Recognise the Signs and Help Yourself Recover
Burnout is on the rise. Societal changes are occurring at an ever increasing pace, and they are impacting our stress levels and health at work and home. What is Burnout?
Burnout is a combination of mental and physical exhaustion, caused by ineffectively managing prolonged stress. According to WHO (World Health Organisation) burnout is an occupational phenomenon. Burnout leads to many serious health conditions, one of which includes chronic stress — this is linked to the top five causes of death.
In my experience, burnout isn’t solely caused by your professional life. Strained personal relationships, finances, social expectations and trauma add to the load of those already experiencing chronic stress levels at work. When personal and professional stresses combine, they cause a rapid decline in mental and physical health. Nobody wants to go through life running on empty, feeling like the simplest of tasks are sucking the life out of them and consuming more energy than they have.
Signs of Burnout
Burnout is sneaky. You may think you are coping ok, but in reality burnout is creeping up on you. It is progressive and you don’t always notice the various stages as you transit through. Burnout has a variety of different signs, including:
• Exhaustion, fatigue and insomnia
• Negative and cynical outlook
• Low mood
• Memory recall
• Increase in frustration, anger, sadness
• Lack of tolerance
• Loss of creativity and purpose
• Reduced professional efficacy
• Difficulty concentrating
• Reduced performance and productivity
• Health issues like headaches, digestive issues, muscle tension
What Causes Burnout?
1. Overwork – People are frequently asked to perform tasks with unrealistic time frames, experience increased workload and are asked to do tasks with inadequate equipment or skills.
2. Lack of Control – An inability to influence decisions about your job, like deadlines or workload, how the work is to be completed or resources required to perform the job.
3. Reward – This is not just about the paycheck. It’s also about social acknowledgement, such as a thank you or feedback and recognition for a job well done.
4. Isolation – Isolation is people not feeling connected to others emotionally or physically. An employee can feel isolated at work when they don’t feel heard or supported.
5. Fairness – Perceived unfairness contributes to burnout. This could be unfair treatment compared to your peers, or inequities in promotions or workloads.
6. Values – When values become misaligned with the school or principals, you become more cynical towards your role and school. If you identify with any burnout signs above and are continuously operating in a heightened state of stress, check in with your medical practitioner.
The Impact
Burnout can have a substantial effect not only on your health but your relationships and career, too. You may need to take time off to recover or spend large sums of money on your health. The psychological trauma of feeling like a failure and not being good enough or worthy enough, along with re-evaluating your life.
Avoid Burnout
If you don’t want the life force sucked out of you, take action now or your road to recovery may take you not days or weeks, but years. If you are experiencing any signs of burnout, or know someone who is, get support straight away. Quick action in treating burnout will be cheaper and much less soul destroying in the long term. Health hygiene habits are so important to maintain equilibrium in how you show up to work and perform each day.
Handy Tips
1. Make downtime part of your schedule and lock time in your diary for yourself, time for socialising and for your loved ones. Choose activities that bring happiness and joy, to release endorphins and assist in achieving and maintaining a positive state of mind.
2. Prioritise yourself. Create a wellness plan and make it a habit. Move your body daily. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise — even a short walk does the job. Eat healthy foods and hydrate adequately. We underestimate the power that nourishing our body has on our performance and most importantly, our mindset.
3. Be mindful of language. The words you use have energy and power. When you use negative language, it causes the brain to release stress chemicals. Using a positive solution based approach, you remain in a neutral or more euphoric state. For example, when you ‘have’ to do a task it feels hard and heavy, but ‘getting’ to do an activity is lighter and easier.
If you think you are on the Burnout Bus, get off. Don’t travel the long, hard road to recovery. Resolving burnout means creating new beliefs, habits and ways of operating (behaviours).