I have experienced burnout more in the last two years than I have when I was doing physical labor each day. I have been working within an office setting and have never regretted it more. I know that not every office setting job is like the one I had but it caused me to severely burn out.
Burnout can be experienced in numerous ways in one's life, and I am going to give five examples of how I have experienced it. It may have started in the workplace but it manifested in many other parts of my life.
I would love to hear your thoughts on burnout, and how you have experienced it in the comments below!
Within the Work Place
The workplace is the average place where we see burnout occur and it is where I have experienced it countless times. As a recovering people-pleaser, I have often entered the workplace with the mindset that I will do anything to be helpful.
This is where burnout has begun in the workplace for me. I start a job without boundaries and become someone that is needed but drowning. You can be successful on the outside and still be completely burnt out.
Burnout in the workplace has manifested itself in me dreading going to work, forgetting tasks I was responsible for, etc. I would often say yes to things that I knew would overwhelm me, and hinder the work I was already responsible for.
I would do all this so that their view of me didn’t change. I needed them to view me as a go-getter, and someone they can rely on completely. I was raised to have an excellent work ethic.
However, the boundaries that go hand in hand with a good work ethic were forgotten.
Burnout in the workplace can be incredibly difficult to recover from as it consumes much of your life. My main tip to begin the process of breaking free is to find a therapist!
I know that sounds extreme but workplace burnout is extreme and needs an extreme solution.
The Food I Consume Daily
I would know that I was experiencing burnout when I would look at my dinner plate.
When I am experiencing burnout, I don’t feel the motivation to spend an hour creating a healthy meal for myself. I want the least prep work type of meal I can find and that is most often extremely unhealthy for me.
I would also find that during an episode of burnout I would find myself telling myself I needed to treat myself…every day. This began the cycle of going through a coffee drive-thru every day because it made me better.
The worst part is that it only made me feel better for a few seconds. I would begin thinking about how much money I was spending, and the sugar I was consuming and would spiral.
Burnout can create serious issues for your daily intake of food. In my times of burnout, I have found that making food simple is the best way to go.
You don’t want to cook or even consider choosing a meal at night when you are burned out. This means you need to consider subscribing to a food box that will do it for you.
You could even ask a friend to help you with meal prepping once a week. The number one tip I have is to have meals ready to go when you get home.
You will not want to cook and sometimes accepting that is the first step to better nutrition.
My Mental Health
I have a serious dip in my mental health when I am experiencing burnout. The motivation to cultivate healthy mental health goes out the window when I’m burnt out!
I begin feeling incredibly discouraged and even fearful that I am not doing anything right.
Burnout causes a lot of fearful thinking in my experience! It’s very difficult for me to see the other side of burnout when I am living inside it.
The practices I would stick to such as journaling would become so incredibly difficult to even consider doing.
Burnout can take away your desire to do the things you once truly loved experiencing.
The main act that has helped me in reference to mental health is to live slower.
The activities you once did without a problem are now a struggle. This means you can not expect yourself to do them as quickly as you did before burnout took over.
The simple act of giving yourself permission to live slower is going to help those negative thoughts not take over your mind.
My Energy Levels
I’m exhausted!
I’m sure most people who are experiencing burnout go through this one as well.
Burnout causes my energy levels to plummet to the ground every time.
I simply want to sleep all day and all night. This factor of burnout increases all the other symptoms of burnout which is unfortunate and makes life even harder.
When I am in the trudges of burnout, I have found that rewarding yourself with naps actually helps.
It also helps you set yourself a schedule when you just want to sleep all day.
Tell yourself that if you get this one task done then you can take an hour-long nap. Can you do that all day? Yes!
You can take 4 naps a day and potentially get 4 tasks done that day.
My Relationships
The way that I have experienced burnout in my relationships is actually very similar to how I experience it in my energy levels.
During Burnout, I have a very difficult time being present in my relationships as I don’t have the bandwidth most of the time to engage fully.
I often have anxiety trickle into my relationship during burnout surrounding thoughts such as if I’m doing enough.
The worst part of burnout in a relationship personally is when you attempt to give yourself grace and you are fearful your partner won’t extend you grace as well.
Even in the healthiest relationships, I’ve been scared of that!
Burnout can cause a lot of strain on a relationship so I recommend even more communication than you had before.
Ensure that you are telling them how you are feeling each and every day so that they understand how to possibly help you through that season.
You do deserve grace and if they are a healthy partner they will agree with that.
Burnout - The Multi-Faceted Demon
Burnout shows its ugly head in so many ways! Which way did you relate to this post? Comment below how you have experienced burnout!
