You’re a human. Not the Energizer Bunny. What’s with all the rush?
If life feels like way more work than play to the point where you’re facing extreme emotional exhaustion, see the world as lacking any real significance, or have less of an ability to produce what you used to, then you may be facing burnout.
It’s more than feeling stressed. Burnout has severe impacts on our mental and physical health and takes commitment to heal from. How do you know if you’re caught in its flames? Let’s talk about how to spot and reverse the signs of burnout.
Early Stages of Burnout
When you start experiencing burnout, you may find yourself pushing past your limits to accomplish a goal while neglecting to care for yourself at the same time. You might depersonalize yourself or the people around you, only seeing them for what they offer the goal in mind.
Instead of exchanging pleasantries with your coworker, maybe now you speak stoically and straight-forward, trying to get the information you need then leave.
You could also depersonalize yourself by working so hard on a certain project that you deny yourself feelings of hunger, boredom, or joy. The to-do list becomes the only thing on your mind.
Deep Into Burnout
Eventually, focusing only on the project at hand and nothing else can lead to intense feelings of emptiness or invite a temporary depression or anxiety disorder. Feeling incapable of tending to your own needs can lead you to abuse substances like alcohol, drugs, or even shopping to numb your feelings. Thoughts of suicide may even arise.
Burnout invites a host of physical problems—enlarged amygdala, hormone changes, stomachaches, and even changes in your voice. It can be a traumatizing experience for people. Because of this, it’s important to seek help and invest in the time it takes to recover healthily.
You owe it to yourself to experience life outside of your productivity.
Reversing Burnout
Mindfulness
One of the biggest things that can help you manage burnout is practicing mindfulness. This is the ability to track and understand your own thought patterns. Practicing mindfulness can lead to epiphanies about why you became burnt out. Becoming mindful of the small tasks in the rhythm of your day can help you stay centered.
Meditation
Sometimes, all you need is to step away from work to gain perspective about your burnout. Meditation allows us to pause for a moment to recollect ourselves and focus on the breath.
Practicing meditation and deep breathing for even a few moments every day can slow down spiraling thoughts and reduce rapid heart rates. Taking conscious breaths and making your exhalation longer than your inhalation for just 3 rounds of breath moves you into your parasympathetic nervous system inducing the alpha brain waves which bring on a sense of peace and calm.
Connecting with Others
Ask yourself the last time you connected with a coworker or family member on a deeper, genuine level. When was the last time you treated someone with genuine interest and joy?
Challenge yourself to reach out to three people this week just to grab coffee and spend time together. Leave the task list behind for at least an hour and gauge how you feel after giving yourself a little social break.
In our hyper-productive society that seems to only ever focus on doing more, better, faster, it’s important to slow down and remember that life is about more than our output. You deserve to do more with your life than work on behalf of someone or something else.
Make time for yourself and take it as seriously as you do your workload. If you need help getting things under control, reach out to me and we can work through strategies tailored to your needs.