How do you notice when you are nearing burnout?

Burnout is a real thing many people face everyday. What is burnout? It’s a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. This can lead to a loss of motivation or energy, anxiety or detachment, stress your body into illness like high blood pressure, insomnia or depression and so on. So what are some of the causes of burnout?

Some of the reasons that can cause burnout are:

Feeling like you lack control in your job, life, relationships, a lack of social support.

Feeling isolated and alone  or unclear expectations and boundaries. 

Work-life Imbalance. One area of your life takes up more of your time than the others. 

Dysfunctional work, life or relationship dynamic. 

Overwork.

A key way to figure out if you are going into burnout is if you starting to lose interest in it or life in general. I noticed this for myself these past 2 months. I have been working nonstop since I was able to come out of the pandemic. During this time I took days here but it wasn’t enough to counter measure the type of physically demanding work along with energetic/emotional work was doing as well. For me I notice burnout when I am no longer wanting to work or build up my future. When I start to resent or feel disengaged in my work that is when I know that it is time to take action. What are some ways to handle burnout?

Some ways you can handle burnout are:

-Evaluate what is concerning you. This may mean take time to reflect and figure out if you can change or alter things in your life. 

-Find some support, let people around you know what’s going on or seek out professional help. It could be as simple as collaborating with a fellow team member or telling your partner what’s going on. 

-Practice mindfulness. Focus on your breathing and being present in the moment to bring you back in control of yourself. 

-meditate. 

-Get extra sleep. 

-Get away. Go on vacation if you can. This can mean going somewhere or just taking a few days off to decompress and relax. 

-Get massages or bodywork. 

-Exercise 

-Call out when it’s just too much. 

-Have a guys or girls night out.

-Get a mentor or a coach. 

That is why I am taking some time off to just get away. I reached burnout and I have been doing a lot of these tips yet I am still in a state of just wanting to escape all together. After finishing work today I realized that I am officially done for a week! That is exciting and yet there is a part of me that feels like it’s not real. We as humans were not born to work nonstop then die, we were born to live. If you can find a balance that allows you to be less stressed, to be less exhausted and working less than keep it! 

I am excited for this vacation because it is an important time for me. I am going to take this opportunity to recharge, re-energize and manifest some real things into my life. But that is going to take some real self reflection. I have a lot of things to think about over the next week and I am hopeful that the time away will allow me to really dive into them. There are a lot of wonderful things coming in for me and I am going to sort out what it is I truly want and then go from there. 

When we face burnout we tend to forget our why. Why am I doing this? Why am I here? Why am I with this person? Why is this person my friend? And so on. Taking time to self reflect is the most important step you can take when facing burnout. For some you can do this from your house and for others you need to get out of your environment into unfamiliar land. Whatever you need to be able to reflect and re-assess what it is you want and where you want to go then take it. You come before anything else. Not your family, not your kids, not your partner, not your job, or whatever society is telling you comes first, YOU COME FIRST!! Because if you are burnt out then you won’t be able to participate fully in your life. Self care comes first, self reflection comes first, THE SELF comes first. So take the time you need, take the space you need, take the trip you need, whatever it is you need take it! Figure it out then set a trajectory towards your true north! Once you have that energy back up then you will fly higher than you ever have. 

Today was a 5. Only because I didn’t sleep. Otherwise it was a great day!