October 6, 2025 • 6 mins
Burnout remains a consistent concern, but experts have observed that it tends to peak as the year winds down.
There's an extra dose of pressure to get everything completed by the new year - leading to a prolonged period of stress as everyone rushes to get everything done.
Wellbeing coach Nikki Silvester joined the Afternoons team to discuss further.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Been talking about burnout after an article in the New
Zealand Herald. It was written by well being Coached Nicki Sylvesta.
Nicki has been listening and she's actually given us a
call and she's on the line now. Very good afternoon, Nicki.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hi, how are you very good?
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Thanks? Niki. So in your article you say that burnout
peaks at this time of year.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Why is that?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Why does Berner seem to hit hardest just before the holidays.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
It's because we've got this massive rush put on ourselves
and there's so much stress around wanting to get everything
fixed and finished, and everything is completed before the end
of the year so that you can kind of forget
about it, instart the UNIU fresh again. For what that
does is that creates a whole massive amounts of prolonged
stressed and which shows up as overwhelm, drained and feeling
unable to meet the content to arms.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
And the other thing one of the other things you
talk about is treating rest is as refueling as as
opposed to reward. Can can you sort of took us
through that concept.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah. Absolutely, So when you're going through these sorts of things,
everyone kind of have this kind of mindset that they're
going to take some time out once they've completed the
task that they need to do, either finish the week
that they need to get done or the stresses that
they've got going on at home. But in order to
reach those targets that you want to reach, you kind
of need to have the rest to be able to
have the skills and the capabilities to actually be able
(01:33):
to do it. So we need to stop looking at
trusts and sworry. We need to stop looking at rest
as being something that's going to be a nice to
have once it's completed the task that we need to do.
We want, I need to get onto the rest now
so we can actually get those tasks done now.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
It's interesting like historically speaking, people you know, took the
Sabbath off. You know, it's in the it's in the
Ten Commandments, and it seems like in the past there
was more of a focus on weekends actually being weekends
and family and friends time. Do you think that's a
that's a problem now that no one ever really takes
a full day off where they don't think about work
(02:09):
at all. They don't they don't check their phone, they
don't check their emails. Do you think do you think
that's a problem?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Looky, absolutely, I think that. I think since COVID people
we're working from home a lot more, we've sort of
become a lot more aliant on the ability to have
being more flexible and where we work, how we work,
and the demands and when people can be reached at work.
So the ability to actually switch off now has sort
of been eroded and you're constantly checking for emails. You know,
(02:36):
you hear opinion on your pain, so order three that
to what that fus and then you're sort of responding,
never given yourself that opportunity to actually switch off and reset. It.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Interesting. So the idea of burnout and you mentioned they're
the symptoms you're going to look at, but you know,
to my mind anyway, it's kind of this nebulous term
that can be a bit vague, and what is actually
fatigue or tiredness and what has burnout? So what do
people need to look at I look out for to
determine whether they might be getting close to actual burnout?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, so for me, I would suggest that they start
looking at how exhausted they feel. If they're constantly feeling depleted,
they've got no energy, they're feeling fatigued, no matter how
much sleep they're getting, they're just not feeling like themselves. Still,
if they're starting to feel a little bit like they're
withdrawing in their normal everyday environments and what they're actually
taking joy out and what they're doing, or they're feeling
constantly negative about work or what they're spending time with
(03:31):
them especially family, and also if they're finding it hard
to really concentrate, really feeling like the equality of work's
really dropped off, I would suggest that those are really
big signs that they need to be looking out for.
On tend to burnout.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
There's I'm trying to form this idea in my head
around this, And you know, historically, when people were working,
it was very much aligned with what they were doing.
