Everyday Life and Stress

Self-Care Assessment

Stress is an inevitable part of everyday life that affects everyone regardless of their socio-economic status. The inevitability of stress emerges from the fact that some days are harder than others and tensions tend to run high on those difficult days. Stress occurs on a day-to-day basis for most people to an extent that many don't even recognize that it is happening. It is important to know how to deal with that stress before it becomes too much to handle. For those who let stress to build on, it eventually turns into a state of burnout. According to the Merriam Webster, burnout is defined as, "exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration" (Merriam Webster, n.d.). Burnout occurs in most people, but no one usually knows it is happening. I personally did not realize that I was at risk for burnout until completing the burnout assessment.

It is very rare for many people sit down and reflect on their emotional state daily despite the inevitability of stress. Personally, I usually don't take time to examine and reflect on my emotional state. However, I evaluated my state of mind recently when undergoing a burnout assessment test that contained a series of statements that helped in the reflection process. As I was answering the statements, I still didn't feel that I could possibly be entering a state of burnout. Upon completion of the assessment, I analyzed all my answers and realized that most of them of "sometimes" and "rarely." As a result, I thought I was in control of my stress levels and wasn't entirely a negative person. I believe that statements such as, "I have negative thoughts about my job" and "I feel that I am in the wrong organization or the wrong profession" are normal to have sometimes. This is mainly because many people have doubts or feel exhaustion regarding their job and/or workplace. I never thought that those feelings could lead to burnout. After answering all the statements, I received an end score of 33-49, which says, "be careful -- you may be at risk of burnout, particularly if several scores are high." I was slightly surprised with those results since I didn't feel like I could be in a state of burnout as previously mentioned.

After realizing that I was at risk for burnout, I examined an article on how to avoid burnout. The article states provides several recommendations that are helpful in avoiding or dealing with burnout. First, a person must look at the long-term picture and not focus on figuring out a short-term solution such as taking a vacation. Although a vacation is always nice, problems are still there when the individual gets back and that burnout state is highly likely to develop. Secondly, it is important to work on yourself and do things that will help your stress on a daily basis. Working out is a great stress reliever that helps a person to maintain his/her stress on a long-term basis. The key to stress is being able to deal with it and doing things to help yourself not become overwhelmed and eventually burnout (Mind Tools Editorial Team, n.d.).

It is important to develop healthy habits to maintain your stress. After completing the Self-Care Assessment worksheet, I felt that I do a good job of balancing my stress and doing things to maintain it. I think the reason I never felt like I was at risk of burnout is because I do most of the things that are listed on the Self-Care Assessment worksheet. It is very important to take care of yourself physically, mentally and emotionally and have a clear balance of it all so you don't reach a breaking point. Most of my scores consisted on fives and fours and rarely twos and threes. Out of the 65 statements, I answered 22 of them with twos or threes while the rest were all fives and fours. This implies that I frequently or occasionally do the things listed in the assessment. In addition, it means I am doing more than half the things that are necessary to maintain my stress so that I do not enter a state of burnout. I love working out and eating healthy because it always makes me feel good and have positive energy.

There are definitely things that I can work on to even better maintain my stress. I don't usually get enough sleep because I always have stuff on my mind before bed. I go to bed late and wake up many times throughout the night. So, when I wake up I'm groggy and not ready for the day to begin. I think it would be beneficial to me to drink a relaxing tea before going to bed and try to clear my mind by hiding all my electronics and relaxing. However, it's always easier said than done.

Secondly, I also need to work on my overall psychological self-care. I always love helping others and talking to other people about their problems but never does my own personal therapy. I think it would be helpful to journal i.e. have a safe space to write all my thoughts and reflect on them. Writing everything out helps in seeing problems more clearly, dealing with these problems, and creating solutions. It's difficult when everything is jumbled up in your head. In essence, journaling will help me do my own psychological self-care through identifying my thoughts, reflecting on them, and identifying and dealing with any problem. Through this, I will re-energize myself and be able to do my work with a renewed sense of vigor, excitement, and purpose while avoiding a state of burnout.