Having the discipline to let ourselves and our bodies to relax helps prevent burnout, was the main message conveyed in the Women’s Day Event tackling burnout and coping mechanisms for female entrepreneurs.

Organized by the Malta Chamber of SMEs, Aspire Global and Epic for Business, a half day event focusing on this year's thematic area of Innovation and technology for gender equality was held at Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar.

The event tackled burnout, coping mechanisms and the digital support available which females, including business owners tend to be more far away from.

Business burnout was discussed in the first panel of the session, featuring CEO of Shireburn Software Ltd and founder of Sanya Eco Spa Yasmin De Giorgio, psychotherapist and founder of TherapyWorks Clinic and Bloom Psychology Clinic Charlene Camilleri Duca, and owner of Palazzo Parisio Justine Pergola as speakers.

The panellists spoke about how burnout is the physical, mental and social exhaustion resulting from performing at a high, even extreme, level. Burnout has been noted to be more prevalent in women than in men.

Camilleri Duca discerned four stages of work-related stress and burnout, which firstly includes the honeymoon phase – when one is starting a new business, feeling excitement with only some stressors.

In the second stage, stress increases and an individual may feel that they are having more bad days than good ones. The third stage of burnout includes increasingly bad days, failing to cope and feeling dread for the day.

Camilleri Duca explained that once a person has reached burnout, the final stage, they may experience overwhelming exhausting, cynicism and detachment, feeling as if things will not work out, as well as becoming more irritable to the people around you. A sense of ineffectiveness and feeling as if one is not fulfilling their goals can also be felt, she said.

She continued that burnout effects parts of the brain, including memory and an individual's creativity.

“Burnout is something which tends to be more prominent in people who are naturally high performing, and have high expectations for themselves, including people who are perfectionists. It is shown that parts of the brain become enlarged when feeling burnout, the part of the brain which regulates emotions,” Camilleri Duca said.

She explained that persons undergoing burnout react to situations more negatively than normal, increasingly feeling worse.

Camilleri Duca gave a number of suggestions for coping mechanism, which ideally includes the prevention of burnout before one reaches it, as recovering from burnout needs more effort than preventing it.

She said that individuals must structure their work and life priorities, applying gentle living to their lives. As a balance, scheduling resting times and dedicating time for things other than work would be ideal to prevent burnout, as people would more often need a great change in lifestyle to recover if they have reached burnout.

Degiorgio said that entrepreneurs often fall into a trap of overworking, which, if extreme, may lead to a loss of drive and feeling negatively about one’s work.

“After I reached burnout, I learnt how easy it is to use our work to think positively, give yourself time to rest, and let go of shame and judgements we have on not being perfect,” she said, adding that business sometimes instils fear of failure on individuals, when one should be honest with their failings, and does not mean that the person is a failure.

Pergola, who inherited Palazzo Parisio from her mother, spoke about taking a slower approach in the mornings, which includes taking time to get ready for the day, meditation or yoga, or simply going for a walk. She pledged that in her business, no meetings should be held before 10am.

She said that diving into work after her mother’s passing helped with coping, but one must dedicate time in the week to rest.

Comments from the floor spoke about the importance of meditation, adding that there are many factors which might lead to burnout which are not necessarily limited to work life, but also personal lives, particularly women with children.

A meditation exercise hosted by Sanya Spa was carried out, focusing on deep breaths and concentration to let the body relax.