A New Way to Manage Disengagement
Feeling disengaged? I see you.
I’ve been there. You don’t feel like yourself but you know you have to show up every day so you muster up enough energy to do just that. Just going to work feels like a chore, even if you work from home! Given the importance of mental health these days, “just showing up” is still an accomplishment if you ask me! When our mental health needs some attention, it’s ok if this is the best you can do. At lease you are still moving forward! But, if you’re like me, you shame yourself because you know you can usually do more. You wonder if anyone else is noticing you’re not your usual self. Maybe someone noticed it before you did! Your head swirls with anxiety, frustration, cynicism, fear, doubt – a heavy list of negative emotions. With the weight of these emotions, being kind to yourself feels even more difficult
What’s important to remember is this feeling is temporary! It feels like it will last forever but it IS temporary. That’s the first light of hope to grab on to!
Throughout our professional networks, we constantly hear how burnout and disengagement is a company issue and leaders need to fix this issue. While there is some truth to this, who gave them all the power to control how we feel? I can’t control others’ actions nor am I good at waiting around for other people to get their shit together. Yes, the culture, leaders and our direct supervisors play a large role but, we can’t completely discount our role in our disengagement as well. I don’t know what percentage of our engagement we own, but I know it’s enough to do something meaningful with!
I went from nearly walking out of my job 5 separate times within a few weeks to fully engaged and re-energized. I will be honest in that I had an amazingly supportive leader while I worked through some difficult things but, through this journey from disengaged to energized, nothing in my environment changed, I changed. The behaviors, processes, and all-around shenanigans remained the same, but I realized no one had control over my energy but me and, because I like control, I wanted it back!! Others influenced my experience absolutely, but I played a huge role in how deep I let it sink into my soul.
For a while, I let it sink in DEEP! So deep where I was questioning my sanity and my entire professional existence. Once I found myself in a healthier place mentally and emotionally, I analyzed my experience (I did a lot of journaling) and saw clear themes emerge as to what contributed to being off-balance so I created a simple guide called FaithMAPS. FaithMAPS represents six core elements to re-engaging: Faith, Focus, Meaning, Action, Perspective, and Spirit.
When I find myself become disengaged and my thoughts swirling, I check my map and more quickly find which element needs some work. Now the swirling can stop and I can work on course correcting, filling my cup with what it needs most.
Depending on what is triggering your burnout or disengagement, you may need to leave your organization altogether. Only you can decide that. If, however, that is not feasible right now (it wasn’t for me either!), why not give this a try and see if you feel a difference? If it doesn’t work, you’re no worse off than you are right now. If it does work, you may come across new opportunities that get you where you want to be!