By Lília
We’re living in difficult times, and more and more people have been diagnosed with burnout. Not only because we’ve been working harder than ever, but also because life is more hectic. We have too much exposure to everything that goes around in the world, such as social media, gaming, and media in general. Watching the news is important, but we’re continuously being bombarded with all that happens everywhere, and there is a constant incentive that we keep informed, that we know about everything. And the FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out – is a relentless reminder that we should be kept in the loop of information that makes us evermore tired.
“Herbert Freudenberger coined the term “burnout” in the 1970s and defined it by three components:
1. emotional exhaustion – the fatigue that comes from caring too much, too long;
2. depersonalization – the depletion of empathy, caring, and compassion; and
3. decreased sense of accomplishment – an unconquerable sense of futility: feeling that nothing you do makes a difference.”
(from “Burnout”, by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski)
Having a burnout is not something I think anyone would like to go through. Or something that I thought could happen to me. Having suffered through one myself, I realized how important it is to have the right tools to help you deal with it before, during, and after it happens. I also thought it might be a good idea to give people some of those tools to try to recognize the early signs of a burnout, deal with them, and find a way to avoid going through it again. I’m a great believer in information – when well-sourced! – and used it to recognize how far I was in the whole process, and how important it is to give yourself time to really heal.
I hope the books I list here can help you – or a loved one – in some way.
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle – Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
“This is a book for any woman who has felt overwhelmed and exhausted by everything she had to do, and yet still worried she was not “enough”. Which is every woman we know – including us.”
This groundbreaking book explains why women experience burnout differently than men, and provides a simple, science-based plan to help women minimize stress, manage emotions, and live a more joyful life.
The Burnout Workbook: Advice and Exercises to to Help You Unlock the Stress Cycle – Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski
We all want to achieve wellness. But wellness is not a state of mind or a state of being—it’s a state of action. It’s the freedom to oscillate through all the cycles of being human: from effort to rest, sleeping to waking, autonomy to connection. Burnout, on the other hand, happens when we get stuck. The Burnout Workbook will help you notice when you get stuck and show you how to get unstuck.
I’m So Effing Tired: A Proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life – Amy Shah
Exhaustion doesn’t have to be your new normal.
Discover how to conquer burnout and boost your energy with a proven plan for hormone balancing from a leading medical doctor. Ready to go from feeling effing tired to effing fantastic? Inspired by her personal wellness journey, integrative medical doctor Amy Shah has created this women’s health program so that you can regain your energy and reclaim your life.
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving – Celeste Headlee
We work feverishly to make ourselves happy. So why are we so miserable?
In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside, and start living instead of doing.
52-Week Mental Health Journal: Guided Prompts and Self-Reflection to Reduce Stress and Improve Well-Being – Cynthia Catchings
Nurture your well-being through a year of journaling and self-reflection.
Guided journaling is a simple but powerful tool. It can help you boost your mood, practice gratitude, and set goals both big and small.
This yearlong mental health journal includes:
*Daily journal prompts for mental health
*Evidence-based methods for self-care
*Inspiring words
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: Simple Ways to Keep the Little Things from Overtaking Your Life, and Avoid Burnout – Richard Carlson
Stop the little details from overtaking your life with this internationally bestselling guide – now reissued in a vibrant new package.
This book will show you how to stop letting the little things in life drive you crazy and spend more time doing what matters for a more fulfilled, purposeful and peaceful life.
The Burnout Doctor: Your 6-Step Recovery Plan – Claire Ashley
Learn how to thrive at work while protecting your health with this compassionate and non-judgemental guide to burnout.
Based on the latest scientific research and real-life case studies, The Burnout Doctor provides evidence-based practical advice to help you spot burnout, prevent it, recover and stay recovered. Dr Claire offers you a helping hand every step along the way.
Burnout to Breakthrough: Building Resilience to Refuel, Recharge, and Reclaim What Matters – Eileen McDargh
It’s official. For the first time, the World Health Organization has classified burnout as a health problem. Renowned motivational speaker Eileen McDargh proposes that to tackle it, we must learn to break out of energy-draining thoughts and behaviors.
Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation – Anne Helen Petersen
An incendiary examination of burnout – what got us here, the pressures that sustain it and the need for drastic change.
Through her own experience, original interviews and detailed analysis, Anne Helen Petersen traces the institutional and generational causes of burnout. And, in doing so, she helps us to let go of our guilt and imagine a possible future.
The Burnout Fix: Overcome Overwhelm, Beat Busy, and Sustain Success in the New World of Work – Jacinta M. Jiménez
An evidence-based resilience toolkit to help you find better, more sustainable ways to succeed at work and life.
In The Burnout Fix, the award-winning psychologist and board-certified leadership coach Dr. Jacinta M. Jimenez shows you how to harness science-backed resilience strategies to survive, and thrive, in today’s “always on, always connected” world—where a reported 60% of employees report being stressed out all or most of the time at work.
When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress – Gabor Maté
Drawing on deep scientific research and Dr Gabor Mate’s acclaimed clinical work, When the Body Says No provides the answers to critical questions about the mind-body link – and the role that stress and our emotional makeup play in an array of common diseases.
The Hustle Cure: A New Approach to Burnout and Productivity for Women – Sophie Cliff
Break free from hustle culture and traditional productivity books and create a personalised routine aligned with your energy levels, family needs, work demands and your body’s natural cycles.
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout – Cal Newport
From the New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and one of the world’s top productivity experts, a groundbreaking philosophy for creating great work at a sustainable pace.
Hustle culture. Burnout. Quiet quitting. Today we’re either sacrificing ourselves on the altar of success or we’re rejecting the idea of ambition entirely. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
There is a way to create meaningful work as part of a balanced life, and it’s called ‘slow productivity’.
Some other titles that might be interesting as well:
