We are delighted that one of our ambassadors is the co-founder and executive director of Triad Prague, President Association of Communication Agencies and member of the advisory board of an educational institution Girls from Marketing. In addition to her experience with burnout, Petra shared with us how she takes care of the mental health of her employees and what impact stereotyping can have.
Do you have personal experience with burnout?
To this day, I'm not sure if what I used to experience qualifies as burnout. But I definitely came close to it a few times. I was forgetting to listen to my body and feeling like everything was my responsibility and I had to handle it on my own. When the pandemic hit two years ago, it was a very difficult time for us in the company. We were comfortable operating on face-to-face relationships and suddenly all of our communication moved to the online space. I was working so much at the time, I lost my boundaries. Luckily, I felt I needed a change in time and left for a sabbatical. That was very transformative for me. My therapist says about burnout that people who are very passionate about work are more violent about it. And I'm a heartbreaker.
Do you have recommendations for people who are in a similar situation as you were years ago?
The first good advice I would give my younger self is to create a safety net of fixed points, people I can tell everything to and who know they are part of it. Then also to make time for myself, whether through therapy, coaching, or maybe walks in the woods. I routinely write down decompression in my calendar as well. And last, I would recommend giving energy, time and space to self-discovery. How should I be able to set boundaries when I don't know who I am, what is important to me and what is harmful to me.
"I always have to have more of the things that energize me, whether at work or outside, than the things that take my energy away."
How to distinguish between work and rest time in a busy life?
This is a very good question, because there is a lot of talk about work-life balance, but there is no one-size-fits-all guide. I used to think that I had to separate work and rest very strictly, but I soon found that this approach stressed me out even more. It just wasn't the right direction for me. Now I'm trying to have a balance in my energy. When I have days at work that recharge me, I don't mind being here longer. What I have to be careful about is making sure I have space to get a good night's sleep afterwards. Because sleep is important and shouldn't be taken away from.
What do I mean by balance in energy?
The way I see it is that I always have to have more of the things that energize me, whether at work or outside, than the things that take away my energy. When you have flow and do things with ease, you don't have to artificially interrupt them, but you have to think about recharging your batteries sometime in the near future. It was also very important for me to realize that I don't last as much as I used to. In college, I was able to study all night, take an exam, and then only pass out and regenerate. It took me coming to terms with the fact that I couldn't function well like that anymore.
At Triad, you have a reimbursable therapeutic app package for your employees Hedepy and you put a lot of emphasis on mental health in general. Did this support exist prior to your experience, or was it built on top of it?
The topic of mental health is relatively new to companies in general, which is a shame, but I'm also glad it's started happening. I saw it in myself when I started my career. Back then there was really a push to just perform, we were always listening to finish that high school and get into college. Then the focus was on studying, but also working at it so we would have an internship and get a great job and then work and work until we had a successful career. How we were doing mentally was not a topic at all. At one point when I was close to burnout, I started going to therapy and I recognized Maruska Salomonovathe founder of the nonprofit Don't let go of the soul. This was the period when my colleague and I started to put the emphasis on the mental health of our staff. Ironically, we forgot to apply it to ourselves even then.
What can help to better prevent burnout syndrome? Corporate prevention or the ability of employees to recognize their limits?
I think it should be in some sort of symbiosis. One of the things that I had to deal with was the belief that my responsibility as a boss was to make sure that all the employees had a good time. Of course I want that, but I can't take responsibility for their lives. I used to do that a little bit, which made it harder on myself, and I didn't help them.
So what is the role of companies specifically?
They should have a work environment set up so that mental health problems can be discussed safely and openly. So that people know that if they need support, the company won't turn its back on them. On the other hand, I have often seen, even in an open environment full of options, that if a person doesn't want to deal with it themselves, I won't do it for them. Because that's their story, not mine. At the same time, it's probably a good thing that I have my own experience behind me, because when I meet these people, I can try to hold a mirror up to them.
Do stressful jobs necessarily lead to a fall to the bottom, or can prevention prevent it altogether?
I would like high and stressful positions to not necessarily lead to burnout, and that's why I'm talking about it. When I didn't know I was supposed to take care of my soul and mental side, I didn't even know anything bad could happen to me. And at the same time, I didn't know what prevention existed. It was important for me to realize that it couldn't be anyone at work, my friends, my partner. Having a coach or going to therapy, at least as a preventative measure, is important. A professional who is dedicated to it can really help. I don't think I've burned out because of therapy like some of my friends have.
I noticed that under your post where you expressed that you went through something close to burnout, there were a lot of comments where people shared a similar experience. Do you feel a certain taboo has been broken?
I didn't expect this post to resonate so much at all. I didn't even write it with that in mind. In addition to the reactions in the comments, a lot of people wrote me directly. Either that they've been through it themselves, that they know someone like that, or they thanked me for naming the problem and speaking up about it. It's definitely not as taboo as it used to be.
Would it have helped you to talk about burnout syndrome at a time when you were going through something similar yourself?
Six or seven years ago, it would have helped me a lot to know that I wasn't alone in this. That I wasn't completely incapable. And that's the way it is with any problem, mental or physical pain.
"I didn't know how to make mistakes."
Were your loved ones aware of these feelings at the time you were experiencing them, or did you tend to keep it to yourself?
They saw it, of course, they may even have told me. But I wasn't ready. I couldn't accept it then because I thought I could handle it. But it's true that I was actually really hiding some of it. Maybe it would be different now. For one thing, I've named it with them, I've also created my safety net, and I still have a few pros I pay to tell me if I need them.
What do you think about the media's approach to burnout syndrome?
I think articles in some media like the three tips against burnout can be very dangerous because everyone has it differently. It may be better than nothing, but on the other hand, it may not work for everyone. Sometimes we tell stories about people who started something, then worked their asses off, and then had to be slowly hospitalized to realize that they couldn't go on. And then they were reborn and created their super-success. I think the adulation of burnout is very damaging. The media's problem is also the frequent simplification of success. That's terribly damaging. Because I don't know anyone who became successful overnight. It's not a miracle, it's unlearned, and there are a lot of things and downfalls behind it that no one sees or talks about.
What effect can this stereotyping have on us?
If all that is presented everywhere is that everyone is perfect, doesn't make mistakes and is successful, it is as harmful as the adoration of an unrealistic ideal of beauty. And it affects everyone. If we display something that isn't realistic and think it's the standard, we'll think of ourselves as flawed when we make a mistake. I didn't know how to make mistakes. I thought every failure was a tragedy. And it took an awful lot of energy for nothing.
