86. Stress Addiction in Teaching: Identifying Signs and Strategies for Breaking Free of the Burnout Cycle

Dec 12, 2023

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This week, I am bringing you an episode from the archives that you might have missed.

If you are a teacher who has struggled with cycling in burnout over and over again, you might be addicted to stress. In this episode, I am sharing with you how being addicted to stress can keep you in the burnout cycle, how our bodies become addicted to stress subconciously, how to tell if you are addicted to stress, and what we can actually do about it.

TOPICS COVERED:

The concept that- thoughts create feelings, why thought work is important (when to use it)
Stress addiction in educators
Signs of stress addiction
Impact of stress addiction on educators
Coping strategies for stress addiction
Relationship between stress addiction and burnout
Overcoming stress addiction
Importance of seeking help from a licensed professional
The role of resilience in combating stress addiction

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FREE Affirmations for Burned Out Teachers Workbook to help change your mindset

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The Resilient Teacher Podcast is the show that will give overwhelmed educators the support, tools, and mindset to reduce teacher burnout and keep teaching sustainable. Each week, Brittany Blackwell, M.Ed. & her guests will share inspiration and actionable steps to avoid or recover from the dreaded teacher burnout. You'll be inspired to individualize self-care and learn to prioritize your well-being and mental health, all while making a bigger impact on your classrooms and community.

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TRANSCRIPT:

The Cycle of Burnout and Stress in Education

[0:00] I know I talk a lot about burnout and ways to recover and combat that extensive stress condition that educators experience, but maybe you're one of the thousands of teachers that no matter what you do, no matter how much you try, you just can't seem to get out of it.
And it constantly keeps coming back worse than before.
So imagine burnout and stress as like the glitter from the craft you did with your classroom that keeps coming back over and over again.
Even when you thought you vacuumed it all up, somehow you end up with a little sparkle on your cheek months later.
In this episode, we're going to talk about how stress can be addictive, the signs you may be a stress addict, and how this can impact us as educators and keep us in the cycle of burnout. So, let's get into it.

Teacher Community Reviewer of the Week Shoutout

[1:05] Before we get into this episode, I want to give a teacher community reviewer of the week shout out to at Panshee24 for their five-star view on Apple podcast.
They say so happy to have found this podcast. I love that the episodes are shorter but still full of helpful, actionable strategies along with other great information.
Thank you. And I want to say, no, thank you, Melissa, for listening in, investing in yourself, and especially for supporting this podcast by leaving a review.
Because leaving a review or sharing it on your stories or other places on what is resonating, what is helping you, and all that really helps share the podcast with other educators who are looking for support, mindset and strategies.
And that's really what the goal of this podcast is.
So if you're listening along and you like what this podcast offers, please head over, leave a review, share your episode on your stories, and tag me so that we can get into the ear holes of more educators who need this and will like it too.

Unique Struggle: Being Addicted to Stress

[2:05] Plus, like I really want to know more about you guys and the other listeners on this podcast and I want to chat with you, seriously.
So in today's episode, I want to chat a little bit about something that many teachers are guilty of experiencing and they don't even realize it.
One of the things we as educators struggle with is stress. I mean, duh, without stress and the extreme stress leading to burnout that we experience, I wouldn't have this podcast, right?

[2:30] But there is a very unique struggle that no one is discussing, and that's being addicted to stress.
And I need to kind of preface this to...
Little bit to kind of explain what I mean by that. As I'm sure you've experienced in some capacity or another, stress is everywhere in education.
There is the stress of dealing with students, the stress of dealing with parents, coming up with differentiated lesson plans, time constraints for completing paperwork, testing, even stress from our colleagues and administrators. Am I right or am I right?
It's constant. But what ends up happening in our brains when we experience stress time and time again is that we end up in a state of survival mode.
Now, survival mode involves a release of stress hormones and the activation of our stress response systems.
So our mind and our body become focused on combating danger.
And I've talked a little bit about this in previous episodes.
So if you want like a full in-depth neuroscientific explanation, you can head over and listen to episodes 13 and 4, which I will link in the show notes as well.
But I really haven't discussed how stress and education and the pandemic have really put us in the frame for extended stress response.

[3:41] There was a 2022 study and it suggests that the pandemic brings a variety of long-term stressors that can really exacerbate our time spent in survival mode.
So we've got the uncertainty about the future. So the majority of people noted in this survey that, Uncertainty was a daily stressor. So with many additionally noted that they felt grief for missed events, such as like weddings and graduations, not to mention anybody who may have passed away.
There were new COVID strains. So like 66% reported that each new strain brought a little bit more stress and diminished their hope that the pandemic would ever end.
So these extended periods of suffering really resulted in typical survival mode traits It's like time distortion, disassociation.
It seems like time just passes by either too slowly or too quickly.
Let me know if that resonates with you because it resonates with me.
And the inability to like see your friends and family.
Like more than half of Americans reported that they could not see their loved ones during the pandemic.
So that contributed to the 42% of people experiencing loneliness and the 58% of people noting that there was a strain on their relationships.

