Burnout. You’ve heard the term plenty of times and perhaps you’ve even experienced burnout on some level before but is it a real thing?
Researchers say yes. Defined as “Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion. Increased mental distance, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job and reduced professional efficacy” it wasn’t until 2019 that the World Health Organization finally recognized burnout as a legitimate syndrome. While it’s most commonly associated with overworking on the job, that’s not to say that you can’t experience the same effects of occupational burnout in other areas of your life too.
Afterall, you can overdo just about anything—whether it’s spending time with someone, over-exercising, juggling a too-packed social calendar—or, perhaps you’re going full throttle in more than one area of life, unsustainably burning the candle at both ends.
So, how many people are doing too much for too long and compromising their mental health? So many surveys state that many people are going through a burn out at work place, and the unhappiness in life that face due to this is real.
And what happens when you continue to fire on all cylinders ignoring the signs of burnout while you chase the elusive hustlers dream? According to the Mayo Clinic, burnout can start to manifest in a number of health-threatening ways from chronic fatigue, insomnia, depression and irritability and substance abuse to high blood pressure, increased risk for heart disease, blood pressure and diabetes as well as an increased risk for other diseases.
You have to first identify and accept that you are going through a mental burn out. The signs are generally evident, but we choose to ignore them, simply because we don’t want to face them. Identifying the problem is the first step towards finding the solution. With the present times where there is much farce all around, and the pressure from social media is much, as what we see is often not the truth. But many people get stressed with looking at the fancy lives of other people, not realizing that it is not the reality. The bridge between the real life and social media life, often burns many minds if not bridges. But you must know how to avoid burnout, or what are the steps you should take to prevent burnout.
We don’t get the time four ourselves and we are caught up in a race. The common words that you will hear now, from the active generation is HUSTLE, WORK, ACHIEVE, RACE, CHASE…..while all this is definitely motivating but the lack of balance in their lives is impacting the mental health much.
How many times have you had the time to speculate as to what are your actual needs and wants in life? Are you constantly living in FOMO(Fear of missing out), when you look around? What you actually are missing out is not life, but it is your mental peace. Yes, you are going through a burnout. And you should avoid burnout or atleast be in awareness of how to reduce burnout.
Have you had the time to meditate, think, , destress and even workout or have a simple pleasure of life, without any of the above thoughts crossing your mind. Or you are simply running to strike out things in your bucket list.
Yet at the end of the day are you happy? Read the following signs and maybe you will know the answer….
10 Signs You’re Burning Out
Here are the top 10 signs of burnout, according to the Mayo Clinic. Ask yourself if you identify with any of the following sentiments. If you answer yes to any of these, you could be experiencing burnout and should talk to a doctor or a mental health provider.
- Have you become cynical or critical at work?
- Do you drag yourself to work and have trouble getting started?
- Have you become irritable or impatient with co-workers, customers or clients?
- Do you lack the energy to be consistently productive?
- Do you find it hard to concentrate?
- Do you lack satisfaction from your achievements?
- Do you feel disillusioned about your job?
- Are you using food, drugs or alcohol to feel better or to simply not feel?
- Have your sleep habits changed?
- Are you always fatigued and irritated?
- Are you happy with yourself?
- Are you giving time to activities that give you happiness?
- Are you troubled by unexplained headaches, stomach or bowel problems, or other physical complaints?
Don’t wait until you’re literally making yourself sick from taking too much on. This is something to be addressed and you can read a lot on how to overcome burnout. You should avoid burnout, and is that is not possible, then atleast try to prevent burnout.
Here are a few ways that you can try, ways to prevent burnout for mental health.
1. Schedule an Appointment with Your Doctor
Before you do anything else, if you suspect that you might be on your way to burning out, make an appointment to see your doctor. Physical health is the first thing to be checked. It is not for no reason that they say that health is wealth. And a healthy mind can reside only in a healthy body. Meet your doctor, and explain how you’re feeling and your concerns. He or she may order some tests—or, you can ask for a complete physical—to check in on some key markers, such as your Vitamin D and B levels, hormone levels, cholesterol, inflammation, blood pressure and more.
We often ignore health in our daily hustle for perfection, and apparently busy life where everything is more important than health, to get ourselves checked. There might be an issue in any of the parameters which may not show any symptoms or have a direct impact on your body, but shall be having a long term impact, or the symptoms might not be visibly affecting anything, and hence we ignore it. But any disturbance in the vitals , say if your vitamin D is less, you will feel fatigued, and have lack of energy. Get yourself checked today to avoid burnout.
