Tarot Spread for Burnout
Burnout is a word you hear a lot these days and, really, who’s surprised? It feels like modern day society is carefully crafted to produce burnout in adults since there is no end to the stress of work, money, bills, children, the slow yet incredibly rapid decline in rights and freedom… I digress.
Because of the normalization of burnout I think a lot of us go through life not even understanding how serious of a problem it is. We’re given caffeine to combat the tiredness that comes with it, and then we have alcohol to help us decompress as quickly as possible (the only side effects being that you can lose a whole day to a hangover, and don’t get me started on the alcohol anxiety!). What we’re never given is actual tools to help us truly heal from the mental and physical side effects from burnout.
The 5 Stages of Burnout
Let’s get clear on just how destructive burnout can be. Read the list below and see what stage you might be in. If you don’t fall on the list at all congratulations, you’re a unicorn (also, don’t rub it in)!
The Honeymoon Phase: this is when the work is just starting. It’s a lot but you’re having fun. Maybe you’ve got cool coworkers, or you’ve started in a new exciting field. You’re pushing yourself hard but it feels good!
The Onset Stress Phase: because things never slow down nor get easier, the acute stress starts to pop up. You’re more physically tired and your motivation at work is starting to dwindle now that honeymoon is over. You just generally feel kinda slumpy and unmotivated, but not enough to walk out and quit or call your boss a dick.
The Chronic Stress Phase: this is when work is starting to get too much, you get the Sunday scaries every week and dread the moment when you have to clock in. You can tell when you’re in this phase by when someone asks “how’s work?” and you refuse to answer the question because you can’t bear to spend your free time talking about work!
Burnout Beginnings Phase: this is when you start to see some of the physical side effects of burnout. The physical side effects are that you either can’t sleep or sleep too much (without ever feeling rested), you might also have stomach issues or chronic migraines. The mental and emotional side effects are irritability, increased anger, listlessness and inability to focus… the list goes on.
Habitual Burnout Phase: this is when things get serious; it goes from irritability and fatigue, to anxiety, panic attacks and clinical depression. Keeping our body in a state of burnout for too long has serious mental and physical side effects! When we are in a constant state of stress our body goes into fight or flight and stays there. Fight or flight is an important physiological response our body has to danger, but when it’s sustained for months or years at a time our bodies and minds struggle to maintain health and balance.
Healing From Burnout
Healing from burnout can take years but it’s better to start today than tomorrow. Depending on which stage you’re at you will need different kinds of support. For instance, if you’re in stage 5 you should seek out the help of a medical professional, talking to a therapist, psychologist or even your MD can help with the intense mental burden you’re carrying.
If you’re in stages 1-4 take a good look at your life and all the reasons you have to stress then ask yourself, “what can be removed or changed?” This tarot spread has been created to help give you some spiritual guidance and practical steps to take in order to help you better understand your answer to that question. Making the necessary changes to reduce stress in your life is hard---I don't deny that---but stage 5 of burnout is harder. You owe it to yourself to make some serious changes today.
The focus of this spread is to help you slow down and get more in touch with where you are right now and what you need most. It’s a tweak on my favorite go-to spread where we check in with our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual worlds. Here we are going to those places and asking what each of them needs most. Do we need rest, support, to talk?
The Questions
The Scene: what stage of burnout am I in? As I’ve said before, burnout is so common in adults that it’s not surprising most of us are unaware that we’re in it. This question should help give you an idea of which stage you might be in. If you’re new to tarot reading you may want to designate certain cards to the different stages. For instance, stage 1 might be Wands, stage 2 Cups, stage 3 Swords, stage 4 Pentacles and stage 5 the major arcana.
The Body: what does my physical body need right now? Stress lingers in our bodies, so this question should help give you some insight into what your body needs to start decompressing right now. It might not be a longer term fix, but it’s something you can do as soon as you’re done pulling cards.
The Heart: what do my emotions need right now? Maybe you need to talk it out, cry in the bath, or go to therapy. All of that can be found in the cards.
The Head: what does my mind need right now? Anxiety abounds when it comes to burnout, our minds are used to pumping 120MPH 24/7, so learning to slow down and declutter your mind is going to be your best friend when it comes to burnout rehab.
The Soul: what do I spiritually need right now? When we are working with our spiritual needs, this goes beyond the physical work of spirituality as a belief. It is about the feeling of purpose, drive, and connectedness. Even an atheist has a spiritual world, it’s what they feel when they climb to the peak of a mountain or when they look up at the stars and feel small in a large, unknown world. So when working with this question it might pertain to a spiritual practice to undertake, but it might touch on something much bigger and harder to grasp in a practical sense.
The Line: what boundary do I need to set now? Half the battle of recovering from burnout is setting those hard boundaries. Do you need to not work weekends? Let your boss know that you won’t reply to emails when you’re off the clock? Maybe you need to quit altogether! Repeat after me, setting a boundary is an act of love!
Great, now go out there, pull some cards, do some serious self care, and set those loving boundaries!
Don’t want to read for yourself? No worries, I’m a professional tarot reader and I’d love to use this spread for you!