74. How to escape a burnout society – Gabriela Guzmán Sanabria
Gabriela Guzmán Sanabria had an urge to leave her native Mexico all through her adolescence. At the age of 19 she went to Europe, and eventually she ended up in the Netherlands. Many Mexican friends ask her how on earth she would prefer a rainy, gloomy Holland to a sunny, vibrant Mexico. ”I always had nightmares there. I didn't feel safe. I thought I was put in a place I didn't want to be. Every day was a struggle, I felt limited, like I was being strangled by society. In Holland I finally felt I could be the person I wanted to be. Nobody cared whether I was married or what I worked with”, Gabriela says. She was physically very active, trained in running and lived a healthy life in general, despite studying graphic design at an art academy where drugs and late nights were legion. Having finished her studies she got a job at a big transnational company. After some time something happened that she hadn’t anticipated in her wildest imagination: She was burnt out. ”Everybody was surprised, including myself: How could I be burnt out? I was so healthy. I wasn't depressed, but I was very negative about the future and about everything that was happening.” Burnout and depression look alike, but they're not, Gabriela explains. In a depression you also have self-destructive feelings and thoughts. In a burnout you are not happy but you don't have those thoughts. You are exhausted, even if you sleep for days or weeks. You cannot think clearly. ”It’s like a mental fog. You don't remember things.” ”Some people say: ’Put on your shoes and take a run, you’ll feel better.’ No! If you can go for a run you don't have a burnout.” Certain kinds of personalities score higher on the risk assessment scale. ”You score higher when you are more demanding of yourself, when you cannot see the thin line between what's good for you and what's good for others. This is often why students and other young people burn out.” There is a gender difference: Given similar circumstances, women are more prone to have a burnout, while men are more prone to become depressed. ”Women generally have a stronger social network and talk about it. Men tend more to keep the problems to themselves. When they don’t talk about it, they get depressed.” Reading Joe Dispenza’s book You are the Placebo was a game changer for Gabriela Guzmán Sanabria. Now she was able to find the ”original” Gabriela. ”I had forgotten about her. I had been so busy with the outer world, with being productive.” She found and began practicing different meditation techniques – Dispenza’s, Wim Hof’s and others. After three months her short-term memory was back to normal. ”It was like magic”, says Gabriela. Today she can help others see early signs of a burnout. She discusses the topic with a variety of guests on her podcast Escape from the Burnout Society. One childhood experience that Gabriela thinks has had an important impact on her life’s course was an episode that she didn’t even remember until recently, when she dove deep into meditation and later also did a regression session: a near-death experience. This event explains why during her childhood she couldn't get along with other children but wanted to be with grown-ups, she thinks. ”When I saw children maltreating animals or bullying each other I panicked – not because they did it to me, but because they did it at all.” When Gabriela was seventeen, her mother died. And it didn't take long until her mother sent a greeting from the other side… Gabriela Guzmán Sanabria feels positive about our future wellbeing, after all. She senses there is a shift in perception. ”People are asking questions. They are reflecting more”, she says. Find Gabriela’s website here. Find Gabriela’s podcast here.