Americans are exhausted. It’s not a surprise to many of us that there’s a study that found nearly 40% of Americans wake up still feeling sleepy.
I know that most of us can really relate to this. It’s like our energy levels have risen and fallen in waves that are sometimes too inexplicable. There are mornings that I can barely open my eyes by 9:30 AM and there are times that I feel so energetic early in the morning with great levels of excitement. The question is, are we really just tired, or is there something more serious behind those days that we lack in energy?
What is burnout?
Burnout is defined as the mental and physical collapse caused by overworking and stress. While fatigue is also a sign of burnout, it can also manifest along with physical and mental symptoms.
The difference is that when you’re just plain tired, you’re able to function even though you’re not in your full potential. But when you’re experiencing burnout, you are no longer able to function effectively on a personal and even on a professional level. It can even feel extreme, almost like you’re tired physically and emotionally.
Symptoms of burnout
- Physical and emotional exhaustion. When you’re experiencing burnout, not only do you feel physical exhaustion but it includes feeling very drained and depleted emotionally–almost like you’re feeling depressed. You may also experience having difficulty in sleeping even though you’re already tired. Chances are, you’re also being forgetful and your immune system is suffering.
- Detachment. You may start to feel negative, disconnected from other people, and complacent. Even people who seem so passionate about work, family and everything else can still feel this emptiness when they’re feeling burned out.
- Ineffectiveness. You feel distracted, so you are not being as productive as you normally are. You may start to wonder if what you’re doing is okay or what it’s really for.
What causes burnout?
Burnout is simply caused by chronic stress that has built up over time. It’s our body’s way of saying that it needs a break, so that’s what we should give it.
The good news is that one or two nights of not being able to sleep properly won’t make you feel burnout. However, when you’re feeling too much stress over work-related issues, emotional negativity, or even social stressors and it continues over a long period of time, your body and mind might start to feel like it can’t keep up.
How do you overcome burnout?
- Practice self-care. Go easy on yourself and don’t overwork. Learn how to take breaks before your mind and body shut down on you. Take bubble baths and use face masks to help relieve stress– or whatever makes you feel better, go for it. Recovering from a burnout takes time, some people take more than just a day to get back on their feet.
- Set priorities. People who don’t prioritize are prone to burnouts. They start to feel overwhelmed after long periods of juggling from one task to another until it starts to feel endless and tiring. When you learn how to prioritize, you can proceed from one task to another without feeling like you have so many things to do.
- Get some sleep. This is very simple, the best form of rest is sleep and you need it!
Life can be very hectic at times and we all deal with stress on a daily basis. If we don’t learn how to take care of ourselves despite our busy schedule, we are only going to make it worse for our physical and mental health. In order to deal with this positively, we must learn to be mindful of taking breaks when the going gets too tough.
It took me nearly a week to recover from burnout. It was way stressful because I could no longer keep up from work but I knew I needed rest.
Thanks for this. I didn’t know I was already experiencing this. I kept getting colds too because I feel really exhausted to the point that I can no longer function.
I hate this feeling to be honest. Which is why I just learned to take care of myself.
Maybe this is what my sister has been feeling lately. She finds it really hard to get up in the morning but claims it’s not exactly depression. I’m going to show this to her.?
Self-care really is important. I also learned it the hard way that when you’re tired, rest. Never assume that your body will always function well even under pressure.
I agree, learn to rest. It’s never good to overwork.
Sometimes even when you’re prioritizing, you’re still going to have a hard time juggling tasks. ?
Spa nights are very important for me. An hour in the tub with warm water, candles, and a book! Takes away all the stress.
Spa nights are very important for me. An hour in the tub with warm water, candles, and a book! Takes away all the stress.
I could totally relate to this on a different level. It mostly happens to me when I’m very busy at work and I forget to rest and have fun even just for a while. What I do is just have a little but of alone time to clear my head for a day or two, then I feel better.
That’s what I do too. If I could travel alone even for a few days, I do that.
We all deserve a break sometimes. It’s very unhealthy to always be focusing on our career and disregarding our mental and physical health.?
Even with once a week of hanging out with friends and family, you can stop burnouts from happening.
The annoying thing about burnout is, it affects you physically and affects your linguistic skills.
Exercise helps me. Just getting out for a walk can be refreshing.
Yes, I am in the beginning stages of recovering from my own burnout from overstressing myself about life.
I realized that I was burnt out and I took a vacation. Finally, I rescheduled my daily timetable.
When I am feeling burnout I take a break from what is causing the burnout and refocus on another goal I actually can make some headway on to feel like I am still moving forward somewhere in my life. When I am at an impasse with everything at once, that’s really tough. Then I just keep at it all a little at a time until something gives.
So burnout is basically stress related to work only?
Thank you so much for this content. I hope I can incorporate all the advice I’m a mess. Love you girlie. ?
I think you might have just saved my life and translated what my friends and family have been trying to tell me for years
Burnout, and residual burnout, are very real and very important issues. I have been through both. In my experience overly stressful workplaces typically have high turnover rates. Sometimes they offer unusually high pay, trying to attract employees with money rather than actually addressing what’s going on.
I dropped out of my research masters course a few weeks back and am considering leaving science all together. All this sounds very familiar to me. 🙁
This is so good! This has validated my feelings, I have reached burnout too many times. I”m only 28, but its good to know how to recognize once you have reached burnout. Balance is the key to everything.
Thank you, you have given me a lot to think about. I believe that I hit that wall just last week, after 4 years I went from up and coming to trash. I cant sleep, I shake, I want to go to work but the thought of it makes me want to vomit. I am having repeated stress episodes, yesterday I was able to count twenty-one of them. I do not like this.
God you so tricking nailed so on the spot ! Doesn’t help me any i suffer from both and want to work but know if I try it just intensifies
The stigma on burn outs is still high. Many people suffer from the illness but its not recognized as a serious illness. Makes it harder to recover and get the right treatment. Rather break two legs than getting a burn out.
Burnout isn’t being tired. I recently started having panic attacks related to work. I had to stay in bed for a full week because I was scared to go to work. You might think you know burn out, until you really know what it is.
I burnt out after taking comprehensive exams during my PhD. I hurt so much. I screamed so loud in my dreams. My boyfriend used to freak out for my screams.
Everyone is bipolar. You have good cogent days and bad days when you had to deal with a situation that got you upset. Even reading things on fb or twitter can often get you paranoid and fearful. How good for people is these boards of friends you don’t really know.
I’d say it took me closer to three years to get out. But really before that it had been building for a long time. Recovering a little and then taking some other hit due to the circumstances. Recently another stressful situation set it off again. But I recover faster now, like there is more to fall back on, and also I have more coping strategies and recognition. But damn it’s a long steep climb. Mostly I feel like all I need is peace of mind, meaningful physical exercise, aestethic and sensual stimulation, and the company of people that know me well, and where there is low probability of conflict, dilemmas or emotionally stressful situations that need dealing with over time.
I’ve been burned out for a little over 2 months and you couldn’t be more on point. You’re an angel. Thank you!
I have burnout from working in customer service and also cause my life sucks in general.
I have burnout from working in customer service and also cause my life sucks in general.
thanks for the great info! i burned out at work a couple of weeks ago. i kept pushing through mental, physical, and sleep fatigue until i got to work one day and didn’t recognise the people there. i’m trying to rebuild again now.
If psychology continues down this path, every person will have some diagnosis. Even Freud worried about attaching diagnoses to normal aspects of life.
Capitalism is the biggest cause of burnout but until we accept that, we just won’t move on as a species. capitalism keeps us at the very bottom of Maslov’s Hierarchy… forever.
This text on burnout is such a timely and needed discussion. My greatest lesson learned from this article? Even when you recognize that you are burned out, it lasts longer than we think.
I am on board. With my experience I thought it was depression however my sister called it when she said PTSD. I walked away from my job and a company that I loved due to a supervisor with too much power. It’s hard to own this experience and grow and be stronger but I am determined, even more so now that I’m informed.
These situations and symptoms are strikingly familiar, this article made me realize i dont want to return to my current employer
I burned out really slowly over about 3-4 years but when the actual end point happened it was over a couple months and I am still recovering after 2 years. I still cry once in a while. I hate seeing or speaking with my old coworkers it makes me go into overload.
The segment on burnout really makes you think. Work overload being so low on the list makes you realize if your spirits are dying you won’t be able to perservere. Cause think about when you 100% believe in something and are focused. You could overwork yourself to extreme amounts and somehow still maintain the will/energy to keep going. Not to sound too new agey, but It’s really important to be In a place with good energy and good people.
I believe this is why I walked off of my job in the middle of my work day and have not returned to work in over a year…. strange I never considered this is the reason that I’ve also become sort of a shut in also. thanks for this article. I feel its provided some very useful insight into what might be happening with me internally at this time. I hope that becoming aware of this might help put me back into my life again. I used to love my occupation more then any other part of my life. Since leaving I’ve been considering a career change. Perhaps I should be looking in the direction of professional help instead.
Thanks for explaining this. You explained my situation perfectly. It’s taken me two years to recover, I just quit work and couldn’t do anything. I blamed myself for being lazy, worthless, and a failure. I’ve had all the physical and mental symptoms you mentioned. I’ll need the reminder that what happened to me is real and not rooted in a character flaw. Thank you so much!
How do you tel the difference between depression and burn out? I always feel tired and like I have no energy but is this burn out or depression? I’ve already taken some time off but it hasn’t made any difference.
I believe you can have burnout due to the many things that can happen to you just in life that keep piling up. At some point something happens that is just too much and you crash, You feel like you are backed into a corner with no energy because you have went down so many paths with no results and no support from the people who were supposed to be there for you. I have had so many unfortunate experiences. I am way beyond burnout.
I have PTSD and now I’m dealing with burnout and it’s very similar! I’m in therapy, taking medication, and it’s not helping with the burnout. My PTSD was somewhat in remission for years and now I’m right back in it. Waking up screaming, panic attacks, stomach issues, can’t sleep or sleep for long periods of time. I need my job to pay for my treatment though so it feels like a vicious cycle. I pay a therapist to tell me to leave my job every week lol.
Hope you’ll feel better soon! It does get better… i don’t know to what extent, but definitely be better than that
How do I heal from burnout. I disconnect and enjoy the things I like such as social media along with horror and sci-fi movies. Oh and long walks help too when things aren’t as hectic outside at certain hours.
I find it hard to recognise and its not until I get a migraine or am physically sick that I realise I am suffering from burnout. I woke up being sick today so this article came on just the right day – thanks
I love what you said about burnout. Sometimes I feel lazy if I take ‘me’ time, so it’s nice to have reassurance that it’s a good thing! Thanks .
Sick and tired of feeling constantly tired! For two years I’ve been struggling with obsessive negative thoughts and I’m finally considering taking SSRIs because I’m so tired of dealing with this. However, I’m TERRIFIED of having unexpected long-term (permanent) side effects. Any advice? How common is it to have long-term side effects (personality changes, sex drive changes, headaches, etc.?) There are some pretty scary stories out there on the internet!
I struggle alot with feeling burnt out. I’ve noticed that when I’m being out, my anxiety and depression tend to get worse and I isolate myself. To handle burn out, I like to color, or I go for a walk. Watching a movie or too helps too. Just have to make sure i do something that doesn’t involve alot of brain power.
I’m in a state of confusion. I can’t express my emotions and I cry at unexpected moments. Sometimes in public too. I have anxiety and I tried to build up my courage gradually. I don’t know whether I’m an introvert or ambivert. Sometimes I can build myself up and say something, but sometimes not. I’m getting really tired of having to build up my courage. I just want to get rid of this feeling. Am I burnt out? What do I do???
I feel as if I never get enough done, even if I am doing something I have been meaning to do and know it is productive. I could be doing whatever the productive thing is, and still not like the way I’m spending my time, even if I’m enjoying myself. I write down my weekly agenda and often make timed to-do lists and get a lot down, but sometimes when I do this I still feel as if every minute I am living is a waste. I don’t mean that to sound in a suicidal way. Hopefully you haven’t anything similar to this before. Thanks.
what does it mean if you’re constantly burnt out? even if i dont have anything to do or any dead lines, i always feel like i should be doing something but im unable to properly do them. is this common? do most people feel this sometimes or is something wrong?
Ways dealing with burnout, proper work pause, cut caffeine, processed foods, cut cable media, less screen time, take daytrips, simple get away overnight, more sleep-rest.
Thanks for this article, what I do is retreat and I mean retreat from everything you know and around you, find time on your own and just pause your mind and body, just think by then of yourself and save yourself, because we are all survivors.
Loved reading this. Could you do something that would help guide a self awareness journey into coming to realizations about what our personal values and goals are?
I completely eliminate the factor that burns me out for a time period depending on what it is. If it’s work, I take a week or 10 day break. If it is a relationship, I stay off it for a while. Later, I reassess whether the relationship is worth my time and energy…
yeah last time i suffered from it while i was solving physics numerical for continuous period of 4 hrs solving numericals and then i recovered by simply eating my meal which i didnt eat in the morning. So food was my antidote for burn out.
When I am feeling burnt out I take a break from what is causing the burnout & refocus on another goal I actually can make some headway on to feel like I am still moving forward somewhere in my life. When I am at an impasse with everything at once, thats really tough. Then I just keep at it all a little at a time until something gives. Thanks & Happy Holidays!
