Cure Your Burnout

Hey, y'all. I'm Samantha, a therapist here at Headspace, and this is "Ask a Therapist". (upbeat music) Our next question is from Holly, and Holly is asking about a leave of absence. How do I deal with the guilt, worry, and the feeling that I am useless that comes from taking time off from work to recover from severe burnout? My body and brain don't work properly, but I feel like I absolutely must return to my job as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'm letting everybody down." Hey, Holly. No, ma'am. No. My coworker told me one time, "If you leave this earth today, they will fill your seat by the end of the day." And it's not spooky, it's the truth. But it was at a time where I really, really felt that I needed to prove myself, I needed to push through all that I was experiencing. I don't know why I was magically thinking work wouldn't get done if I wasn't there. That is not true. If it is true, there are some other things that need to happen at the workplace that is on someone else to fix. I listened to that advice, and then, one day, there was someone who worked with me who did not show up to work. They left the earth, and I was responsible for filling their seat. When I had to fill their seat, it changed everything. It changed how I show up. It changed my mentality about my health. We are not immortal beings and our workplaces are not responsible for keeping us healthy, happy, whole, for our families. They try, but that's on us. If I want the people that I love around me who, when I zoom out, that workplace is about that much, really, of my life's experiences. When I zoom out, I want to be truly happy, healthy, whole, soul-filled for the people in my life. But if I am so focused on burning myself to the ground for a seat that will get filled the moment I'm no longer in it, I have some things that are mixed up. Burnout doesn't happen overnight and it doesn't get fixed overnight. Oftentimes, we get to burnout, and like, "Oh, I'm gonna just take a day off." That day off does not cure burnout. It doesn't work like that. Taking that one day off is like making a California stop, if you know what a California stop is. A California stop is when you get to the stop sign and you don't stop all the way, you keep going through the stop sign, but you slow down just enough to make it feel like you stopped. Burnout is cured by actually coming to a full stop, allowing the body to reset, telling your mind, "Promise you, you are safe. I promise you I got you. I'm going to do the things that need to be done to make sure we are whole, healthy, happy, and here." That's...