THE SECRET BURNOUT CURE: COMMUNITY CARE

Posted June 3, 2024

You may have seen an advice column we tried to start a few weeks ago. It was a flop. What started as a cute and impactful social media campaign quickly became a five-alarm fire, proving we still have work to do. 

And by we, I mean the whole corporate world. The feedback we thought we were getting would be stories of someone leaving their camera on while they were doing their skincare routine. What we actually got was people sharing really upsetting stories. They were stories of people on their worst behavior. (Don’t worry it wasn’t our YoJo clients!) 

Our takeaway:  The quality of our professional relationships and the baseline for what accountability and emotional intelligence look like has, as they say, “a lot of room for growth.” 

Whether the work is DEI, social justice, or community care, the foundation of a healthy culture comes from each individual's contribution. And for our intentions to be as great as our impact, we need A LOT of emotional intelligence and accountability. Self-development is ALWAYS the foundation of a community. 

In this week's podcast, we learn the startling truth: 90% of today’s workforce lacks self-awareness. This statistic is partly because sitting with our personal truths is hard. Much of our unhealthy behavior stems from trauma or other emotional challenges. Becoming self-aware means tending to these parts, asking questions, and integrating these experiences into who we are. In American culture, especially at work, we’re taught to hide parts of ourselves. But what we repress grows until we acknowledge and heal it. The longer we avoid it, the brighter we project our issues onto others.

The kindest thing we can do for our communities is to show up for ourselves.