Have you ever felt like the world’s weight is on your shoulders? You are not alone. Learn everything about burnout and receive the keys to breaking this vicious cycle.
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In our relentless pursuit of a great life, we often teeter on the edge of exhaustion.
We are constantly chasing the next paycheck, the next deadline, and the next best thing every day. Our once-boundless energy wanes with each milestone reached as our demands grow and motivation wanes.
And the result of this constant push? Burnout.
Over the years, the demotivation from burnout slowly creeps away from working alone to our interaction with others, our views on life, and a genuine desire to enjoy the world for what it is—a beautiful place.
Burnout is, however, not always easy to spot.
As you flip through the pages of this digital timestamp, you’ll discover everything you need to know about burnout and how to keep your competitive edge while maintaining the unwavering ability to enjoy life.
What Is Burnout?
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American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger first used the term “burnout” in the 1970s. Herbert used the word to describe the consequences of severe exposure to mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion.
Herbert used the term to discuss fatigue in the helping profession, but in modern times, this description has extended into other professions as mental demands increase. In most cases, burnout is an accumulation of stress triggers that build up into a bowl of resentment, demotivation, and lack of willpower.
People experiencing burnout often feel drained of strength. They think they cannot offer positivity to the world and may even resent waking up daily. Waking up for these people feels like a chore; when they struggle to get out of bed, they struggle to do everything else.
If left untreated, burnout may trigger a cascade of events like depression, heart problems, and the development of harmful habits.
Who Gets Burnout?
Anyone constantly exposed to high-pressure, mentally tasking situations can experience burnout. Doctors, paramedics, and nurses who offer helping hands by caring for others are vulnerable to this condition.
As the idea of success in our world becomes more tasking and the world constantly changes, burnout has become synonymous with many other professions.
Aside from work engagements alone, homely activities like parenthood may also lead to burnout when combined with work and other tasks.
Personality traits like the need for perfection and controlling tendencies may lead to people stretching themselves more than necessary and developing this draining lack of motivation.
Burnout vs Exhaustion – What’s The Difference?
Burnout is a specific form of exhaustion stemming from chronic extended stress and marked by emotional, physical, and mental depletion, as well as feelings of cynicism and reduced effectiveness in work or caregiving roles.
Exhaustion, conversely, refers more broadly to extreme fatigue and may result from various factors beyond chronic stress.
While exhaustion may contribute to burnout, burnout involves additional dimensions beyond exhaustion alone.
How Does Burnout Affect You?
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Burnout is often a foundation for many other troubling conditions. It can be considered a tree with several branches pointing in different directions. Now that we understand burnout to a reasonable extent let’s consider some of its far-reaching impacts.
Physical Disintegration
Burnout can manifest in various physical symptoms, including fatigue, insomnia or disrupted sleep patterns, headaches, muscle tension, gastrointestinal issues (such as stomachaches or nausea), changes in appetite, and susceptibility to illness due to a weakened immune system.
Emotional Impacts
Since burnouts require emotional investments to overcome difficult emotional barriers, they can take a toll on emotional health.
Burnout can take a toll on your emotional well-being, leading to feelings of irritability, frustration, mood swings, anxiety, depression, helplessness, and a sense of emotional detachment or numbness.
Cognitive Slipups
A telltale sign of burnout is demotivation. This demotivation goes beyond the ability to perform daily tasks alone. It also affects how we think and make decisions.
Burnout can affect your cognitive functioning, impairing your ability to concentrate, make decisions, solve problems, and remember details. You may find it challenging to stay focused, be easily distracted, or experience “brain fog” that interferes with your productivity and performance.
Work-Related Slippery Slopes
Most people suffering from burnout tendencies still see the need for work, and for most people, the game must go on.
Because people no longer enjoy what they do, they become decreasingly motivated, unsatisfied with their jobs, and exhibit increased absenteeism or presenteeism (physically present but mentally disengaged).
Interpersonal Relationship Frictions
Humans are incredibly social creatures, and our lives are significantly intertwined. From interactions with co-workers to communication with friends and family, people suffering from burnout tend to vent their frustrations to others.
