Back from Burnout
In 2010, at 23 years old, Chris started his first teaching job after University. Full of enthusiasm and an ethic of being hardworking, he set his career goal of becoming a Head of Department before he was 30 years old.
He believed that in order to be ‘happy’ you need to be 'successful'. He worked 60-70 hours per week for 7 straight years: taking on extra responsibility to bolster his CV in order to be ready for the next promotion.
He moved up the career ladder and at the age of 29, he became a Head of Department and moved schools to start his ‘dream job’.
Chris thought that if you worked hard to have a successful career, you will find happiness. He was wrong! Once the excitement of a new job settled, he found himself feeling emotionally empty, overwhelmed with life and without meaningful direction. As life stresses increased with new parent responsibilities, work stress turned into anxiety and guilt.
He found himself depressed and seriously unhappy.
Embarrassed with how he felt, he continued to smile and tell others he was fine until finally, in January 2018, he had a crippling mental health episode.
A thought of suicide as an option to stop his suffering was the wake up call he needed to put his pride aside and go to the doctors.