My reoccurring theme is”from ashes into flame”, I care too much for others band try to help to the point I’m burnt out and exhausted. I then lose motivation to complete my own goals and have to recover then correct my path and continue. Rest and lots of sleep, being forgiving of myself for being tired and basically just do nothing and be still. That is the hardest to force myself to relax, rest and recover. I gradually return to my usual activities such as study and social interactions.
I was in a burnout last week. the thing that helped me was watching the movie Eurotrip and laughing so hard. i felt really better once the movie ended.
Burn out is very serious. A few days sleep or one month off usually doesn’t fix burn out. Those are just bandaids for systemic and pervasive problems. If you get back to your job/situation your next burn outs come faster and leave slower. Fits of rage and crying at inopportuned times , constant colds and sore throats, people who care about you will usually complain and alert you to your folly. This life style leads to depression, chronic fatigue syndrome and other autoimmune deficiency diseases and heart attacks. Oh yes, poor relationships and poverty. Mind yourselves people!
After Severe Burn Out followed by a partial recovery and burn out again I saw the habit and decided to Do Nothing until I felt up to it. Asking what is important and what I wanted to do and started doing it. feeling better but not rushing the process; a new person is emerging.
Thank you for this. I am a business owner who has worked super hard past three years and was obsessing and always beating myself up for too long. I was always thinking too much about what could go wrong. Recently I have had really bad anxiety attacks and it was all from the complete exhaustion. I am now on the road to recovering and I am making it a priority to take care of myself and reduce stress. I am changing my way of thinking. There is no need to create extra stress through worry. I know I will get back to a new and improved self, and this is going to make me stronger.
Your preaching to the choir. I needed this .Overall, My life is ok. I have 2 jobs, a small business, romance, sports and possibly returning to school. But I guess I’m just trying to think about what’s on the horizon and being prepared for it. But thanks anyway. P:S: I took notes reading this.
I’m now in a burn out, that’s why I’m here now .. I was feeling everything that you have mentioned and i didn’t know what’s wrong with me until someone told me about the name of this situation.
What I did was, I realized that I was burnt-out and I took a vacation. Finally, I rescheduled my daily timetable
I’m just burn out and done depression has took over my life and at 30 I feel as I ran out of time because of my own bad decisions as an adolescent .
I am currently in burnout I believe. I cannot seem to do 1/10th of what I was doing a year ago. I am sooo tired and am encouraged by seeing that I may be able to recover. Thanks so much!
Feeling exactly this right now. It’s been 6 months ongoing. It’s been a long journey and I have a long road ahead of me. It’s a struggle. My children keep me going. Always…I started medication to help with symptoms of depression and anxiety. 2 weeks in and my panic attacks or whatever they are, have decreased.
I’m stuck at university and I cannot take a break… What do you suggest? I’m burnt out and I don’t have an interest in anything.
Listening to your body and putting aside time for yourself to recover can go a long way. Allowing yourself to recover from burnouts and staying motivated is an excellent way to live full out!
Yes, I can relate. I am in the beginning stages of recovering from my own burnout from overstressing myself about life .
Yes, I had this experience when I worked on cruise ships more than year with very short breaks. It’s really terrible for mental and physical health! Be careful. Keep balance in all!
Tiredness? Okay. I get that but I’m not sure I understand the difference between burnout and depression.
Turn off the computer. Go to bed early. Sleep as much as possibly. Stop rushing. Only use the phone for necessary calls or messages. Plan every little day-to-day-action beside work in advance. Breathe. — My emergency exit plan for now.
Accept the situation as how it is. Visualize it as how you want it to be. Take massive action to change it!
im not stressed, but for the past three days i have been like non-stop trying to grasp extremely hard concepts (successfully) like theory of relativity, space time, time dilation, all the dimensions up until the tenth, and many others. I think I thought about it too hard, because I feel like puking, plus, I have been so obsessed because I have ADHD that I haven’t been getting adequate sleep either :/ when will this go away?? I need my brain back smh -.-
Yes, I have been burned out. Tp recover, I slept and detached from social media and the phone. It was necessary to take those steps.
It is a shame you have to feel guilty for not participating in social media or turning your phone off.
The annoying thing about burn out it affect you physically and affects your linguistic skills . Exercise helps me. Just getting out for a walk can be refreshing.
Worked my a** off for about 2 years (10-12 hours of work every day), I’ve reached the second highest position in the company, which is exactly below the CEO and then I just hit a wall. I had no energy to work anymore, no motivation to continue doing what I was doing and I didn’t know how to fix that… or maybe I didn’t even wanted to.
burnout is such a complex form of stress that it’s hard to explain in nearly 3 minutes, these are just the basics. And it depends on the situation that caused it.