[4:56] And then there was inadequate developmental opportunities. So with the ever-changing school environment, the children weren't receiving adequate social or academic or emotional development opportunities, and that's not in case to any teachers.
So a total of 167,000 children and counting have also lost parents and caregivers in the pandemic. So these significant stressors meant more long-term survival mode issues.

Stress Addiction: Seeking Out Stressful Situations

[5:26] And here's the thing. Did you know that when you spend a prolonged period of time in survival mode, you become addicted to stress?

[5:35] You know, stress can boost our energy. It can help us accomplish things.
So it's not inherently bad.
So what is stress addiction? Well, it can be defined as a recurring pattern of seeking out situations or behaving in ways that increase stress, even when you're distressed or you're aware of the possible consequences and you want it to stop.
Feeling anxious and having the stress response, it affects several chemicals in the brain, like cortisol and dopamine.
And these chemicals are related to mood.
And so they can cause a person to feel happy, which explains why they may seek out those stressful situations.

[6:14] They may also enjoy the feelings brought on by the surges of dopamine and cortisol in the brain and this causes them to repeat these behaviors over and over again.
And it happens on a subconscious level, like you're not really thinking about it when you do it.
But it's important to share that stress addiction can also stem from like growing up in a household where stress levels were always high.
So as an adult, the stress could be comfortable, like a natural state for you to exist within, even if it's really uncomfortable.
And this is why inner work and inner child healing can be really helpful for some individuals.
And if you want to learn more about that, I totally recommend going and checking out episode 6, where Sierra Richards and I talked about that.
But stress produces this cortisol.
So it tells our brains and our bodies that we are in fight, flight, or freeze mode. And the more stress we're used to growing up, the harder it is to have less stress as adults.
It becomes a high that we kind of crave.
And when we're not stressed, like we could get even stressed about that.
So once we become accustomed to this higher degree of stress, okay, it may seem necessary to kind of feel that way all the time. And the brain.

[7:30] I've said this before, but it is a pattern-seeking machine, so it's going to seek out more of those feel-good chemicals in order to maintain that same stress level, which, just like addiction, really requires even higher amounts of stress over time.
So after time, the brain develops a tolerance for stress, meaning you're going to need more of it to feel that same rush.
You may take on more projects than you can actually handle, or you can wait that last minute to get something done because your adrenal system in your body, which fuels those stress hormones, is fatiguing.
It's forcing you to work harder to get that same burst of cortisol and adrenaline that are released when the body is under pressure.
So while we all know people who have high amounts of stress in their lives, experts like psychologist and addiction researcher Stanton Peel, they say don't use stress addiction just willy-nilly.
It really only applies when stress has serious adverse effects on your life.
So only when that pursuit of stress has this significant negative impact on your life could it really qualify as an addiction.

Signs of Stress Addiction: Harmful Behaviors and Unwanted Consequences

[8:37] Some people really thrive in high-pressure situations like athletes.
So it takes more than just high stress levels to really define an addiction.
But if you can kind of relate to some of the things that I'm talking about and you're in burnout, just notice.
If you're in burnout, that's when it's adversely impacting your life.
And no matter where your addiction tendencies come from, living off of cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine really comes at a cost.
And when we become addicted to stress, we really have two choices.

[9:10] So before we get into the choices that we have, let's determine if we're addicted to stress, shall we?
So there are some research-based signs that you may be dependent on the feelings that you get from stress. That could be engaging in behaviors that are harmful or maybe have unwanted consequences.
You may seek out activities or put yourself in situations that are stressful.
You may feel bored unless you're under stress.
You may enjoy drama or seek it out, like maybe you're hanging out with a negative Nancy and feeding off of that energy that comes.
You may continue to put yourself in stressful situations despite experiencing physical symptoms or other related issues to that stress.
So you might also experience, according to this research, saying yes when you should say no boundaries, and then lacking self-care and time spent keeping yourself well. I mean this lady is genius.
And then experiencing physical pains like in your back or in your neck.
That's typically where we hold stress within our bodies as well.
Or the last one is being unable to remember the last time that you weren't stressed.
So have you noticed how some of these characteristics can kind of overlap with burnout?
So we're gonna have to go a little bit deeper to kind of figure out are we addicted to stress.

Assessing Addiction: Can I Stop the Behavior?

[10:29] So ask yourself a couple of questions. Can I stop the behavior?

[10:33] Now if you feel like you can't, this could really mean that you feel dependent on the feelings that you get from stressful situations.

[10:41] Or think about what happens when I stop.
Do you feel sad? Do you feel anxious when you're not in a stressful situation, just assessing your thoughts and your feelings and your behaviors when you think about stopping or trying to stop could really help you determine this.
So some other questions you could ask are, how balanced is my life?
Do I feel like I've lost time from constantly stressing?

