Could You Be Burned Out? Ways To Tell And Fix It

Aug 11

By identifying signs of burnout early and taking steps to avoid it, you can protect your health and productivity. The 1st step is learning what burnout is and why it's important that you address it.

According to Psychology Today there 3 common signs of burnout to look out for.

1. Emotional and physical exhaustion

This can mean lack of sleep or poor sleep quality, Feeling like you're always exhausted even after a full night's sleep, and feeling like you don't have enough time in the day.

If you're not getting enough sleep, it can be a sign that you're heading toward burnout. Sleep deprivation can lead to low energy levels, irritability, poor focus, and memory problems.

Getting enough sleep is important for helping the body recover from injuries and the daily stresses of life. When you're under stress, your body produces hormones that can cause physical symptoms like headache or nausea.

I started experiencing migraines but at the time I didn't understand what was happening. I thought it might be the added stress I was under but as many of us do, I just tried to push through. Those migraines kept coming back almost daily for 3 months!

But you don't want to wait until your body is screaming that something is wrong. It's important that the body gets the downtime it needs to normalize and heal itself.

If you're having trouble sleeping, there are several things that you can do to improve your chances of getting some shut-eye. Try doing something to relax like crochet, reading, stretches, or light exercises before bedtime so that your body is more relaxed when it's time for sleep. Maybe try going outside for a walk or jogging during the day; it can help clear your mind so that you're not thinking about work when you go to bed at night.

2. Depersonalization and cynicism

Depersonalization can make you feel like you're looking at yourself from outside of your body. Like yourself or your environment is unreal and is usually caused by high levels of stress or fatigue. You stop caring about things because nothing seems worthwhile or interesting anymore. In short, it makes you lose all sense of self-confidence and causes irritability with the people around you or cynicism about their sincerity.

After a while, this can lead to increased withdrawal or distancing and the third category on this list...

3. A lessening of your sense of personal effectiveness

When people are burnt out, they sometimes can feel as though they lack motivation and drive. This can mean feeling lethargic and unmotivated throughout the day as well as cause problems with job performance and relationships with others at work or home. One might describe low motivation, dread, taking longer to complete tasks, having difficulty concentrating, or simply not being interested in what they used to enjoy doing.

Stress also makes you more likely to make mistakes at work — which could result in lost productivity or even legal liability for your company if someone gets injured because of your mistake (for example).

This can further feed into a lack of self-confidence almost like creating a feedback loop.

Burnout isn't just about getting more sleep, doing more exercise, or forcing yourself to be around people. It's about making real changes to your lifestyle and how you approach stress. Now that you've identified the symptoms of burnout, it's not the right time to keep telling yourself that you're burned out - even on a subconscious level because you'll start believing yourself and start looking for more things to feed into that mindset. Instead, it's time to take action!

The good news is that burnout starts in your mind and that's your best weapon for overcoming it. Examine how you handle stress, and how you think about your environment, relationships, and finances. Then change the way you look at them.

Notice that when you enjoy what you do, who you're with, where you are, and what you have you don't feel burnt out right?

Find ways to enjoy what you have, make changes to find what you can love, or make changes to find yourself in a position you love. Start a journal or note things you're grateful for at the beginning and end of each day to help you shift your focus. Sometimes simply focusing on things you can influence for the better like your creating healthy diet and exercise habits can accumulate to counter the negative. Look at challenges as lessons to help you grow instead of roadblocks. Envision obstacles as a training ground to help you get stronger, better, or faster instead of something to keep you back.

We underestimate the power of what we tell ourselves and focus on. But, make small changes regularly and they will accumulate. Burnout doesn't have the final say, its a season or opportunity for growth as you find a way to overcome it.