My big thing is writing and I just try to do it and it doesn’t seem to happen and if I can’t write one chapter of a story a weekend I know I’m tapped.
I am starting to recover from severe burnout… what helps me is working for 90 minutes they sitting or laying down… 15 minutes then work another 90 minutes… 8 to 9 hours sleep minimum… two full days off per week… do nothing but rest or read… limit TV or stimulus… its helping a lot .
I was burned out big time in college. After graduating I took time to get back into art and painting, and I gave myself the chance to get into game design and 3d modeling. I didn’t ever feel guilty. That seems foreign to me to associate that with fun.
This is so accurate! Sometimes we don’t realize what we put ourselves through until someone else points it out to us. Thank you! I Appreciate your posts.
Thank you so much for this ?? I am going through these right now smh …
This is so me right now, thank you for the tips. I guess “me time” that’s what I need to overcome this… Thank you a bunch ? Have a productive day ^^
You hit all my bases. I felt I was burned out and have rested for 7 months. Just recently have I been able to put forth more effort. Job change was part of the answer and REST was indeed necessary. Some jobs will eat you up and spit you out and attest it to productivity as they pile 4 full-time jobs on 1 person. Funny thing is asked if I could take on more and I did say “NO”. They assigned them to me anyway. I have a better job now, called self-employed.
I try to fit in what I like to do but I swear my sleep schedule kills me. I need rest to keep me from having seizures but I need to work too .
Thank you so much for this article… Till now I wasn’t able to figure out what I have been going through… You have given me a clear picture of what it is I am going through… Thank you so much…
Great input. I’ve been experiencing all of these for about 2 years now. No wonder i keep having mental/emotional breakdowns
Great article. There are tons of times that I felt this, but I always ruled it out as “stress”.
I guess I’m just tired. I’ll rest before it even turns into something like this. It would be really bad if I had to deal with something like this.
This is so accurate it hurts. Now I understand how I feel for the past few days. I thought I was just about to get sick.?
The definition of burnout is honestly ME this week. I felt like my life was crumbling down and I felt so tired. I had to take a week away from work and really pick my self up!! ?
think the reason why a lot of Americans are tired because they’re too focused on building their careers and most of them just live and die to pay the bills.?
True, everyone wants good lives even though they have it all good.
We need to stop wanting more when we already have enough!
That’s a good question. On some days, I feel like I need a month of break from everything.
Being tired and burnout is so close to each other and it can be really hard to find the fine line between the two things. Just rest, do something leisurely and don’t forget to have fun.
I’ve been experiencing all of these for about 2 years now. No wonder i keep having mental/emotional break downs.
You hit all my bases. I felt I was burned out and have rested for 7 months. Just recently have I been able to put forth more effort. Job change was part of the answer and REST was indeed necessary. Some jobs will eat you up and spit you out and attest it to productivity as they pile 4 full-time jobs on 1 person. Funny thing is asked if I could take on more and I did say “NO”. They assigned them to me anyway. I have a better job now, called self-employed.
This was so helpful i thought i was the only one having this problem its probably because my life routine is very bad and it makes me tired because the stuff i do its probably because i havent been to school or work for a long time thank you for the article!
Sometimes we don’t realize what we put ourselves through until someone else points it out to us. Thank you! I Appreciate your posts :)
Yep going to work part time I can’t do full time. It’s extremely exhausting. I get panic attacks working full time.
So burnout is basically stress related to work only ? Please answer.
No, I don’t believe so, many things can cause burnout. Work burnout I believe is just one type.
Wal-Mart burned me out even though I was on antidepressants… They knew I was leaving but manager decided “today” would be my last day I just had to finish the work. Why should I finish my work if they won’t let me finish my two weeks? I just turned around, clocked out and never looked back. Best decision ever.
So basically I was my whole life in a burnout without noticing it…
Burnout, a mental-illness that makes you want to get in a car and ram everybody off the road.…
Jump off from bed in morning and dance like an idiot (imagine some music in your head) really helps
The main thing is that anxiety…. Fear…. Feeling and Depression… This is the cause for my tired eyes ?
What if you’re vegan, (yes I’m already taking Vitamin B-12) and still tired? I am also naturally a night-owl, I like to sleep in, and I’m on my phone late at night.
The worst part is that employers don’t care. They’ll treat ya like wood on a fire, burn ya out and replace ya. ???
I’m too helpful and considerate. Mum always has to remind me that ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’. You need to fill yourself up before you can really help others.
