Carlos Cenalmor, stress management specialist: “People who take their work seriously are the ones who end up burning out”
The psychiatrist warns that burnout mainly affects committed professionals who take on everything without asking themselves if they are well.
Burnout is increasingly present in many people’s lives and, contrary to what one might think, it does not usually affect people who are carefree or uninvolved. According to psychiatrist Carlos Cenalmor, those who burn out the most are responsible workers, who try to do everything well and take on more than they can handle. These are not the typical characters you see in The Wolf of Wall Street, but people who simply demand too much of themselves.
In the podcast Morir de Éxito (Dying of Success), Cenalmor explains that the problem begins when someone stops to think about whether they are really well. As responsibilities and working hours accumulate, rest and personal life are neglected. Over time, the initial motivation disappears and exhaustion begins to set in. ‘The profile of a person with burnout is someone who is passionate but ends up losing that passion because they wear themselves out,’ he says. Many people change companies as a desperate solution to feel better, but after a few months they feel the same again. ‘One day you realise that you no longer enjoy your work or your friends,’ Cenalmor sums up.
Burnout can make your body sick
The psychiatrist also speaks from his own personal experience: he himself went through two episodes of burnout before developing his own method of recovery. His approach combines emotional management, day-to-day organisation and a review of priorities to regain energy and balance. The consequences of ignoring the signs can be serious: ‘You start to get sick,’ warns Cenalmor. ‘I’ve seen heart attacks, intestinal perforations and ulcers caused by stress.’ In countries such as Switzerland, he recalls, there are even posters on buses warning of the dangers of burnout.
For him, the key is learning to listen to yourself and take things slowly. Burnout is not a sign of weakness, but rather the result of trying to take on more than we can handle. That is why he insists that, in order to avoid burning out in your working life, the most important thing is to ask yourself one question: ‘Am I OK?’
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