Lab 032: Life Avalanche

 
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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:

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?

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!

Transcript