2. Prioritize Self-Care
SELF CARE is the most overrated word on the social media today. When we say SELF CARE- people often confuse it with shopping alone, drinking alone, or being on your own, and choosing yourself in a situation which otherwise would demand your time and energy. However, the meaning of SELF CARE is entirely different. It means taking care of yourself, of your health, listening to your body, taking proper rest, exercising, eating a nutritious and balanced diet and carving out time for relaxing activities which give you happiness and a feeling of relaxation. You can choose any physical activities, such as yoga, tai-chi, breathwork, and if you like writing, then journaling is a great way to relax.
You also must give time to meditation and try spending time in nature are all proven self-care practices that can help prevent and treat burnout. These shall be the best activities to prevent burnout and if you follow these or even a few of them religiously, then you may even avoid burnout, and know how to avoid burnout.
When it comes to self-care, don’t just try to fit it in where you can. Schedule it into your calendar just like you would with any other meeting or appointment and treat it as such.
Society has an unhealthy tendency to put everything and everyone ahead of your own mental and physical health and somewhere along the way, we were misguided into believing that putting self-care practices on par with other tasks is selfish. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Reserving and keeping self-care appointments with yourself is just as important as anything else on your to-do list—after all, without your health, you’ll be unable to accomplish anything at all.
3. Take Time Away
We occasionally hear stories of employees who worked for an organization for decades without ever taking a vacation as though it’s something to celebrate or something that people will remember you for after you’re gone.
The tendency to glorify workaholics in the world has gotten so bad that many people take pride in saying they did not take a leave for 40 years at a stretch or have never taken a single leave even in case of emergency, be it health wise or a calamity. But do you remember the last words of the most famous and inspirational, Steve Jobs? How his last words stressed the importance of family, friends and personal needs, over everything. Yes, profession and professional commitment is extremely important, but speak a lot about your attitude in life; but so is personal life, and a strong balance between the two is the key to a happy life, and a way to avoid burnout.
But not taking much-needed breaks has been linked to heart disease, stroke, burnout and an increased risk for other diseases. Inversely, those that do prioritize vacations have the opposite effect. In a 9-year study done on men with higher risk of heart disease, those that took the most vacation had a significantly lower risk of dying from not just heart disease but any cause. Take occasional breaks, for traveling, nearby or long trips, as and when your work and expenditure allow. This shall be a good change in your mind, and you shall be fresh, rejuvenated and work with more zeal in life.
4. Address the Root Problem
You might feel refreshed and re-inspired immediately after some time away, but if you don’t make changes to your day-to-day structure, you’ll wind up back where you started before long.
Understand that SELFCARE, TRAVEL,BREAKS, and so many of these activities are not the permanent solution to your burning out. It is essential to address the root issue.
Talk to your employer about the demands of your role and explore ways to delegate more or re-prioritize tasks so that you have a better handle on the hierarchy of importance, instead of viewing everything as an equal priority and putting unrealistic pressure on yourself to tackle everything with the same urgency.
Do the same if you are self employed or run your own enterprise. Sourcing out can be a big relief, otherwise your bandwidth will be affected.
Set some clear boundaries about what you are and are not willing to do. Instead of working late several times of week, state when and how often you are able to put in extra time and when it is simply not possible. Decide on a sign-off time and stick to it. Make your schedule and quantify your work schedule. Stop replying to work-related texts and emails after a certain time at night in order to firmly set the expectation of when colleagues can reach you.
Finally, talk to someone outside of your organization that is skilled in advising folks on navigating tricky workplace situations, such as a career coach or a mentor.
Remember it is one life, and you have to live it to your best.
Avoid being in comparisons or feeling perturbed with what others are doing. Everyone has to fight their own battles, and struggles. We have to learn to deal with our lives and our issues too.
Yes its good to have desires and dreams, and mostly you have to work for them. Don’t get stressed simply by having unrealistic expectations from life. This shall leave you irritated and angry too.
DON’T OVERDO ANY ACTIVITY
Overdoing any activity, simply to distract yourself is a temporary solution. If you think over indulging in relaxation, or alcohol shall help you avoid burnout, then it simply won’t. Rather, it shall worsen your health.
A mental burnout is much more taxing than physical burnout. A physical stress can still be relived with rest and recovery, but you need to address mental burnout very properly.
Hope this helps you !
