WELLBEING | 43
to stillness: essure with presence
the sofa like a zombie, tuning into TV just enough to drown out my thoughts – not to enjoy it, not to unwind, but simply to numb the overstimulation of the day. “If we don’t take notice or do regular check-ins with ourselves, stress has a sneaky way of becoming the one in charge, quietly taking the wheel and running the show before we’ve even realised it” That’s burnout. It doesn’t always look like a breakdown, and instead it can look like silence, withdrawal and disconnection. It often creeps in slowly, disguised as ‘just a busy period’ or ‘a rough month-end’. But when those busy periods become the norm, and when being depleted becomes your baseline, that’s when the burnout cycle tightens its grip. But here’s the thing: breaking this cycle doesn’t mean quitting your job or eliminating pressure (payroll isn’t built that way). It simply means noticing the signs early. It means building in moments of regulation, such as a breath between
queries, a stretch between pay runs, a boundary between work and home life. Burnout thrives in environments where we ignore ourselves. But the antidote is presence – checking in and allowing space to recover before we run ourselves to the ground. Power of the pause In payroll, everything feels urgent. Emails come flagged as high importance. Queries are ‘ASAP’. Deadlines don’t shift. Mistakes can cost both money and trust. So, we get caught in a rhythm of reacting fast, fixing fast, thinking fast. And in all that speed, we rarely pause. Here’s the truth I’ve learned: to pause isn’t a luxury, it’s a tool. Taking a moment before responding to that irate email, before picking up the phone, before making a correction in the system – that pause can be the difference between a clear-headed decision and a panicked one. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s one deep breath before you speak. Sometimes it’s pushing your chair back, planting your feet on the ground and feeling gravity for a few seconds before diving into the next payslip issue. These tiny moments help bring the nervous system out of ‘flight or fight’ and into a state where logic and empathy can actually operate. I can’t count the number of times I’ve responded too quickly, driven by pressure
and the urgency to fix. But what I’ve come to realise is that stillness isn’t a delay, it’s a strategy. That breath? That pause? It creates space between stimulus and response. It gives your brain time to catch up to your body. And it allows you to choose how you want to show up, instead of letting stress choose for you. Stillness is a skill Payroll will always come with pressure. The deadlines won’t disappear, the queries won’t slow down and the stakes will remain high. But amongst it all, we have the power to choose how we meet that pressure. We can either let stress run the show, or we can learn to ground ourselves with presence. Stillness isn’t about being passive, it’s about being aware and making active choices rather than rushing on autopilot. Our nervous system is a part of our leadership, our resilience and our ability to stay grounded in even the toughest pay cycles. So, take the pause. Breathe and reset. Because when you take care of your presence, your presence takes care of everything else.
AJ Jain MCIPP
Payroll and Pensions Supervisor, Cambridge City Council
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