A hundred years ago, if you asked someone about burnout, they wouldn't know what you were talking about. Fast forward to today and there's a good chance they'd say they've experienced it.

Burnout's a term psychologist Herbert Freudenberger popularized in the 1970s. He used it to describe the experience of doctors and nurses exposed to long periods of stress and overwork. Over the past 20 years, use of the term has expanded to include people in other industries and roles. And today, during the pandemic, it's become an everyday reference.

But just because we know what burnout is, or what it feels like, doesn't mean we know what to do about it. And the advice we often get to "work less" or "have more fun" seems a little too simple. Too binary.

That's where the Nagoski sisters come in. My guest, Amelia, and her sibling, Emily, are co-authors of the book, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. It's a book filled with remarkable insights. One of the central ones is this: while we often associate stress with burnout, we're unclear on the relationship between them.

Amelia and Emily explain that most stress isn't the problem. Instead, it's the stress cycle that kicks in when we don't work through the emotions that accompany our stress. That's the problem. And it's what leads to burnout. Fortunately, in this interview, Amelia not only walks us through the stress cycle, she also explains what we can do to break it. Equally important, she discusses how to avoid it in the first place.

Amelia Nagoski holds a doctorate in musical arts and is an Assistant Professor at Western New England University. Her co-author and sister, Emily Nagoski, holds a doctorate in health behavior and is an award-winning author of the bestselling book, Come as You Are.

Episode Links

The World: A Brief Introduction by Richard Haas

Down Girl by Kate Manne

Cognitive Reappraisal and Acceptance: Effects on Emotion, Physiology, and Perceived Cognitive Costs

Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors for Mortality

Requiem by Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

How to Support Us

If you'd like to support the show, please

CM 184: Amelia Nagoski On Banishing Burnout

Curious Minds at Work

CM 184: Amelia Nagoski On Banishing Burnout