When relaxation becomes a requirement, there is a risk of well-being burnout

Luckily, we live in 2024, where wellbeing and self-care are finally being prioritized as they should. Doing something good for yourself, listening to your inner voice, consciously taking time to breathe deeply are all tactics that we can use to strengthen our own mental health. Anyone who wants to be in balance with themselves will perishand mindfulness exercises. It's just stupid when the relaxation exercises trigger exactly the opposite in us and instead of feeling calm and serene, we suddenly feel like we're there, restlessness and bad mood. In this case we speak ofWellbeing burnout, a phenomenon in which relaxation unintentionally turns into spasmodic tension. We clarify what this is all about andhow to easily get out of well-being burnout.

It is not always easy to master everyday life and deal with emotional and interpersonal challenges. If there was a cure for stress, bad moods and mood swings, we would have patented it long ago and ordered it as a permanent subscription. But problems and challenges are simply part of life and unfortunately cannot be easily eliminated. The only thing we can do about it is to find the right way to deal with it. Different tactics likeor other self-care practices don't solve problems, but they do help make us mentally stronger. This means we can better deal with the challenges of everyday life. For example, journaling helps with self-reflection, meditation ensures inner peace and balance, and getting enough sleep ensures general well-being. Self-care actually includes everything that we dogood, whatever you like. You just have to be careful not to overindulge in relaxation. Because as soon as it becomes a compulsory program, there is a risk of well-being burnout - and then you achieve pretty much the opposite of what you actually wanted to achieve with self-care.

That's the thing with self-care, meditation and all the other things we do for our minds and bodies. It's actually important and right that we have finally learned to take care of ourselves. We are ahead of older generations in realizing this. We have learned that it is important to listen to your inner voice and do good for ourselves. And for this act of self-love, we celebrate ourselves – in person and on social media. Booming on TikTok, numerous users talk about their personal self-care routines and share their healthy lifestyle with an audience of millions. On the one hand, it's true, after all, there are still people who believe that mental health is not important and that mental illness is just a matter of attitude. RegardingThe self-care trend therefore makes an important contribution. On the other hand, it can also lead to overkill. Everywhere we just hear that we need to relax and meditate and constantly do something for our health. If we don't do that, we can forget about our mental well-being. At least that's the impression that the hype about self-care can quickly give. If we perceive it this way, we are in the middle of a well-being burnout.

We've been writing about the ominous well-being burnout all the time without even explaining what it's all about. Let's change that: Wellbeing burnout occurs when we feel pressure to constantly work on our own health and well-being. We actually want to reduce stress, but our desperate intention to relax ends up doing exactly the opposite. The constant urge forand mindfulness, which is suggested to us from the outside as a mandatory program, is tiring and strenuous, and the result is a bad mood. If we go to theThinking about people showing on social media how they get up super early and work on their self-care is already giving us moths. At best we are just annoyed by it, at worst such supposed self-care role models are detrimental to our own mental health. We feel under pressure to constantly do something for our well-being and then get well-being burnout. And then when it comes to relaxation and meditation, which are so incredibly important for us in a healthy context, nothing works anymore. That's why you should try to get out of well-being burnout as quickly as possible - or just don't let it get that far in the first place.

Normally, for many psychological problems or phenomena, we advise trying meditation. But in the case of well-being burnout, the pressure to meditate is exactly the cause of the problem. That's why in this case it's not that easy to get yourself out of this special form of...to work out again. Foregoing self-care is not the solution either. It's about developing a self-care routine that is neither stressful nor driven by external expectations. As a first step, it can help to practice self-compassion. It's okay not to do everything perfectly all the time. Perfect is not what is instilled in you from the outside, but rather what is good for your own mental health. You don't always have to get up early and meditate every morning. It's about finding exercises that help you - and then finding a rhythm that suits you. Finally, don't forget that you don't do self-care and wellness for anyone other than yourself. Setting priorities (what kind of self-care do I need?), taking breaks and maintaining flexibility are the three golden rules here. Also: draw boundaries, maybe a littledo and shift down a gear. Then you can quickly get the problem with well-being burnout under control again and can finally use meditation and self-care again the way they were intended: namely to solve other problems.