It’s a thing! Especially in these times. We have enlisted the help of Lisa Grey of BePure to talk us through the pitfalls and solutions of wedding burnout.
Planning a wedding is stressful at the best of times; during a pandemic, it can feel a little like torture. All of those beautifully laid plans for your most significant day are now subject to change without much notice. I’m planning my own wedding currently, and it’s nail-biting stuff.
Weddings are an intensely intimate coronavirus disruption—both emotionally and financially. All the rejiggering can easily take its toll, with many couples feeling extremely overwhelmed and exhausted. This prolonged sensation of fatigue and apathy can lead to wedding planning burnout, a very real phenomenon.
Burnout is a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion brought on by repeated or prolonged stress. The key difference between burnout and stress is that burnout is an extended period of stress that feels unabating. If the stress you are experiencing feels relentless and is accompanied by feelings of exhaustion, negativity, apathy and despair, you are likely experiencing burnout.
When this stress response is prolonged our ability to focus declines, we become irritable or short-fused and begin to feel worn down and exhausted. Relentless stress can also lead to poor sleep, anxiety, feelings of isolation, over-analysis of events, physical tension and exhaustion.
This may lead to a sense of dread about wedding planning and feelings of cynicism, anger or irritability. Your attitude about the day may become more negative or apathetic and you may notice an increase in conflict between you and your friends, family or partner.
How to Prevent Wedding Planning Burnout
The good news is that wedding planning burnout is preventable. The key to this is mitigating stress and finding ways to rest and restore. Here are some suggestions to help prevent burnout and reduce wedding planning stress.
Build A Daily Routine
To help keep stress levels low, de-load your life by building a daily routine. Whilst we humans love the idea of novel stimuli we thrive when we have a daily structure. Routine minimises the number of decisions we need to make each day and helps us keep daily habits that foster our physical wellbeing and mental health.
Organise Your Space
A wise psychologist once told me that “a chaotic brain needs an ordered environment” and they weren’t wrong. Before you make major headway on your wedding plans, make sure to make time to get your space in order.
Unplug from technology
Research shows that screen time increases stress levels. If marketing algorithms are working well on your social media feeds, like me, your Instagram will be heavily overpopulated with wedding-related posts.
Teamwork makes dreamwork
Trying to do it all by yourself is a recipe for bridal burnout. Keep the items that excite you on your to-do list and delegate the rest!
Laugh out loud!!
There’s no better way to de-stress than with a good laugh. Laughter reduces stress hormones and boosts our immune system.
Try meditation and breathwork
Meditation is a powerful antidote for stress and increases levels of our feel-good hormones oxytocin and serotonin. Work on your mental health by adding daily practice to your routine. Employ an app like “Calm” and “Insight Timer” that offer timed practices that can help you go from manic to chill in two to 10 minutes tops.
Get moving
Physical movement is one of the most underutilized mental health tools. Exercise boosts endorphins and other happy neurochemicals that make us feel good. As a fitness professional, I have seen many brides and grooms go overboard on exercise leading into their big day only to wind up burnt out. When it comes to exercise, balance is key. Finding a good routine that permits you to challenge your range of motion, cardiovascular health and strength is the goal.
Eat to nourish your body
Aim to eat whole foods and nourishing meals at regular time intervals and reduce overstimulation from caffeine and processed foods. Eating and drinking in this way helps to balance your blood sugar levels and also helps to reduce inflammation, support good gut health and boost our immune system.
Curb burnout with powerful herbs and nutrients
Did you know key nutrients and herbs actually increase our capacity to cope with stress? Magnesium, zinc, vitamin D and vitamin B6 all work as mood stabilisers, while omega 3 supports reducing inflammation caused by stress.
Adaptogenic herbs are ancient heroes when it comes to curbing stress and burnout. Calming herbs like kava, passionflower and lemon balm and adaptogens like ashwagandha, Rhodiola and theanine work to counteract the negative effects of stress on our system. If you’re looking for fast and enduring support to get you through the covid bridal burnout, BePure’s InnerCalm and InnerStrength are high quality, high strength support, containing all of the powerful herbs and nutrients needed to keep us well-nourished, resilient and calm – perfect for brides and grooms-to-be who may be feeling stressed. BePure recently launched InnerCalm and InnerStrength, a powerful combo designed as a simple tool to help our bodies respond to stress in a far more sustainable way.
Lisa Grey is a burnout expert and lead clinical researcher at BePure. Since the beginning of New Zealand’s journey with COVID-19, Lisa has seen an increasing number of clients battling with stress and burnout in the BePure Clinic. Having also gone through her journey with burnout, she offers unique insight into practical tools to navigate stress and the path to recovery.BePure is a scientific wellness company founded by the leading clinical nutritionist, Ben Warren. Ben had a vision of happier and healthier communities across New Zealand. His vision has become our core purpose – to create health journeys for a better life.
Photographer Emily Raftery