When those who struggle to connect with others emotionally discover how detrimental they are to others, they may withdraw socially, become less engaged or responsive, or exhibit irritability and moodiness.
Physical Health Consequences
Chronic burnout can have long-term health consequences, increasing your risk of developing stress-related health conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, immune system dysfunction, gastrointestinal disorders, and chronic pain conditions.
Untreated burnout can also contribute to mental health disorders such as anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse.
Reduced Quality of Life
Burnout can significantly diminish one’s overall quality of life, affecting one’s sense of fulfilment, purpose, and well-being.
Burnout can erode your resilience, self-esteem, and sense of self-efficacy, making it difficult to cope with stress and adversity effectively.
Signs Of Burnout
Are you worried you are developing symptoms of burnout but aren’t sure of the signs? We’ve aggregated a list of tell-tale signs that can be your guide.
- Chronic Fatigue: Feeling tired and drained most of the time, despite getting enough rest, is a common sign of burnout.
- Emotional Exhaustion: You may experience irritability, mood swings, anxiety, depression, cynicism, or a sense of emotional numbness or detachment.
- Decreased Performance: If you used to complete multiple tasks at once but suddenly struggle with the smallest ones, it may be a sign of burnout on the horizon.
- Reduced Sense of Accomplishment: Feeling ineffective or lacking accomplishment despite your efforts is another sign of burnout.
You may feel like you’re not making a difference, achieving your goals, or meeting expectations, which can lead to dissatisfaction, frustration, or self-doubt.
- Interpersonal Problems: Dissatisfied with their current trajectory, people with burnout may need help maintaining a genuine connection with others. This may lead to irritability, impatience, or argumentative behavior, leading to conflicts or misunderstandings.
- Negative Self-talk: Burnout stems from mental exhaustion and an inability to escape the prison of your mind. To keep them trapped in a prison of their mind, people with burnout may continue to paint themselves as “not enough”.
- Loss of Interest or Enthusiasm: Burnout can cause you to lose interest, passion, or enthusiasm for activities you once enjoyed. Hobbies, socializing, and leisure pursuits may no longer bring pleasure or fulfillment, contributing to feelings of emptiness or apathy.
Stages Of Burnout Development
Meet Joe – an IT analyst working in a top technology firm.
Joe will be our case study for studying the different stages of burnout development.
Burnout hits slowly. Unlike other common illnesses, burnout slowly enters people’s lives. From excessive drive to mental collapse, burnout follows a path of rise and fall camouflaged by what many people perceive as ambitions and drive.
Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North provide the best timeline of burnout progression. To understand each burnout development stage, let’s return to our friend – Joe.
- Excessive Ambition: Joe starts his new job with great excitement. He wishes to change the status quo in his organization rapidly.
Thanks to Joe’s ambition, he’s set lofty goals that will cost him considerable effort to achieve.
- Pushing Yourself To Work Harder: Joe quickly discovers that setting and achieving goals are two very different things.
Joe begins to feel the weight of expectations on his shoulders so he puts in more work to meet his targets.
- Sacrificing Your Own Needs: As Joe becomes more enthralled at work, he starts to remodel his life.
While Joe loved work, he’d let go of many of his favorite hobbies. Joe stopped hanging out with the community, which has held him down in moments of discomfort, as he now sees it as a distraction.
Joe starts to feel a void, but he assumes that just a little more work will get him to a better place, so He pushes himself even further.
- Pointing Fingers: Joe notices a slip-up in his relationship with everything except work. He’s relapsed in so many ways, but Joe doesn’t think it is his fault.
Joe blames everyone around him for the relapse he’s been experiencing. He feels that everyone expects too much of him now and can’t keep up at all.
- No Time For Any Thing Aside Work: In response to his recent realization of a void, Joe decides to dive into deeper into work. That;s what matters the most right?
The only way to guarantee his happiness is to achieve all the goals he’s set for himself. Every other thing can take the back door for Joe now.
- Denial: As work pressure mounts and everyone notices a shift in Joe, they speak to him.
As people speak to Joe about his recent disconnect, Joe completely denies the accusations. Joe pitches the blame on others. He talks a big game about how he’s had to do so much alone, and those around him aren’t doing enough.
