Until the engine boils over: whoever knows and respects their limits stays healthy

Most of you know the feeling of pushing against your own limits, or even stretching them a little further. People are fascinated by the feeling of being able to bend reality, and feel a rush at pushing the laws of nature back a little.

It is the same in elite sport, where alongside specific training to boost performance, part of the skill is to work around or ignore the warning signals from body and mind that mark your current limits. All of this with great endurance, discipline and ambition.

But this constant demanding, sometimes overdemanding, of yourself can be very dangerous, for both physical and mental health.

Emergency brake

That is why more and more elite athletes are pulling the emergency brake, like the gymnast Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics, the tennis player Naomi Osaka, or the hurdler Jackie Baumann. Sometimes right in the middle of competition (Tokyo Olympics 2021), they go public and bravely stand up to the immense pressure to perform and to meet the public's expectations: they show their limits clearly and set their own priorities.

But how can it even get that far? What can cause burnout, panic attacks and depression?

Imagine you drive a sporty car. It gets used every day and you always drive it right up to the limit, uphill and down, with no regard for the brakes or the engine. Suddenly a red warning light comes on. You see the light come on, but you are on your way home right then and it is not convenient to check. You keep driving. The light starts flashing, you get annoyed and remove the light. You keep driving. A short while later another warning light comes on. That warning light gets removed too, and so does every other warning light after it. Until at some point no warning light is left to point out that something is wrong. Then, somehow, all of a sudden the engine boils over, smoke rises, BREAKDOWN!!!

Something similar happens to people with burnout. Warning signs such as exhaustion, sleeplessness, irritability and pain get ignored or pushed aside for a long time, not least with alcohol, pills or other substances, which carry their own serious dangers on top. The human body is basically very adaptable, but it also has its limits. If they are ignored for too long, it can lead to a kind of psychological stress fracture.

“The pitcher only goes to the well until it breaks”

Not only in elite sport

This danger is not limited to elite sport. It can affect managers, nursing staff on shift work, single working mothers and many other people too. Pressure to meet expectations and perform, perfectionism and the belief that everything can be pushed through, a high pace and constant connectivity all put our balance at risk. Only a conscious balancing act can counter this “stress”. Where there was rush, there needs to be calm, where pace rules, there needs to be a slowing down. After great tension there needs to be relaxation, and mistakes, setbacks and being merely average are part of being human, not enemies. Most people need to consciously relearn how to balance themselves better and recognise their own limits. Here too it can be worth pulling the ripcord every now and then, since states of exhaustion should not be taken lightly.

Mental techniques such as meditation, mindfulness training and various relaxation techniques can help here too. Suitable stress management is certainly worthwhile as well (methods and coping strategies to reduce or fully break down stress that burdens you psychologically and physically).

If you too are close to the red line from too much stress and pressure and do not know how to deal with it, ask for professional help. Within professional coaching or psychotherapy you will find the support you need.

I too am happy to support you with my experience and my professional knowledge as a mental coach.

Text on behalf of Beobachter 18/2021