Always hated that phrase as it typically pours from the lip of an empty cup of another kind easily willing to sacrifice yours for their own.
I had become seriously burnt-out after 3 years of working at a service station. I found myself became apathetic, sometimes even passively aggressive toward customers. I felt like I wasn’t a human anymore but merely a machine. While I was working, I always felt so bored and my mind wanders. After the day’s shift done, I felt so used up and had no energy for anything else.
Bosses and managers can be much more of a cause than anything. They can turn a great job bad, or make a bad job good.
One of the best things I ever did for myself was quit busting my butt for someone else’s profit…quit my job, and work for myself…I can barely survive sometimes (monetarily speaking), but I’d rather be broke and happy than rich and miserable.
Those who don’t believe in burnout have never worked in healthcare or been in the military.
try asking call center workers. bet you’d get close to 100% showing symptoms of burnout.
This was oddly timely, I’m self employed and I’ve felt very stretched between multiple places lately. Thanks for the helpful info!
Speaking from recent experience, having a total jackhole as a boss greatly increases the odds of burnout.
Yup, I definitely feel burnout. I spent six years studying architecture and now that I have graduated, I don’t even feel like working in the industry. During my study years, I feel tired at the end of everyday, the rewards were limited and I didn’t think I’m good at it.
This makes sense! I work at a restaurant where we’re very short staffed and I have to do 3 different jobs that require alot of work. It’s a nightmare when we get super busy…… I doubt myself alot because of this predicament I’m in.
I have a very low stress tolerance. More than one task at the same time and I’m going to shut down for a month.
OMG, you can ask nurses what exhaustion from overworked is. Its terrible: stress, headache, anxiety, agitation, insomnia ect….
I try to fit in what I like to do but I swear my sleep schedule kills me. I need rest to keep me from having seizures but I need to work too. My big thing is writing and I just try to do it and it doesn’t seem to happen and if I can’t write one chapter of a story a weekend I know I’m tapped.
The annoying thing about burn out it affect you physically and affects your linguistic skills.
Amazing! This is helping me a bunch right now to make sense out of my own life.thank u.
Well i woke up earlier with a tummy ache… again… and then i went back to sleep… i still think im sleeping more than usual, however.. but i guess i needed the rest
Thanks for talking about burnout in such a friendly and cosy way. I’ve dealing back and forth all year long with it and having a reminder that simple things within my reach can help me trough is motivating.
Chronic stress -> bad sleep -> Depression -> more chronic stress … This is pretty much my life.
Can this be applied to someone with Generalized Anxiety or another anxiety disorder??
For me guided meditation does wonders when I’m stressed out. If you haven’t tried it out, I definitely recommend it.
thanks for sharing this with us! i wasn’t sure if i was the only one feeling this and i didn’t know what to feel about it until i found your blog. thanks so much! :)
Can relate..sometimes get mentally exhausted from marketing…until I took a vacation with my family
Wow, nicely done. So that what’s burn out feels like. Thanks for clarifying. I think this is me right now. Really need to hear your message.
When I’m feeling worn out, I go whitewater kayaking on my favorite local river. There’s something about surfing a wave that just melts it all away and leaves me refreshed.
Oh wow, is this timely! Thank you for posting this. I smoked the kitchen down and ruined a pot this weekend because I was so distracted and frantic. You are spot on!
What I do to destress is just sit and do nothing or read a book Something outside of school and not on electronics really helps me to be calm, be still, and relax. 🙂 :)
I have burnout and I also use to suffer from anxiety and I’m able to manage now but self care is # 1 and positive affirmations and meditation ?♀️ helped me get through it and of course talking about my problems to my close friends or family.
It actually helps me seeing that there are ways to improve our mental health. I’ll try them. All the best!
I finally got fmla for my depression so I can have a few days each month to help myself. I’m tired of busting my butt and stressing myself out.
I was so burnout so I quit my job and made a lot of personal changes for my own sanity. I saved my conscience by not being silent about why I quit, even though it cost me more than I could have imagined.
Had a mental breakdown, went on medical leave, got fired while on medical leave (illegal but a minor detail), got therapy, got meds, eventually got new job. I saw the burnout coming, I knew it was coming, but the job paid $6.00 above minimum wage, and I didn’t find anything before I crashed and burned.
I think work is the biggest reason for burnout. I got them to relocate me to another city that had more opportunities on their dime…worked the required amount of time after that and found a new job and bolted for the door. Ignoring phone calls never felt so good!