You could easily equate that to how it helped your
family and how it helped your life. But we now
have our jobs are kind of distant from that, so
(04:07):
we can't necessarily see the awards. Is there a way
to change your perspective so you can be grateful for
your job. So you go, well, this may be a
punishing situation on it, but it's how I live, and
you know, focus more on people that don't have jobs
than and how lucky you are to have a job,
as opposed to focusing on all the potential incredible jobs
(04:30):
and lives that you can can imagine. Do you sort
of understand what I'm saying, Nicky, Yeah, I can.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I think that what you need to what people need
to start looking at if there in an environment at
work that's actually causing them some form of stress and
they're kind of like, I just have to do this,
I don't want my job is and their jobs are
really highly stressful. They need to start building into their
lives some kind of outlet that they can actually break
away from doing that and thinking about those stressful environments. So,
whether that's spending time with friends, whether that's time spending
(04:59):
the family, you need to have that outlet so you
can take away that break from your mind from that
mental strain on your mind all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, just when it comes down to it, just on
the back of that, Nicky, because a lot of people
facing burnout would then look at quitting their job, and
I look at that situation and think sometimes and I'm
asking you the question here, sometimes that could add to
the stresses that they're facing. Right if they do think
I can't handle this anymore, I quit and then you've
(05:29):
got the financial pressures you're going to focus as well.
That can sometimes be the wrong the wrong move.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So what I teach as well is that quitting your
job is not the answer. It's the stress of and
the burnout that's could follow you where you go. You
need to figure out what the boundaries are that you
need to say to be able to make sure that
you can break free from that burnout so it doesn't
follow you in your next role. If you better off
staying where you are and working through that there. So
leaving your job isn't the answer.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, because wherever you are now, wherever you go, there
you are. That's the same people leave relationships and because
of the problem, they get into a new relationship have
the same problems and realize that problem with them and
not the previous percent. So you got to you got
to try and sort yourself out. Hey, thank you so
much for talking to us, Nicki Sylvesta, I really really appreciate.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
This.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Before, so thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yep, absolutely so really good to chat with you, Nikisa.
Thanks very much again and have a great afternoon you see.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
That is Nicki and sylvesta well being coach. If you
want to go check out our articles on the New
Zealand Herald right now. The headline is why burn out
peaks at this time of the year and how to
beat it.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
For more from news Talk said B listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Been talking about burnout after an article in the New
Zealand Herald. It was written by well being Coached Nicki Sylvesta.
Nicki has been listening and she's actually given us a
call and she's on the line now. Very good afternoon, Nicki.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hi, how are you very good?
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Thanks? Niki. So in your article you say that burnout
peaks at this time of year.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Why is that?
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Why does Berner seem to hit hardest just before the holidays.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
It's because we've got this massive rush put on ourselves
and there's so much stress around wanting to get everything
fixed and finished, and everything is completed before the end
of the year so that you can kind of forget
about it, instart the UNIU fresh again. For what that
does is that creates a whole massive amounts of prolonged
stressed and which shows up as overwhelm, drained and feeling
unable to meet the content to arms.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
And the other thing one of the other things you
talk about is treating rest is as refueling as as
opposed to reward. Can can you sort of took us
through that concept.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah. Absolutely, So when you're going through these sorts of things,
everyone kind of have this kind of mindset that they're
going to take some time out once they've completed the
task that they need to do, either finish the week
that they need to get done or the stresses that
they've got going on at home. But in order to
reach those targets that you want to reach, you kind
of need to have the rest to be able to
have the skills and the capabilities to actually be able
(01:33):
to do it. So we need to stop looking at
trusts and sworry. We need to stop looking at rest
as being something that's going to be a nice to
have once it's completed the task that we need to do.
We want, I need to get onto the rest now
so we can actually get those tasks done now.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
It's interesting like historically speaking, people you know, took the
Sabbath off. You know, it's in the it's in the
Ten Commandments, and it seems like in the past there
was more of a focus on weekends actually being weekends
and family and friends time. Do you think that's a
that's a problem now that no one ever really takes
a full day off where they don't think about work
(02:09):
at all. They don't they don't check their phone, they
don't check their emails. Do you think do you think
that's a problem?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Looky, absolutely, I think that. I think since COVID people
we're working from home a lot more, we've sort of
become a lot more aliant on the ability to have
being more flexible and where we work, how we work,
and the demands and when people can be reached at work.
