Addressing Questions on Mental Health, Burnout & Others
- maybellelek
- May 11, 2022
- 8 min read
Updated: Mar 4, 2023
On the 23rd January, the World Dance Alliance (WDA) held an online webinar where we addressed important topics related to dancers' training, mental health & well-being! It was an insightful discourse hearing from medical industry experts on their take on relevant topics that are slowly coming to the forefront.
Once this webinar concluded, I've slowly received messages and questions in my Instagram DMs, which I will be sharing my responses to in this blog post!
You can find my presentation slides here - I've made the setting to be public for viewing only! There's not much key notes, but there are some valuable links that you can click on to learn more about performance psychology and my perspectives.
Let me first preface by saying that everything that is being shared in this post are my perspectives derived from my own experiences. If you require further or more specific assistance, please seek out a medical professional for help!
Mental Health Wellness
Since the key topic of the webinar revolved around mental health, it wasn't surprising for me to receive further questions related to this:
"During times when you have overlapping schedules, how do you take care of your mental health?"
"What to do if we feel stressed on some days?"
"What should we do if we are really tired and have a lot of thoughts and can't concentrate, but we still have to come to class and dance?"
The most important action to take is to show up. I know, it might sound a bit silly but if you make an effort to show up, you've won half the battle.
"Half the battle is just showing up" - Stephen Hawking
There are days where we feel tempted to just take the day off, trust me! I totally get you. But showing up will not only build self-discipline, but it'll solidify that commitment and promise that you've made to yourself because you chose to be there! In the long run, you'll develop that grit and resilience through adversity and hardship that will help accelerate you further than those who chooses not to show up.
(But also within the institutional context, your attendance does affect your grades.)
So, on days when you're fatigued, what tools can you implement to help you focus and get through class?
1. Goal Setting (or as I like to call it, create your own shopping list)
This is my go-to, most effective tool on days where I feel more fatigued than usual.
Purpose: to focus your energy and intention on something specific and measurable so you can continue fine-tuning your own practice.
Challenge: may seem like a lot of work initially, especially when you've got an early start to your long day of classes, lectures and rehearsals!
How to Implement: Set yourself one specific thing that you want to work on for the duration of that class.
Eg: In today's ballet class, I will focus on my use of elongation in my spine throughout the class from barre to jumps.
or.
In today's contemporary class, I will focus on my weight shifts in the traveling exercises.
Key Points:
Be ultra specific about what you want to work on, and tailor it to your own areas of improvements. "Working on technique" is too generic and hard to achieve because it encompasses so many different aspects.
It is not necessary to change your intentions and focus for every class. Be smart and intentional about what it is that you really want to refine. Sometimes, letting this goal sit for a week or so can help you see more tangible results and give you greater clarity on your personal movement habits and patterns.
Consistency is key: it takes 21 days to build a habit. I would recommend you reading this article here to help give you an understanding on the timeline of how habit-building works.
2. Being Kind to Ourself.
It is really easy to beat ourselves mentally when we are really trying our best on days where we may not feel like so. That's when our mental health takes a toll with the negative self-talk and spiralling thought process, which inadvertently sends us down a rabbit hole of self-deprecation. There's usually some degree of external pressure (teachers, seniors, parents, peers, social media, our way of living, personal expectations etc.) that exacerbates this feeling.
The most valuable lesson that I have learnt from experiencing burnout (which I will get into in a bit) as well as taking advice from peers and teachers is the self awareness of working at our capacity on any given day. Every day, we wake up feeling different each time. We might feel more balanced on certain days, and some days we take a step and we lose our balance (i've been a clumsy duck like this before, and for me, it usually involves knocking into some furniture). In class, we might be able to pick up a combination faster if we have the mental energy to retain. Yet, on some days, nothing seems to be going in. Nothing is being retained.
So, checking in with yourself every day by asking yourself:
"How much can I offer to this day without over compensating?"
Sometimes, you might feel like a 3/10. Sometimes it might be 7/10. I'm here to tell you that it's alright - work with the number that you've got! Try not to judge yourself for that number, because it means that you're respecting yourself too! However, this is not a free-pass for you to be lazy. Remember that YOU are your OWN best teacher. You're responsible for your own learning, so be honest with yourself.
On a more realistic note, it is not possible to give our 100% everyday. If a person works at their 100% every single day, they will eventually burnout. So understanding what your 100% for the day looks like within the framework above, you will be able to manage your energy and concentration in a more effective and productive manner. Not to mention, healthier too!
Burnout
Onto the topic of burnout - another key topic that is very prevalent within the industry. It's something that I've unfortunately experienced whilst juggling multiple big projects at one time, and one day I woke up, physically unable to move! Like, what the F! My whole body ached, as if it was screaming to not move. It was accompanied by this splitting migraine that made it even more difficult to get out of bed. This lasted for 3-4 days, with my appetite being really bad and my sleep quality affected.
