# Leanne's own burnout story — the physical symptoms she ignored

- **Episode:** [20](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/20.md) (2023-01-10)
- **Type:** other
- **Tags:** burnout, personal-story, physical-symptoms
- **Time:** 39:01–42:39 (start 2341s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/20?t=2341](https://truthliesandwork.com/20?t=2341)

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[39:01] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, so I think for a person like that, I'd recommend a couple of different strategies. I mean, one would be finding your allies in, in The workforce. I mean, even if they're sort of working against the tide or swimming against the tide, I guarantee there's going to be probably other people there that are feeling that. And so finding ways they can kind of build their support network within the organization is going to be really important. I think also really making sure that they are Prioritising work in the right way. So I know we just talked about some of the organisational risk factors, but burnout isn't just an organisational issue. I mean, it's an individual issue too. Different people have different levels of susceptibility to burnout. I think it's really important when somebody who's like that is in an environment where Mm-hmm. Their wellbeing isn't going to be attended to by the organization, that they're doing everything on their end to make sure that they are setting boundaries around their work time, around when they can be contacted after work. I mean, sometimes I have to work with people on some assertiveness talking to their manager. I'm not answering emails after whatever hour. I've got to be with my family. Making sure that they're involving themselves in meaningful activities and relationships outside of work. And I think also positioning themselves long-term to probably leave that workforce if it's not going to change. So maybe they can't leave now, but maybe thinking about, okay, what are those longer-term goals you can work towards? You know, can, you know, whatever, 3, 4, 5 years from now jump to an organization that is a better fit for you. So just to very briefly recap the question, are some people or roles more susceptible to burnout than others? Headline, no. And this is why we are saying burnout is a pandemic you didn't see coming. Burnout transcends profession, level, gender, age, Geography. Um, it really does, does not discriminate. Um, burnout is a result of prolonged stress, and we can all as humans experience that. It's not about the snowflake generation. It's just not. And I think that word we're now going to ban from the podcast in 2023
[41:43] Al Elliott: Yeah, I'm slightly concerned because I think I might have used it in an interview, um, which we just did yesterday. But yes, I'll bleep So yeah, I think what we're really talking about here is that this has been going on for a while, but it's the first time that thanks to Zoomers and Millennials, we're actually talking about it and we're open talking about it. We don't feel like we have to cover it up like perhaps the previous generation did. You know, I know people of the Boomer age who clearly were burnt out, but they just kept going and kept going and then other things Happened in their lives that, uh, that sort of was the, the fallout from that. So I'm curious here because I want to know, how, how would you know you're burnt out? You mentioned before, Leanne, that you looked back, you went, I think I was burnt out back in that period. But at the time, I'm not sure, because I think it was when we were together. I'm not sure that you knew you were. So I want to know, how do you know if you're burnt out?