- Withdrawal: Joe begins to feel everyone is out to get him. He longs to be by himself and set his trouble behind him.
Fearing that those around will judge him, Joe begins to decline invitations. He puts in excuse after excuse to limit his interaction with everyone around him.
- Behavioral Tweaks: As Joe starts to withdraw from everyone around him, his outlook on life and people around him become tainted and Joe starts to flip out at everyone for the slightest reason.
- Depersonalization: Joe’s interaction with those around him continues to deteriorate. He is finally a shadow of himself and it feels like he’s lost his grip on life. It’s almost like Joe is on a slippery slope that gets steeper each day.
- Inner Emptiness: Joe’s mental health continues to deteriorate and he now lacks the willpower to even struggle – he’s left himself to fate now (or so it appears).
To jumpstart himself each day, Joe elects to embrace adrenaline-pumping activities to kind of give him that push. Once the adrenaline pump is over, Joe gets weighed down and it’s back to zero for him again.
- Depression: Joe finally understands that he’s fighting a losing battle. He’s lost the energy to fight back anymore and has now lost the motivation he had for everything. Joe’s lost every bit of meaning in his life and he’s simply dragging through every day now.
- Mental or Physical Collapse: It’s sad that Joe has lost the fight to burnout. He’s lost every bit of energy now, and the long hours of treating his mind and body poorly have caught up with him.
This is the final stage of burnout, and as much as he’d hate to admit it, Joe is stuck there unless something changes.
Our systemic study of Joe’s journey into burnout shows how burnout slowly progresses and turns our thought processes from healthy to toxic.
How Can You Prevent Burnout Buildup?
Burnout tends to build up over time. When specific frustrating aspects of our lives are left unattended, they could trigger the development of other toxic elements.
The best way to prevent burnout is to nip all its access points in the bud before they become noticeable. This requires taking precious care of your mental and physical health, as they are the foundation of all you do as you decompress from inevitable stressors.
Some ways to prevent burnout buildups include:
- Get Moving: When you feel stressed or overwhelmed, you must get some movement through exercise.
Endorphins, referred to as the “body’s natural painkillers”, are neurotransmitters produced by the brain and nervous system in response to physical activity, stress, pain, or discomfort.
Endorphins can help reduce pain perception and induce euphoria and well-being, often called the “runner’s high.”
Exercising does not always have to be complex. You could walk, perform some stretches, or have a light jug. Ensure that whatever exercise regimen you choose is one you can guarantee consistency, as it’ll help you reap the compounding effects of these little movements.
- Take Care of Your Nutrition: Avoid binge-eating junk food and unnecessary sweets. Instead, pursue a balanced diet with natural components and minimal processing.
Diets rich in Omega-3s can help raise your mood as a natural antidepressant. Fish and walnuts are excellent sources of Omega-3 fatty acids.
- Embrace Great Sleeping Habits: rest is never wrong, and healthy sleep is one of the best forms of rest.
Establish a calming bedtime routine to signal your body that it’s time to wind down and prepare for sleep. This may include reading a book, taking a warm bath, practising relaxation techniques (such as deep breathing or meditation), or listening to soothing music.
Go to bed and wake up simultaneously every day, even on weekends. Consistency helps regulate your body’s internal clock and promotes better sleep quality.
- Automate Personal Check-ins: During stressful moments, it is essential to share how you feel.
You may find it difficult to ask for help as you don’t want to feel like a burden to others. Develop a self-care check-in with friends and family with whom you will always be truthful.
Having speaking appointments with people close to you who won’t judge you can help ease the pressure of always needing to reach out.
- Focus On Your Strengths: When your strengths wane, always rely on your strengths. Focusing on what you can do well in moments of weakness can give you the confidence to push back.
- Take Regular Breaks: Schedule regular daily breaks to rest and recharge. Step away from your workspace, go for a short walk, stretch, or engage in activities that help you relax and rejuvenate.
How Can You Lend A Helping Hand To Those Suffering From Burnout?
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How can you show people struggling with burnout that they are not alone? While you can’t magically make the struggles and stress of burnout disappear, you can undoubtedly be a ray of sunshine for those struggling with dark moments.
