Signs of Burnout!
Burnout is one of the most common causes I see in my clients' experiences. It is what brings them to me, looking for change. Burnout happens to most people in their lifetime and usually, it’s only acknowledged, or even recognised, when it becomes all-consuming and often presents itself physically. Here are some of the signs of burnout!
What is burnout?
Burnout is a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling “swamped”. It’s a result of excessive and prolonged emotional, physical, and mental stress.
In many cases, burnout is related to one’s job. Despite burnout not being a medical condition, what often occurs is a depleted immune system or at least exhaustion that requires physical rest.
Major reasons for burnout include:
Unmanageable workloads
Unfair treatment at work
Confusing work responsibilities
Lack of communication or support from managers
Immense deadline pressure
(source: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/burnout-symptoms-signs)
For some people, they manage to avoid burnout by recovering their energy in their own time; for example, consistent nights in , cancelling plans, sleeping in, and limiting social activities. All of these, employed on occasion, are part of managing your time and balancing your energy. However, on a regular basis, people do this to avoid burnout.
Subsequently, when your social life gets busy, for example during a change in season like summer or around Christmas, all of a sudden, your body and brain doesn’t have that precious recovery time and you experience burnout.
A few signs or symptoms of burnout include:
1] Apathy
Apathy is a deep numbness towards your work, even over things you may usually enjoy. It can feel like you just stopped caring, an email comes in and you feel nothingness in response.
This for one client appeared in the form of wanting to ‘just tell the founders to f*** off’ when being told what to do. A relationship that had worked well for 2 years previously and is a job that usually brings her a huge amount of job satisfaction.
This makes it incredibly difficult to motivate yourself to work hard or do anything productive at work, which in itself is demoralising. You may be surprised at how long you can spend in this space!
2] A struggle to be creative
The Prefrontal cortex is generally responsible for cognition, including information modulation, attentional focus, decision-making, emotional analysis and response, problem-solving and working memory.
This part of the brain (in comparison to other areas such as the hippocampus) takes a lot more energy to function. The hippocampus - the older part of your brain - plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and in spatial memory which enables navigation. This part of the brain requires a lot less energy and is where habits form. You know that journey to work where you ‘zone out’ and you arrive realising you don’t remember getting there? This is why humans enjoy routine, by using the hippocampus instead of the prefrontal cortex, we conserve our energy. It is also why we get tired when we have to process lots of new information or make many decisions; this all takes place in the energy-demanding prefrontal cortex.
3] Exhaustion & illness
This final sign is the point when you might recognise that you are burnt out.t. For me, burnout quickly knocks my immune system and shows up as tonsillitis or pure exhaustion. At this point, your body just can’t continue. If you reach this level of burnout, your focus needs to be on recovering, resting your body and brain, and not pushing yourself too hard too soon.
If you have any questions or would like any support with overcoming burnout, jump on your FREE clarity call and select ‘intensives’ to discuss how this works. This is the quickest solution to fixing burnout. Fees are shared before you book your call.
Sarah is a Career Change Coach. She helps women breakthrough and pivot in their career. Whether you're not networking, developing your own work or side hustle! Stop feeling like you don’t know where to start and reach out!
Sarah has a Masters in Psychology and is both accredited by and a member of the British Psychological Society. She has experience working with the military and corporate sector in recovery, transition, leadership, and mentoring.