I knew a game developer who used 100 hour weeks… He completely broke down and needed psychological help. I’m going to show this article to him. I’m learning to be a programmer too, I’m actually not interested at all in gaming. It’s essentially slavery… except with manners…
I am currently selling my home and moving to the mountains because of being burned out on the job and commute. It helps tremendously that i will make a good deal of profit from the house.
I work in a car dealership and have been absolutely burned out with awful customers and rude people that assume we are trying to f them over as soon as they walk in the door. Between crap attitudes, crap commissions, micro-management, and bitch out meetings I had a big ole case of the f-its. What I did to fix it was go on vacation. An entire week away from phones, computers, rude people, and managers. It was perfect. And with all of the money people spend on vacation, it was really easy to see my bank account start to slowly drain. That was all the motivation I needed to get back in gear and sell some cars and put the bullshit behind me.
Last year I was trying to find ways to call in sick without noticeably abusing the policy. I ended up finding another job. But one reason I was burned out was a constant threat of layoffs and long commute. So my job search, while needed to get me out of the situation, was one of the contributing factors to the burn out.
The type work I do is intellectually demanding and I have been finding myself burnt out once a month on average. Even worse, I am not too good anticipating the burnout, one week I am on the top of the game, the following one my mind is gone and tired.
I’m in med school and tend to get burnt out easily. I now use the flow timer and it’s super helpful. I set a work time for 90 min and then take a 12 min break. I rinse and repeat until I’m done. It’s helpful to give your brain a tiny break and you don’t get burnt out as easily
That is definitely a good one. A couple of years ago I created a little windows program that allows you to set the time and shows a green square on the corner of the screen when it is time to pause. I use Mac nowadays. This is one tip I’ll implement for sure. Thanks!
I work from home so if I don’t schedule some social activities a few evenings a week I get burned out more easily during the week because I don’t give myself time to take a step back from work.
I work at a startup and it’s very easy to get burnt out if I’m not careful. The main thing I constantly remind myself of is that I’m running a marathon and need to pace myself. Some days/weeks are like climbing a hill and require me to put in long hours, while others are quieter and allow me to catch my breath. As tempting as it may be to go hard all the time, I’ve found it counterproductive to push hard when I don’t need to. If I tire myself out during the slower periods, I won’t have enough energy during the more demanding periods (where it really counts). Another thing I’ve been working on is purposeful procrastination. As someone who grew up with an irrational obsession of getting things done early, I’m training myself to put off what doesn’t need to be done right now.
Everyday I have always been putting my best into work. Getting into the office early and leaving late. Always striving for perfection and doing lots of work everyday. But lately, I have been feeling “burnt out”. Is there a way to get rid of this “burnt out” feeling? I want to get back to my high productivity rate but I just cant seem to get there due to this tired feeling…
How do you deal with running out of fuel on the side of the road? Put more fuel in, and make a point to fill up before you hit empty in future.
I think the thing that burns me out the most is that no one around me understands what I do. So I can’t talk to people about my job or vent about the bullshit I deal with because people just look at me like I am crazy since they don’t understand what I do.
I want to say I’ve been in your same position. I’ve worked for great companies and great bosses, but never felt like I was making a difference or learning enough (Even though I was by most peoples standards). I started working for a much smaller company (~25 employees) and its made a huge difference for me. I’m much more involved in the business and don’t feel like a peon that can just be tossed aside. Also, business is not so critical off hours so when I’m off….I’m off and its a wonderful feeling. Working out helps a ton too. I feel so much better after getting some good cardio in. I have to say I struggle working out too, but when I get to feeling down….I force myself to get up and move.
Seriously, I take a vacation every year for 10 days in a place that has a beach and no WiFi. That’s my refresher, everybody gotta find theirs.
My go-to for bouncing back from the funk is almost always food. I usually try to take a day (or two if its real bad), and just eat as much healthy food as I can. Like toss the diet out the window, slam protein shakes, vitamins, sleep as much as possible, and take the runs easy.
Getting a ton of sleep, foam rolling, stretching/yoga/pilates, and low impact cardio (e.g. cycling swimming) always worked for me.
I usually try to take a step back and understand why I’m feeling burned out at work. Is it burnout from too many days without a break? Take a vacation. Is it from a project that’s stressing me out or becoming monotonous? I’ll talk to my boss about stepping away for a few days and working on something else or do some required training to break the days up. Is it being too overworked/too much on my plate? Talk to my boss about it and what solutions we can find.
