Productive Living: Avoiding Career Burnout, with Errin Weisman, DO – TPW331

Have you experienced burnout in your profession or career? This week's episode, the first in our new Productive Living series, features my conversation with physician and life coach Errin Weisman about how we can avoid and recover from career burnout.  Launching our new Productive Living series with a conversation about career burnout Today I’m excited to launch our new-for-2021 Productive Living series. As I mentioned in last week’s episode, this’ll be a recurring series in which I talk with women with special expertise or insight or experience in various areas that are important to us as women wanting to make a life that matters. We'll talk about topics relevant to health, relationships, money, mindset and self-care, homemaking and home management, and creativity and fun. This week we’ll be looking at the other topical area: career, as I share with you my conversation with physician and life coach Errin Weisman.  Overcoming burnout and finding purpose and joy Errin Weisman, DO, is a life coach, speaker, and fierce advocate for wellness in medicine. She faced professional burnout early in her career and speaks openly about her story in order to help others, particularly female physicians and working moms, know they are not alone. Dr. Weisman wholeheartedly believes that in order to be a healer, you must first fill your own cup. She lives and practices in rural Southwestern Indiana and loves her roles as a farmer's wife, athlete, and mother of three.   As a female physician who almost gave up medicine, Errin found herself in the pit of burnout in 2014. From the outside, it seemed like she had it all--a successful career, children, a new home--but internally she was numb. And she was ready to do whatever it took to feel better. She thought she had done everything right, so why did she feels so bad? She wondered if something was wrong with her. As she began her journey to wellness, she realized she wasn't the only one feeling this way and decided she wanted to help others. Initially, Errin was hesitant to see a mental health professional, although she knew it may help. One day she was looking up ways to spruce up her resume to possibly switch career fields when she came across an entrepreneurial coaching opportunity, offered by a fellow physician. After participating in this program and working through many issues, Errin realized how helpful this journey would be to other women too. From there, Errin acquired her own coaching training and started her business. Symptoms of burnout in professional women Even though everyone's experience is different, there are some common threads to burnout that Errin has noticed, especially in Alpha females. At an early age, a lot of us were told we could be anything we wanted and have it all. What we weren't told was that we can't have it all at the same time. We also might not have realized that the goals we have when we're young might not be the same goals we have when we're older. Things may change and look a bit different as you grow up and that's okay. Give yourself permission to reconsider your goals and objectives. Ways to recognize burnout in yourself and others There are some tell-tale signs of burnout such as feeling exhausted or cynical, but Errin also says that feeling trapped, helpless, frustrated, or anxious can be a sign as well. She also describes something she sees a lot called the "Walking Zombie Syndrome", which could be when someone has no life in their eyes. Or they may post about the "Sunday Scaries" on their social media. Since the Covid-19 pandemic of last year, Errin states that she has overheard people say that they hope they get quarantined, if only just for a break. Obviously, this could also a sign of burnout. Errin says that perfectionism,