Are You Suffering From Burnout?
Are you finding that constant stress has left you feeling disillusioned, helpless, and exhausted? If so, you may be suffering from burnout. When you’re burned out, things look bleak, problems seem impossible to overcome, and it’s difficult to muster up the energy to do anything about your situation.
The unhappiness that burnout causes can threaten your job, your relationships, and your health. But burnout can be overcome. There are lots of things that can be done to get you back on track, rebalanced, and feeling happy and energised again.
What is burnout?
Burnout is a term that has become commonplace in today's hectic world, but is often not well defined. Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. When you are burnt out you will feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet the demands of daily life. As the stress continues, things can get progressively worse as it impacts on your physical health, your motivation, and your ability to function effectively.
Burnout should be a major concern of both employers and employees as it reduces productivity and impacts interpersonal relationships.
Are you suffering from burnout?
If you can relate to any of the following you may be heading towards burnout:
exhausted, and fatigue cannot be relieved by sleep
losing weight
not sleeping well
increasingly depressed
increased errors and bungling
feelings of hopelessness and loneliness
resignation and boredom
working more and more but accomplishing less and less
sensitive and touchy about feedback
feeling like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated
What can I do to prevent burnout?
Exercise
Eat well
Get enough sleep
Connect with others
Reframe the way you look at work
Get a pet
Learn to say no
Spend time in nature
Learn to meditate
Find a way to give - volunteer, donate, help a friend
Be grateful - notice what you have, what you can be grateful for?
Foster fun
Stop being a workaholic
Keep an eye out for future posts on the difference between stress and burnout, more detail on burnout prevention, and why we suffer from burnout.
