Black Women and Burnout: Stress is what is carried; burnout is what is felt

Psychology Today defines burnout as “a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress.” It is distinct from temporary, activity related tiredness, and is instead something that hangs over sufferers like a cloud. Try as they might, people just can’t seem to shake it. 

In a year that has been grinding for almost everyone, Black women in America may see their experiences reflected especially sharply by that definition of burnout. Indeed, an Allure article asked tragically why this state is so “normalized” among Black women. 

Self-care can feel like an elusive luxury with all of life’s pressures. It can be hard to even get a grip on exactly what is wrong, because while burnout and chronic stress or trauma may overlap, they aren’t exactly the same, but are hard to distinguish from each other. 

One way to look at it is this: Stress is what people carry. Burnout is how they feel. 

Burnout in the workplace

The term “burnout” was popularized in the professional context. For Black women in America, it can be gradually fed by repeated exposure to microaggressions, such as comments they face from colleagues, the knots they may get in their stomachs whenever race-based conversations come up, or being asked to “represent” the Black experience by predominantly white management – as if there is such a thing as a monolithic Black woman experience. 

Almost everywhere one turns, heart-rending stories reflect back the Black female struggle in professional life. Googling the name “Claudine Gay” triggers a torrent of hostile opinion pieces suggesting the Harvard president is no more than a “DEI hire,” a charge with a bitterly familiar ring to many people. Two Black woman university presidents, Temple’s Joanne Epps and Orinthia Montague of Volunteer State Community College, also met untimely deaths this year, creating ripples of pain and communal grief. 

Refusing to be reduced 

“I can be changed by what happens to me,” the poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou once said, “but I refuse to be reduced by it.” Indeed, Black women are undoubtedly resilient – yet their resilience can come with a lot of pain and cost along the way. 

Research suggests, for example, that living out the ideal of the strong Black woman has health consequences, including high blood pressure and heart disease. There is a price to holding it all together, especially when one knows, subconsciously or otherwise, that it’s being done for the benefit of others. This is especially the case when a need or desire to toe a certain line in a particular context or space is due to racism. 

Parenting’s role in burnout

As parents, Black women have added pressures in terms of guiding and protecting their children – particularly their sons. 

A mother’s love and care is particularly critical during teenage years, when all young men and women are exploring their identities and testing independence but are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of missteps. “Systemic racism,” an article in The Root once put it, “makes being a Black mom even more exhausting.”

Burnout can be confronted 

So much of what is experienced as burnout may be a form of prolonged grief, either when life repeatedly challenges or disappoints, or when the change Black women need in society at large stubbornly refuses to come. When grief comes from an event, resources like Baltimore’s Roberta’s House are a great help. But when grief is cumulative, it’s important to remember the resulting burnout is temporary and rectifiable. Relief begins when women take more deliberate, conscious steps to choose themselves.

One of our partner therapists, Kiara Hartwell Opera, made this observation when reflecting on Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and their mental health struggles: “Strength is in self-awareness and in choosing yourself.” She adds: “There is strength in protecting yourself and honoring your needs. There is strength in saying no. [And] there is strength in authenticity.”

-

Written by James Benjamin, Communications and Social Media Associate at The Mental Health Emergency Fund, Inc.

Check out his work at www.james-benjamin.com