To support those suffering from the brunt of burnout and begin their process of healing, here are some things you can do:
- Be A Listener: Before jumping into a situation as a “knight in shining armour”, you need to let your family and friends know that you hear them.
Listening goes beyond just pretending to hear what’s been said. Authentic listening entails understanding the feelings of those who confide in you for help.
Often, people need someone they can air their frustrations with and whom they can trust with vulnerable information—you can be that person for them.
- Corroborate Their Feelings: When people speak to you about their feelings of not being enough or mental isolation, it’s not enough to utter statements like “I’m sure everything will pan out well”.
It would help to let them understand that you hear them and that their feelings are not in order. While reassurance and words of comfort are essential, they can easily be seen as invalidation when done too quickly.
Instead of waving their complaints away, say, “You have been working so hard lately. I can completely understand how tiring that could be.”
- Offer To Help: Validating others’ feelings when they confide in you is not enough. You must take a step further to ease their burdens.
If your friend complains about balancing work and parenthood, you can offer to run some errands to give them more room to rest.
When offering to help, do not simply assume. Find out specific ways you could help them. This way, they know they don’t have to go through everything alone and have a trustworthy support system.
- Present New Ideas: Burnout can sometimes blur the horizon of those who suffer from it. When they relay their struggles to you, you can offer them ideas that make their lives easier.
When you relay your new ideas, do so systematically with specific directions on how they can implement those ideas. Simply chucking new ideas to those suffering from burnout could put them on even more pressure as they try to figure things out.
Drawing The Curtain – Rainbow After The Storm
No one is immune from burnout, and it is not a sign of weakness.
Burnout reminds us to press the hard reset away from the troubles, constant motion, and activities we embed ourselves in daily.
You don’t have to suffer from burnout before you press this hard reset; instead, consistently prioritise rest, replenishment, and renewal as integral components of our daily lives rather than as afterthoughts or luxuries.
In this quest for balancing rest and commitment, you must understand that perfection is neither attainable nor sustainable. Instead, embrace this messy, imperfect, quirky journey towards avoiding burnout, knowing that setbacks and challenges are opportunities for learning and resilience.
FAQs
What is burnout, and why is it important to address?
Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. It’s essential to address burnout because it can negatively impact overall well-being, productivity, and quality of life if left unchecked.
How can you recognize the signs of burnout in myself or others?
Signs of burnout may include feelings of exhaustion, cynicism or detachment from work, decreased productivity, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and physical symptoms such as headaches or insomnia. Recognizing these signs early can help prevent burnout from worsening.
What are some common causes of burnout, and how can you avoid them?
Common causes of burnout include excessive workload, lack of work-life balance, poor job fit, inadequate support or recognition, and personal factors such as perfectionism or high self-expectations. To avoid burnout, it’s essential to prioritize self-care, set boundaries, delegate tasks when possible, and seek support when needed.
How can you implement self-care practices to prevent burnout?
Self-care practices include prioritizing adequate sleep, engaging in regular physical activity, practicing mindfulness or meditation, setting aside time for hobbies and relaxation, and nurturing supportive relationships. It’s essential to tailor self-care practices to your individual needs and preferences.
What role does boundary-setting play in preventing burnout?
Boundary-setting involves establishing limits and communicating your needs and priorities effectively. Setting boundaries can help protect your time, energy, and emotional well-being, reducing the risk of burnout from overcommitment or excessive people-pleasing.
How can I manage stress and overwhelm effectively?
Stress management techniques may include practicing deep breathing exercises, taking regular breaks throughout the day, prioritizing tasks, breaking tasks into smaller, manageable steps, and seeking professional support if stress becomes overwhelming.
Is it possible to prevent burnout while maintaining productivity and success?
Yes, it’s possible to prevent burnout while maintaining productivity and success by adopting a balanced approach to work and life. This may involve setting realistic goals, prioritizing tasks, delegating responsibilities, and practicing self-care to replenish your energy and motivation.
What should you do if you’re already experiencing burnout?
If you’re already experiencing burnout, it’s essential to prioritize self-care and seek support from trusted friends, family members, or mental health professionals. Taking time off work, adjusting your workload, and reassessing your priorities may also be necessary to recover effectively from burnout.