Beyond Burnout: How to Go From Burnt to Balanced
Burnout is one of those terms you hear often when people feel stressed or tired, but it’s more than just another buzzword. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that can be caused by prolonged stress. If you’ve ever felt burnt-out, you know it can sneak up on you. You might begin to feel your energy drain until ultimately you end up feeling overwhelmed, detached, and unmotivated. You might find yourself dreading getting up in the morning to go to work, or crawling out of bed to start your day, and suddenly you realize that you’re burnt out.
This can affect not only your work and home life, but your overall well-being. But there is good news: experiencing burnout is not the end of the line. It is possible to reclaim your energy, motivation, and focus. In this blog, we’ll explore what causes burnout, how to spot the signs early, and how you can recover and regain a balanced life.
What exactly is burnout?
Burnout often develops from a state of long term, unresolved stress, and often this happens in a work environment. However, burnout can also develop from other areas of life, like relationships, being a parent or caregiver, or even feeling pressure to achieve certain life goals.
Burnout is distinct in that it is essentially about an imbalance between the energy we are giving and what we are receiving, AND what we expect to receive. When this happens, we can experience a sense of being ineffective, leading us to feel detached from our goals and lose motivation. Most people also experience a sense of physical exhaustion when this happens, contributing to the sense of ineffectiveness.
In order to get ahead of the effects of burnout, it’s helpful to know the warning signs that may show up in our day to day lives. Burnout can manifest in many ways, but some of the most common signs are:
Physical symptoms: maybe you’re feeling more tired than usual, even when you are getting enough sleep at night, and in the absence of lots of physical exertion (like going to the gym or working out). You might also notice headaches, muscle stiffness, stomach aches, or even that you’re catching more viruses than normal from a weakened immune system .
Emotional detachment: Have you noticed that you feel more disconnected from the people around you? Are you experiencing signs of depression? Maybe you’ve even noticed that it’s hard to enjoy others’ company, or even enjoy the activities you used to enjoy.
Reduced focus and performance: Maybe you feel like tasks that used to be easy are the hardest things in the world to achieve. You might notice that you’ve been procrastinating, or making more mistakes than usual, and you lack motivation to accomplish your goals.
What causes burnout?
Burnout can be a result of a number of factors, but some of the most common ones are:
Heavy workload: this is often the most common cause of burnout - taking on too much, working long hours, and feeling a sense of pressure from those around you to accomplish your tasks.
Lacking a sense of control: feeling like you don’t have agency or control over the decisions that affect you can lead to prolonged stress.
Lacking sufficient support: sometimes we do have a lot of responsibilities that we can’t ignore, and perhaps we need more support than we’re getting. Feeling isolated and unsupported, whether that’s in your personal or work life, can lead to a sense of burnout.
Perfectionism: sometimes, some of the pressure we feel is coming from ourselves. Constantly striving for perfection can set us up for disappointment, and can lead to us expending energy towards something that isn’t possible to achieve.
From burnt to balanced
Okay, so you know you’re burnt-out, but what do you do about it? You might be tempted to book a vacation and escape from your responsibilities and hope that will cure you. But while taking a vacation is fine (we all need and deserve a break!), overcoming burnout usually requires more than just taking a few days off. Here are some practical steps you can take to help you reclaim your energy:
Reconnect with your purpose and values: if you get to know what’s most important to you, you gain a better understanding of what to focus your energy on
Set realistic expectations: once you know what matters, you can more easily set expectations for yourself that you can achieve.
Set Boundaries: Learn to say “no” to things that go beyond your capacity. This can be uncomfortable, especially if you tend to “people please”, but it’s necessary to avoid future burnout.
Prioritize self-care: self-care isn’t a luxury - it’s not something you do only if you have time to do it - it’s a necessity. Make time for activities that nourish your body and mind. This could look like exercise, reading and learning, mindfulness, or spending time with loved ones or friends.
Seek professional help: sometimes we need a little extra help to understand what might be contributing to burnout, and how to recover from and prevent it. Therapy can be a great step towards regaining your energy and motivation. We’re here to help!
If you’re struggling with burnout, know that you’re not alone, and help is available. Take that first step toward recovery by acknowledging how you feel and giving yourself permission to recharge. You deserve it!
About The Author:
Cassia Tayler, Registered Provisional Psychologist
Cassia enjoys the great outdoors, creativity, the fine arts, music, and working with teens, individuals and couples in identifying barriers to wellness and creating lasting positive change.
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