So the ability to actually switch off now has sort
of been eroded and you're constantly checking for emails. You know,
(02:36):
you hear opinion on your pain, so order three that
to what that fus and then you're sort of responding,
never given yourself that opportunity to actually switch off and reset. It.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Interesting. So the idea of burnout and you mentioned they're
the symptoms you're going to look at, but you know,
to my mind anyway, it's kind of this nebulous term
that can be a bit vague, and what is actually
fatigue or tiredness and what has burnout? So what do
people need to look at I look out for to
determine whether they might be getting close to actual burnout?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, so for me, I would suggest that they start
looking at how exhausted they feel. If they're constantly feeling depleted,
they've got no energy, they're feeling fatigued, no matter how
much sleep they're getting, they're just not feeling like themselves. Still,
if they're starting to feel a little bit like they're
withdrawing in their normal everyday environments and what they're actually
taking joy out and what they're doing, or they're feeling
constantly negative about work or what they're spending time with
(03:31):
them especially family, and also if they're finding it hard
to really concentrate, really feeling like the equality of work's
really dropped off, I would suggest that those are really
big signs that they need to be looking out for.
On tend to burnout.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
There's I'm trying to form this idea in my head
around this, And you know, historically, when people were working,
it was very much aligned with what they were doing.
You could easily equate that to how it helped your
family and how it helped your life. But we now
have our jobs are kind of distant from that, so
(04:07):
we can't necessarily see the awards. Is there a way
to change your perspective so you can be grateful for
your job. So you go, well, this may be a
punishing situation on it, but it's how I live, and
you know, focus more on people that don't have jobs
than and how lucky you are to have a job,
as opposed to focusing on all the potential incredible jobs
(04:30):
and lives that you can can imagine. Do you sort
of understand what I'm saying, Nicky, Yeah, I can.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
I think that what you need to what people need
to start looking at if there in an environment at
work that's actually causing them some form of stress and
they're kind of like, I just have to do this,
I don't want my job is and their jobs are
really highly stressful. They need to start building into their
lives some kind of outlet that they can actually break
away from doing that and thinking about those stressful environments. So,
whether that's spending time with friends, whether that's time spending
(04:59):
the family, you need to have that outlet so you
can take away that break from your mind from that
mental strain on your mind all the time.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, just when it comes down to it, just on
the back of that, Nicky, because a lot of people
facing burnout would then look at quitting their job, and
I look at that situation and think sometimes and I'm
asking you the question here, sometimes that could add to
the stresses that they're facing. Right if they do think
I can't handle this anymore, I quit and then you've
(05:29):
got the financial pressures you're going to focus as well.
That can sometimes be the wrong the wrong move.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So what I teach as well is that quitting your
job is not the answer. It's the stress of and
the burnout that's could follow you where you go. You
need to figure out what the boundaries are that you
need to say to be able to make sure that
you can break free from that burnout so it doesn't
follow you in your next role. If you better off
staying where you are and working through that there. So
leaving your job isn't the answer.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, because wherever you are now, wherever you go, there
you are. That's the same people leave relationships and because
of the problem, they get into a new relationship have
the same problems and realize that problem with them and
not the previous percent. So you got to you got
to try and sort yourself out. Hey, thank you so
much for talking to us, Nicki Sylvesta, I really really appreciate.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
This.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Before, so thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yep, absolutely so really good to chat with you, Nikisa.
Thanks very much again and have a great afternoon you see.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
That is Nicki and sylvesta well being coach. If you
want to go check out our articles on the New
Zealand Herald right now. The headline is why burn out
peaks at this time of the year and how to
beat it.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
For more from news Talk said B listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
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