Lab 032: Life Avalanche
About the Episode
Lab 032 is all about burnout. We hinted at our unwavering fatigue at the end of Lab 031, but unfortunately, nothing changed. We’re still here in the land of the overcommitted and under-napped. How did we get here? What’s led to this feeling of collective burnout over the past few weeks? Dr. Anne Helen Petersen breaks it down.
Titi described burnout as feeling like an avalanche, and we thought it was the perfect description and a great title for this lab.
Yes, I described life right now as feeling like an avalanche, like you see it coming and you're you know, you can't outrun it. And, you know, you're about to just basically crash and burn.
Dr. Petersen gave us a different metaphor, describing burnout as hitting a wall. Instead of stopping to rest, you scale the wall & keep going. And this can cause you to carry low-grade exhaustion through every component of your life.
In the episode we describe stress as an acute condition, while burnout is more of a chronic, ongoing condition.
Unpacking Precarity/Precariousness
Can’t Even suggests precariousness is the foundation of burnout as we know it.
Dictionary.com defines precarity as:
a state of existence in which material provision and psychological wellness are adversely affected by a lack of regular or secure income
We talked about some of the most vulnerable groups and industries:
Academia & Higher Education
Working Moms specifically
Lower Income Groups
Gig Economy
One of our favorite parts of the episode showed the connection between exhaustion and decision making. Dr. Petersen illustrated this with an example about choosing a quick and inexpensive fast-food option vs choosing to grocery shop and cook a meal with fresh vegetables, which could be more expensive (time & money). She talked about how we may perceive certain actions as “bad decisions” but they could be driven by exhaustion more than anything.
Are you Burned Out?
Dr. Petersen says we may turn to our favorite mind-numbing games on our phones when we need a break. Here are some of our favorites:
Smurf Village (iOS App Store | Google Play)
Township (iOS App Store | Google Play)
2048 on the iOS App Store
Match 3D (iOS App Store | Google Play)
Biological effects of long term stress on the body
TalkSpace is a great resource if you need someone to talk to
Guest Expert
Dr. Anne Helen Petersen is the author of Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burn Out Generation. She is a culture writer for BuzzFeed and before that she was a professor. Her book looks at burn out through a variety of lenses. We read it and think you’ll enjoy it too!