[11:06] What beliefs do I have around stress, productivity, even resting?

The Addiction to Stress and its Consequences

[11:11] Do I surround myself with people who are constantly stressed as well?
Like, for just a moment, consider your frequent complaints.
If we're an addict to stress, we can tend to spend a lot of time focusing on just how busy and stressful our lives are. We may even...
Have no free time, ditch those social interactions and fun hobbies just in favor of seeking out stressful scenarios while relationships fall by the wayside.
You may not feel happy, but the answer always seems to be piling on more stress.
And I might be calling myself out here a little too.
We can choose to stop living this way or eventually our bodies are going to make that choice for us.
Because stress can start creating physical manifestations in our body.
When this turns more medical, therapy can get you to the root of your tendencies and how to overcome them. I'm a huge proponent for therapy.

[12:04] Therapies such as dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy with a licensed professional.
Getting help from a licensed professional is also a big deal because a stress addict is going to feel numb through distraction to avoid dealing with this source of unhappiness and loss of control.
That is a straight quote from Debbie Mandel, who is the author of Addicted to Stress.
Totally recommend it. We'll put it in the show notes as well.

The Importance of Therapy and Professional Help

[12:32] That way you can check it out.
But it's easier to be incredibly busy than face the painful layers of grief accumulated during the course of a lifetime.

[12:43] I really hate to interrupt this episode, but I've got to bring you this really quick and remind you that getting help from a licensed professional is not a weakness.
If you've listened to more than just this episode, you will notice that all of the educators that I speak with cite that therapy helped them through their tough times.
And hey, while this podcast is meant to be helpful, it is not a replacement for therapy.
I know so many educators who struggle with finding quality therapy near them or have difficulty managing appointments to see a therapist when our schedules as educators aren't really conducive for appointments to get help.
That's why I've partnered with Talkspace, which is a comprehensive online mental health treatment website, various options to meet all of your needs. You can get ongoing support from a licensed professional from the comfort of your home, your car, wherever, because it's completely virtual.
And they accept many insurance plans as well.
Stop putting yourself on the back burner because of the commute times and the scheduling hassles.
Head over and save $100 on your first month at teachingmindbodyandsoul.com slash talkspace and use the code space, S-P-A-C-E, for flexible plans to meet your needs and lifestyles and save money while receiving high quality mental health care. Back to the episode.

Managing Stress on a Daily Basis and Finding Relief

[13:57] So addressing the more serious mental health and physical symptoms of stress may take time, but there are small ways that you can manage stress on a daily basis.
And like I've said before, we talk about these things, these evidence-based ways that we can end the stress cycle in previous episodes. techniques like meditation, breathing exercises, journaling, working out, guided imagery.
These have all been shown to reduce stress levels.
And I'm gonna drop in the show notes my free breath work guide for educators just in case that's something you wanna kind of get started with.
It's easier said than done, but stress doesn't have to control your life.
Taking the time to work through stress addiction and learning to live in the present moment, we can improve our well-being and create a meaningful life.
As John DePaola said, slow down and everything you're chasing will come around and catch you.

[14:51] A stress addiction could stem from experiences over long periods of time that could lead to feeling more chronically stressed.
This could result in a dependence on those stress hormones and those stressful situations. So if you find yourself wondering.

[15:05] Am I addicted to anxiety or stress? You're not alone, but you can also find relief.
We don't have to stay addicted to the stress cycle. We don't have to stay stuck in burnout.
We can make the choice to move through it, accept responsibility, get professional help, and release the hold it has on us so that we can be happier, healthier educators.

Choosing to Release the Control of Stress and Seeking Help

[15:28] Stress is inevitable, yes, but like how it impacts our overall nervous system and the rest of our body is really in the ways that we intentionally choose to end the stress cycle daily, which is why it's so important to have this authentic resilience plan.
We can choose to release the control of all these outside circumstances that hold us back and keep us stuck in the stress mindset.
When we do that, it may feel uneasy. And if it does, don't be afraid to go get help from a licensed professional. It is okay.
The most important part of doing the work and getting yourself happier and healthier is so that you can live a life that you are proud of.
You can continue making that impact in your classrooms and communities, and you can sustain a job doing what you love.
If you're still struggling with this, please head over and join the Resilient Teacher community on Facebook and share your struggles so that we can work together to come up with a plan that can help you.
Head over to teachingmindbodyandsoul.com slash support squad, which is our brand new community for the listeners of this podcast so that we can kind of connect with each other, cheer each other on, and talk about our burnout and how we're working to combat or recover from it.

Empowering Resilient Teachers and Overcoming Burnout

[16:36] Until next time, remember, you are a resilient teacher. We are in this together. You've got this!

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