Burnout: Burnout Symptoms and Tips for Burnout Recovery

In 2019, “Burnout” was recognized by WHO as an Occupational phenomenon. After the pandemic, poor work-life balance results in stress, burnout, Anxiety & Depression. Although people have awareness of the word burnout often fail to take steps to overcome this burnout.

“I don’t like myself, I don’t know why my conversations are not going well every time.
Why I am getting irritated frequently?!!
I am so tired, not able to do my work.
I feel that I am not capable of doing this work”

You may feel like the above if you are suffering from Burnout. Sometimes, it looks like an “Imposter Phenomenon”.

What is Burnout?

Burnout is a state of Physical, Mental & Emotional exhaustion that occurs as a result of excessive unresolved stress. That is, you may experience long-term stress in your job or life.

It is gradual, subtle at first, and disturbs you as a whole.

Remember, burnout is not something that goes on its own.

Symptoms of Burnout:

Unresolved stress is burnout but the symptoms are totally opposite. Three major symptoms include

Exhaustion:

You may be highly exhausted both physically and emotionally. Complete fatigue with loss of energy.

Depersonalization:

You feel and show indifference
You may have a cynical feeling inside
You may lack the ability to communicate effectively with people.

Reduced personal accomplishment/ performance:

You feel that your work is insufficient and you are incapable of performing your work.
You lose your creativity and it is difficult for you to concentrate on your work.

Other symptoms include,

Physical: Frequent Headaches, Muscle pain, Change in appetite and sleep, low immunity, and frequent illness

Emotional: Self-doubt, loss of motivation, detachment, socially not active, always feeling defeated.

These physical and Emotional affection results in behavioral changes like Procrastinating, shouting & yelling at others, withdrawing from responsibilities, and falling into addictions.

How Burnout develops in your workplace:

Initially, you will be active & productive in your work. After a few days, because of monotony and lack of self-care, you become deteriorated, less productive, lose focus and fatigue occurs resulting in apathy, procrastinating things, and Angry lash-out. If left untreated at this moment, eventually you develop Numbness, Self-doubt, frequent headaches, stomach upset, and other physical illness.

At one point, you become habituated to these factors which end up in Anxiety & Depression.

Burnout Recovery- Tips to combat Burnout:

It’s not like taking medicine, so you will be all right the next day. Not at all!! Recovering from Burnout is a process. You need to acknowledge first and voluntarily, help yourself for Burnout recovery.

Burnout is a sign that something important in your life is not working healthily.

Look for Change:

Work stress is the major causative factor for burnout which happens as a result of Toxic working culture. After a thorough evaluation, it is better to quit your job and look for something interesting.

This is not possible for everyone since paying bills totally relies on this salary. So don’t quit, instead, talk with your employer about your burnout symptoms and ask for a leave to restore your health.

Be socially active:

Connect to people whom you trust and share your issues. Remember, the person you choose should be an active listener and don’t look for a solution from them.

Connect with your friends and talk about your mutual beautiful memories. Open yourself, start networking and make friends based on mutual interests and values.

Travel:

Best choice to overcome burnout. Based on your budget, plan a trip with your loved ones. Or else, just move out, and go to nearby places around your home. Travel boosts your creativity and Happiness and opens a space for you to live with satisfaction.

Rediscover yourself:

Take time to analyze your goals, dreams, and action plan. Disintegration in your track leads to burnout. So analyzing helps you to rediscover yourself and thus it paves the way for overcoming burnout.

Do Social media fasting:

Social media and its notification is the best source of stress. You may not aware of your stressors which results in burnout. So it is better to sign out from all social media or give a special time for social media and avoid distractions.

Find your purpose:

I have already mentioned that burnout is a salient sign that something important in your life is not working. So start discovering yourself, know your strengths, weaknesses, your needs, your wants, your impulses, your moods, your emotions, your desires, your reactions to the outer and inner environment, your capabilities, and your abilities.

Being self-aware not only helps you to overcome burnout but also regulates you as a whole and prevents burnout in the future.

Take care of your Intellectual Health:

Intellectual Health and wellness are the best antidotes for your burnout. Take steps to take care of your Intellectual health & wellness. Click here to know, how?

Self-care & Habits:

Self-care includes the care for your physical, Mental, Emotional & Social health. Focus on building healthy habits like doing exercise, eating right, sound sleep, practicing yoga, mindfulness, and Meditation.

For Emotional & Social well-being, setting healthy boundaries plays a vital role. How do you set healthy boundaries?

Burnout can be reversible, be mindful of who you are, address your early symptoms and take steps to recover from burnout. If you find difficulty, seek professional help. Remember, if you left untreated, it eventually ends up in Psychiatric illness.

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