When I’m feeling burned out, it’s usually because I’m in a period that’s crazy busy, where I’m working on nights and weekends and just generally thinking only of work. I find it really freeing to occasionally say, okay I have so much work to do and I’d be in a much better shape for the week if I buckled down for a few hours on Sunday to get some of this done — but instead I’m going to relax, binge a Netflix show, hang out with my boyfriend, clean my apartment…all those self-care things that I have been neglecting. I always think I’m going to regret it in the morning, but I never do. Consciously choosing myself over work feels refreshing.
I try to put my main focus on my home life, instead of on work. I just work to get paid now. It’s easy to focus on home life because I have a toddler and he’s fun. When I was in burn out mode I asked a good friend, who works in a job that has a very high burn out rate, how she deals with it and she said that she does arts & crafts after work (quilting, cross stitching, making buttons, decorations for the house, whatever really) and she finds fulfillment in life. So I guess we “lean out”
When I feel burnt out I tell myself I’m definitely going to be productive tomorrow. Don’t be productive tomorrow, but I definitely will tomorrow. Hope no one notices I’m not getting anything done. Feel suddenly better two weeks late and no one ever noticed.
The burnout I’m experiencing isn’t just from work but life in general so at the moment I’m planning a spa getaway in Ubud, Bali for later this year. Does that count? I think planning a vacation where you can just relax, do whatever you want, eat some healthy food, maybe do some yoga and visit somewhere new is the perfect way to unwind when you’re feeling stressed.
I’ve been burned out at two different jobs. The only way I found to end the burnout was to find a new job.
Low-stress job + less work hours + more time for my interests helped me a lot. Also having a family made my priorities shift a bit so I don’t spend all day in front of the computer. And I enjoy it. 🙂
The best way to “deal with burnout” is to not let burnout happen in the first place. Just like anything else health-related. And that’s what we’re talking about here – burnout is a health issue just as much as obesity and depression are.
I’m completely burned out too. Fortunately I’ve been saving dutifully and will be able to quit in just a few more years. This is the best long term solution I can think of.
These are good suggestions if you are too busy and have a hard time prioritizing but has nothing to do with burn out. True burn out requires more than saying no and taking a day off of work. Recovery from real burn out can take years to heal from.
Yes, real burnout is very much like PTSD, it is a physical disorder not mental. Thinking about the final outcomes you want in your life, more than tasks themselves, can help prioritize your goals for personal and health.
I think the term burnout is grossly overused and more of a buzz word. Truly recovering from burnout can take a very long time, unfortunately…
This is so me. I have been beating myself up for being so ineffective and I’ve also been feeling like a failure lately. I wouldn’t have thought of my situation at “burnt out”… but seems pretty obvious now… I think it’s a little of that mixed with lack of direction and topped with a dollop of decision fatigue. Like I have so many ideas but not sure which way to go. And also feeling massive pressure to make giant leaps forward (sales) ASAP because our finances need a cash injection STAT.
Was hyper stressed for like 6mo before I realized I was burning out. Been about a year and still don’t feel 100%, but getting there
I loved this! I am totally in a season or nearing a season of burnout and some things need to change! I am going to work through your guide!
I’ve experienced burn-out at least 3 times, and I wish I knew these tips each time it happened.
Recovering from burnout isn’t just getting over it all because people think u need to get over it. It is recovery and recovery takes time.
For the past 3 months I keep having meltdowns but I was always able to overcome it and go on with my normal life. But for the past 4 days I am not their mentaly, i keep crying for nothing, i am super exhausted, very anxious for no specific reasons. I am living the dream life but can’t seem to get better. I am not depressed, just really tired. Would it be considered as a burnout?
In my case i thought it gets worst and worst i mean i feel like it’s getting severe now. I still can’t recover, well actually i dont know if im recovering cause i dont feel light up and it’s been a year now. Im only 21 ?
I just had my first burnout. I travel far to work. I just got separated. I work as a counselor at a jail. I’m constantly running around and dealing with other people’s stressors. I have a baby at home. I jump from one hostile environment to another. My body felt like I was best with bricks and I started having anxiety attacks. I felt like my air was being cut off. I am not even hungry. I’m just physically and mentally exhausted.
Distractions and other people cause me to burnout. I have to save calls, emails, and text for after lunch.
Is burnout stress only related to work /job ? Please answer. The other types of stresses can cause burnout or not ?
The burnt out is real. My mind is ready to explode and my body is in so much pain. I need more sanity that’s for sure. No more burn out please!
Great advice, I end up saying yes all the time, made me realize I can or should say no. Life and wellbeing is a hard balance to achieve, thanks for this article!
Thank you, I needed this. College feels like a constant burnout for me…partly because I don’t feel completely passionate about the degree I’m working towards.