Have you been overextending yourself? Are you feeling overwhelmed? Maybe you are
experiencing burnout. This is a term that we all hear used often in everyday language. However, what exactly is burnout? It is the end state of the long term on chronic stress marked by emotional exhaustion, a decrease in feelings of accomplishment, and negative feelings toward self and others. It can be caused by a lack of clarity in your role, unmanageable workloads, lack of support, and unreasonable pressure. Burn out can leave people feeling exhausted, empty, and unable to cope with the demands of life.
What does burnout look like? Burnout can lead to social withdrawal, fatigue, difficulty with
emotional regulation, absenteeism, and cynicism toward the job or activities. Physically a
person can experience headaches or stomach aches. Emotionally a person can feel drained,
unable to cope, and tired. It can also reduce a person’s level of functioning which is shown
through negative feelings about the tasks, difficulty concentrating, and reduced creativity.
Burnout can also look like depression or anxiety. Left unaddressed, burnout can make it difficult for an individual to function well in their daily lives.
We generally associate burnout with job settings, but this can also occur in other settings
where the demand is high and the support is low. What is the treatment and prevention for burnout? It can feel like burnout is a permanent condition, but there are ways to help. A person who feels burned out may need to make changes to their stressful environment. A good place to start managing stress/burnout is to speak to someone. This could be a peer, supervisor, or human resources. If there is no support in the setting then reach out to a therapist for support. Therapy can help you process stress and work on finding alternative solutions. Also, in your personal time focus on self-care activities, such as recreational activities, hobbies, socializing with friends, meditation, breathing exercises, eating a healthy diet, and more.
Taking time to combat burnout is the key to helping you feel your best. As always I am here to help in any way I can.