This experience is not something that I wish anyone would go through because it honestly doesn't feel good. It feels rather shit (pardon my French). However, on the other hand, now that I've experienced what burnout looks and feels like for me, I am more aware of when I'm getting towards that stage and pull myself back.
Let's start with this:
Symptoms of Burnout
Burnout is a gradual process that festers through time, with excessive and prolonged stress.
This list is not an exhaustive one, but it does cover the main "red flags" that will eventually lead to burnout. Perhaps the next question that comes naturally with this is the key differences between stress and burnout.
As human beings, we need a certain amount of stress to get through our daily struggles and life. There's studies that have shown that some stress is actually good for us because it pushes us to our level of optimal alertness, behavioural and cognitive performance. I won't go too deep into the science behind this, but you can read this article if you're interested! As performers and artists, we need stress because it helps us to perform better! However, coping with stress is a different skillset altogether that will require time, seeking out advice from your support system as well as experiencing them yourself so you know what's your best emotional regulation tools to help you reverse that process.
Within an educational/institutional setting, the stress that students go through is immense! Not only do we deal with physical fatigue having to dance 5 days a week for sometimes more than 7 hours a day, but to juggle academia alongside it! It's honestly no joke, but that is the rigour of the education system at this current moment globally.
It's gonna take some time for the systems to change, but as of the current climate, what are some tools/tips that we can implement to help us manage our stresses and help us be more aware to 'pull back' if we are on the road towards burnout?
(Oh, just to mention that I am digressing on the topic of suffering to make you a better artist. Personally, I do not subscribe to that practice because the current climate of the world is already enough to handle. But it is important to understand that pushing yourself past your breaking point is not only unhealthy, but detrimental to your overall emotional and mental wellbeing.)
R.R.R
Recognise - watch out for those red flags!
Reverse - seeking support systems and exercises for stress management
Reaching out to your loved ones or your support system is nature's antidote to combat stress.
Speaking with someone Face To Face (FTF) whom you trust and is willing to listen does miracles to your stress relief. Take the first step - "Hey! I'm feeling *describe your emotion* about *project/whatever's on your mind*... Are you available to *describe what they should do for you*?"
Eg: "Hey! I'm feeling slightly stressed and anxious about the upcoming deadline submission for our essay that's due tomorrow. Are you available to listen, and maybe offer some advice where you see fit?"
You might feel embarrassed to reach out to your family and friends, but who knows! Some might actually feel grateful that you've reached out to confide in them, and it will strengthen your bond.
This is much easier said than done, and will require some practice. But know that you're not alone in your struggles. By talking it out with someone, it will make your struggle less daunting and hey, having support in your life just helps you to feel reassured :)
Resilience - building resilience to stress by taking care of your physical and emotional health
Here are some helpful links to get you started on understanding more about burnout and stress management:
Special thanks to Drugwatch for reaching out to me to share some educational links for mental health awareness!
Injuries
"How can we tell when pain is a serious injury especially when we have high pain tolerance? Because certain pain may just feel like muscle soreness."
In my own experience of accumulating injuries, the most common and obvious tell-tale sign between soreness & pain is the type of pain. I would consider myself to have a relatively high pain tolerance too, so I usually ask myself these questions when I feel something "off":
Is the pain sharp or gradual?
Do I find it difficult to move normally when I use that particular muscle?
Is the pain spread across an area or is it very localised?
Aside from the type of pain, I would also look out for side effects associated with that pain. Eg: swelling, bruising, difficulty moving the joints nearby etc. These are really obvious that it's more than just muscle soreness, and that you may need to seek the help of a medical professional.
It can be difficult to understand especially when we don't know what to look out for, so it is gonna take some experience to understand and feel the differences between muscle soreness and injury. That's part and parcel of a dancer's life, and it is important to know because it will increase the longevity of your career, should you decide to pursue it.
A good starting point would be perhaps to watch out for these differences:
Additionally, muscle soreness usually takes a day or two for it to subside. If the pain lasts for more than 3-4 days, seeking out professional/medical help is the best policy. Therefore, it is important to listen to your body.
I would recommend reaching out to your teachers/doctors if you currently are experiencing some pain that you aren't sure if it's an injury or soreness. Perhaps they'll know better!
Oh and 1 more thing...
There was another question that I received about knowing when to say no to projects or gigs. However, after some careful deliberation, I feel that this is best explained in a separate blog post because it's a tricky topic. So I will dedicate my next writing to this topic, and hopefully to give you a better idea on this!
If you've made it all the way here, thanks for reading and following all the way through! I'll see you all in my next writing.
Love and Light,
Maybs x
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