Conversation with Dr. Eliza Collins on Burnout

"Isn’t it marvelous to discover that you are the one that you’ve been waiting for? That you are your own freedom" ~ Byron Katie

Guest Introduction: 

I wanted to address a small technical issue with today's recording. Unfortunately, there was some fuzziness in the audio quality. However, I didn't want to let that deter us from sharing the incredible information that Dr. Eliza provided on the topic of burnout. Her insights and expertise were invaluable, and I didn't want to scrap such valuable content. So please bear with us regarding the audio quality, and I'm confident that you'll still find tremendous value in what Dr. Eliza had to say.

Today we are chatting about the stages or “seasons” of the burnout process, and how to work within them to recover.

You’re listening to Exploring the Seasons of Life, a podcast for women with a big heart on a spiritual journey. With your host Cindy MacMillan and I’m joined today by Dr. Eliza Collins.

Each week, I interview coaches and spiritual explorers from all walks of life about beginnings, endings and the messy bits in-between. Self-love, well-being, and mindset are at the heart of our conversations because once you change the inside, the outside will begin to change as well. 

I’m so grateful that you tuned in today; it means a lot to me. If you love this conversation and you want to continue it or want to share your thoughts, your takeaways, or just any aha’s that come up…come on over to Instagram. That is where I spend most of my time when it comes to social media. I'm @cindy.macmillan on Instagram. Make sure you're following me. Say hello. I'd love to hear from you.

It is my great pleasure to introduce Dr. Eliza Collins.

Eliza Collins is a burnout expert, a Doctor of Acupuncture & Eastern medicine, and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner. She works with clients to recover from and prevent burnout by simultaneously addressing mindset and underlying physical health issues, bringing them a sense of ease, agency, and wellness.

Welcome to the show, Dr. Eliza.

Here’s a glimpse of our conversation:

2:33 Burnout is kind of one of those insidious things, because we don't really see it coming. It's something that builds over time. So, the best sort of working definition that we have of burnout right now is that it is a state of sustained chronic stress that over time degrades your ability to handle day to day stress with ease. So, it's not necessarily this like aha moment of like, bang, all of a sudden, I have burnout. It's this real slow erosion of your ability to continue to handle stress. And that can come from a variety of places.

7:30 That started me on the road to burnout recovery, that I'm still on and much farther along. But you know, like most types of recovery, it's something that you have to be mindful of always going forward. And in the process of doing that and collecting these tools and getting other certifications and trainings for things like functional medicine, and hypnosis, gave me this really interesting constellation of tools to help other individuals address the same issues that I did without having to take the time, you know, to kind of trudge through it and find it themselves.

11:57 That's such an interesting question. And this is an answer that I give a lot because it's something that I don't think it's straightforward. The answer is I don't know. I would say yes. And probably, because a lot of it has to do with our coping mechanisms. So how well did we cope? What's our attachment style? Are we an anxious attachment? Are we avoidant attachment. So it's not necessarily like a type A personality, specifically of like the go getter, the perfectionist like those definitely, those attributes can play into burnout. But if somebody is a go getter, but they also understand how to rest and how to recover, and how to take care of themselves, they're not going to burn out as easily.

13:50 I always really like being able to make this distinction for people. So when my coach was burned out, she did not have depression, she just had burnout. She was happy in her relationships; she was genuinely happy with her life outside of work. But work was the primary focus of where she was getting drained and exhausted and resentful because she didn't have the boundaries necessary to do the work that she wanted in a way that filled her up versus drained her, but she wasn't depressed. I have a history of depression. And so when I was burnt out, I was also depressed.

16:25 Typically, for a lot of people, the first season with burnout is not knowing that you're burnt out. Because we are so I think cultured particularly in American culture in Western culture to be the go getter to be the pull yourself up by the bootstraps to, you know, be the self-made man, woman, person that is so ingrained in our culture, that it can be very difficult to recognize that you're burnt out, I certainly didn't.

26:39 Like many things in life, symptoms vary, depending on the person. So, it can be fatigue, resentment. Brain fog is a big one that I see with people. Because I work in a medical field with acupuncture and functional medicine, I also see people with like gut issues.

34:38 I have a lot of tools. Up to now, I would probably say the values exercise, because it tends to shock people where their values lie. Because oftentimes we try and function in a way that we think is beneficial for society, or for our household, or whatever the case may be. So, if somebody has a loving husband and three kids, and they really care about their family, and they do the values exercise, and they find out that family is not one of the values, that can be shocking to them.

40:25 I didn't have that three years ago, when I was burnt out. So that recovery process has been critical for me to actually show up in the world to be able to talk about this. And I think that my future self will really appreciate that. Because I want to make a big impact on the world.

It's time to wrap up this episode of Exploring the Seasons of Life podcast. I hope you've found inspiration and guidance in our conversation. Remember to visit CynthiaMacMillan.com for all the links and resources mentioned today. Until we meet again next time, I encourage you to keep embracing the ever-changing seasons of your life. Learn from the past, embrace the present, and look forward to the future. And always remember to prioritize self-care and self-love. You are truly worthy of all the wonderful things that life has to offer.

You can find Dr. Eliza Collins at:

 Website Instagram Core Values

Resource mentioned: The Bouncebackability Factor: End Burnout, Gain Resilience, and Change the World

IF YOU LOVED THIS EPISODE WITH DR. ELIZA COLLINS YOU’LL ALSO LOVE THE CONVERSATIONS I HAD WITH:

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Helping Women Heal from Their Divorce with Karin Nelson

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