In my last blog I wrote about overwhelm and I shared about how extended periods of unresolved overwhelm and stress can lead to burnout. The Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.

Burnout in the course of employment can make one feel emotionally drained and unable to function in the context of work and other aspects of life. In 2020, Google searches for ‘signs of burnout’ showed a 24% increase compared to the previous year.

I’ve experienced career burnout multiple times, the first of which was when I was working in government and then again when my marriage ended. Other occurrences showed up in conjunction with layoffs which allowed me to fully embrace the time and nourishment that’s needed to truly rest and recover, not to mention the spiritual aspects.

Each time I’ve experienced burnout, it’s because something in my life was not in alignment with who I am at my core. I had a tendency to think it was simply related to work and workload, but it’s so much more than that. It was always about my own boundaries, how I was allowing my own depletion and not being clear about my needs.

If I’m not clear on my own needs, how can I even articulate them in the various aspects of my life?

When we begin new things like a new job or study or venture into entrepreneurship, we move forward with a high level of commitment, energy, and creativity.

Before burnout shows up, predicted stresses of the initiative you’re undertaking begin to show up; positive coping strategies are important to build into your daily routine AKA self-care and activities that exist outside of professional pursuits, you know, a life outside of career or even parenthood.

When you create healthy strategies at this stage you can keep your energy, commitment and creativity at a steady pace.

This shows up as:

High level of commitment to “the thing”
Creative flow
High productivity
Overall satisfaction
Readily accepting responsibility
Sustained energy levels
Palpable optimism

Potential signs of burnout

An awareness of some days being more difficult than others is when you want to start paying attention as it’s an indicator of the potential of burnout. You may find your optimism waning, as well as notice common stress symptoms affecting you physically, mentally, or emotionally such as:

Anxiety
Inability to decide
Change in appetite/nutrition
Fatigue
Forgetfulness
Putting your needs last
Grinding your teeth at night
Headaches
Heart palpitations / High blood pressure
Inability to focus
Irritability
Job, life and relationship dissatisfaction
Lack of sleep or reduced sleep quality
Lack of social interaction
Lower productivity

When intermittent stress becomes chronic

Some stress is normal and even healthy, but when you notice a marked change in your stress levels, going from being highly motivated, to experiencing stress on a regular or constant basis.

The symptoms from yesterday’s post may also show up more intensely. I knew something was up for me when I got shingles earlier this year; many health issues are directly related to chronic stress and should not be taken lightly!

Other elements to watch out for are:

Sense of failure and self-doubt
Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated
Detachment, feeling alone in the world
Loss of motivation
Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment

In the thick of burnout

Next is burnout itself and that’s when the situation is critical. This is when every fibre of your being, mind, body and spirit is crying out for attention.

This looks like:

Internal emptiness
Self-doubt
Social isolation
Chronic headaches, stomach or bowel problems
Complete neglect of personal needs
Escapist activities/fantasies
Desire to move away from work or friends / family
A pessimistic outlook on work and life
Feeling like you’re being punished

Habitual Burnout

Habitual burnout is when the experience is so embedded in your life that you experience significant ongoing mental, physical or emotional problems, as opposed to occasionally experiencing normal levels of stress and challenges.

This shows up as:

Chronic sadness
Depression
Burnout syndrome
Chronic mental fatigue
Chronic physical fatigue

Stress vs Burnout

The difference between stress and burnout is that burnout tends to be the result of unrelenting stress. Stress is too many pressures that demand too much of you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Stressed people can still imagine that if they can just get everything under control, they’ll feel better.

Burnout is about not enough; feeling empty and mentally exhausted, devoid of motivation, being completely “out of f**ks”. People experiencing burnout often don’t see any hope of positive change in their situations. When excessive stress feels like you’re drowning in responsibilities, burnout is a sense of being all dried up with an empty tank. And while you’re usually aware of being under a lot of stress, you don’t always notice burnout when it happens.

Next week we’ll take a look at HOW to apply self-care principles and healing to recover from burnout.

In case you missed them:
https://www.jessicadawncoaching.com/blog/9-signs-of-overwhelm-and-how-to-shift-your-experience

https://www.jessicadawncoaching.com/blog/managing-overwhelm

https://www.jessicadawncoaching.com/blog/back-from-burnout

https://www.jessicadawncoaching.com/blog/handling-on-the-spot-stress