mom Burnout podcast.
She is also a burnout consultant.
[1:14] Burnout survivor experience
“And essentially I ended up crying on the way to work and crying on the way home and feeling just that this was not something that was sustainable. So my burnout recovery really started with a leave of absence and getting a handle on my stress. Definitely through exercise. I have always found exercise has been a great tool for me.”
[5:06] Identifying and addressing burnout
Really my recovery was not related to necessarily knowing that it was burnout recovery. My recovery was essentially to fix myself, to do everything I could to become the better mom, the better boss, the better colleague, the better wife, the better friend. That's what I was trying to do.”
[7:57] COVID-19 pandemic and burnout
“The things that lead to burnout are lack of control. We all had so much lack of control during COVID. Uncertainty is something that we really struggle with. It's such a threat to us as humans. It's stressful. There was so much change. Change management is something that leads to burnout.”
[11:51] Parental burnout and youth mental health
“And I think that's one of the things we can think about. We couldn't hide the stress on the way to work or at work, or whatever. And we were very much experiencing it in front of our children and how we role modeled adapting and coping. I mean, of course, we were, we were demonstrating anxiety in front of our children. So it's not just that it's contagious, but that children would be more concerned because they saw their parents being concerned. So, you know, I am not surprised again that it's happened.”
“And so I think one of the things that I keep trying to remember in this, and it was really helpful to me is, for moms to not to think about being a martyr in this situation. It's very easy for us to sort of play that role and do everything and then feel resentful about doing everything. That's not the role model that we actually want to play for our daughters in particular because we want them to see, yeah, you don't have to stand by the soccer field, you could go for a walk instead. It's like that we don't have to dedicate ourselves so selflessly to our work or to our children, that us having our own lives and looking after ourselves and prioritizing our needs, that’s the life I want for my daughter.”
[17:26] Self care and physical activity
“So we have to be so careful in what we think of our self care habits. But I definitely, as an exercise researcher myself, have always known the benefits of exercise for preventing these important diseases, heart disease, that are all related to stress as well. So it's a fantastic tool for managing stress, not just long term, but actually in the moment too.”
[24:53] Advice for entrepreneurs
“Often we have left a job and become an entrepreneur because we might have experienced burnout, or at least some of the features of the lack of autonomy or potentially a toxic workplace. So again, I think it's really important to recognize that and make sure you actually take time to recover in that process and develop these stress management tools, because often we jump from one fire into to the next without giving ourselves a chance to do that.”
