Burnout is a state of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained and unable to meet constant demands. As stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role.
The unhappiness and detachment that burnout causes can threaten your job, relationships and health. By recognizing the earliest warning signs, you can take steps to prevent burnout. If you have started feeling burnout, there are plenty of things you can do to regain your balance and start to feel positive and hopeful again. Of course, it never hurts to consult with a professional if you realize that you are beginning to experience burnout.
Potential signs of burnout include:
- Every day is a bad day
- Caring about your work or home life seems like a total waste of energy
- You're exhausted all the time.
- The majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming.
- You feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated.
Have any of you experienced Burnout? If so how are you working on overcoming this feeling?
I've experienced burnout a few times in my career to the point where I was really concerned for my health. I was producing a commercial and it was a last minute deadline - no joke, probably only had 10-14 days to produce it. I had multiple nights of work till where I worked till 6am and then back in the office around 11am. I got the point where I was dizzy, sleep deprived, and my eating habits were all screwed up. I realized that it wasn't healthy and even more so, really wasn't sustainable.
For me it was all about setting boundaries for myself and learning that if I didn't take control of what was happening to me, no one would. So it really changed my perspective on what matters in my life, my career, and my self care habits.
I think it was a turning point for me and an important lesson to learn as a young person. Sometimes you have to go through tough situations in order to have real perspective on what matters most.
Great post Michael. Thank you for sharing your experience. It really takes a high level of self awareness to be able to recognize you are suffering and then to make a conscious effort to do something about it. It sounds like you were able to take your Burnout experience and come out of it as a much more aware and happier person.
One of the scary things about Burnout is that you may experience Burnout while your are killing it at work and as a result, you would be less likely to realize it and to act on it and others would be less likely to try to help you. This can lead to serious health problems as well as mental health problems.
The practice of slowing down to take stock of our emotional and physical well being can be invaluable. This is something that we should all try to practice.
Hey Mikes! I also have been close to burn out, but was fortunate to catch it beforehand. Being in tune with your mental health is something that we all should practice and the signs laid out by Lindo are great warning signs so we can readjust our life’s priorities as needed. Great dialogue here. Cheers