Burnout can be described as a response to prolonged exposure to a particular circumstance that consumes a lot of energy, whether physical, mental, or emotional. These circumstances may include a job with crazy work hours or high stress, a busy school schedule with classes and exams, taking care of the home, and kids with no breaks.
In this blog post, we will explore some of the signs you should watch out for in yourself, and even in others that may indicate burnout.
1. You are irritable and even small things set you off
This is one of the most common signs of burnout. You may realize that all of a sudden, you are short-tempered with people, impatient and irritable, even at things that would normally not prompt such a reaction.
2. You constantly daydream about leaving your responsibilities for a moment
If you find yourself constantly thinking about leaving your day-to-day responsibilities, even just for a moment, just to get a moment for yourself, then you may be burnt out. Especially, if you typically enjoy your job or responsibilities, but you now find yourself wanting to take a step back from it all.
3. You tend to isolate and desire fewer social interactions
Probably because you are so exhausted, that you’d take any chance to just be alone, to recharge. Social interactions take energy, thus when burnt out, you simply have no energy to be around people.
4. Your body is telling you that it's tired through headaches, joint aches, heart palpitations, fatigue, etc.
The way your body is behaving at a certain point in time is usually its attempt to communicate a message to you. If you find yourself constantly having headaches, feeling tired all the time, having heart palpitations at random moments of the day, and even unexplained aches, your body may be telling you that it’s tired and in need of a break.
Now that we have explored the signs of burnout, what can you do about it?
the answer is quite simple; Take. A. Break. These are some of the ways how you can do that;
1. If you are working, take a leave -There is a reason why you have leave days, and taking leave is your legal right, thus, this is your sign to take that leave.
2. Have boundaries, especially when it comes to your work -Unless it’s a busy season and there are strict deadlines to be met, have a cut-off time for work. You may decide to not accept work calls after a certain hour, or choose to respond to e-mails the next day.
3. Realize you cannot please everybody - Hello to my fellow recovering people-pleasers. I am here to tell you that you cannot please everybody, and you need to learn to sit in the discomfort of disappointing people at times, for the sake of your well-being and peace. Do you know something that I have found to be interesting? The more you try to please everybody, the greater the chance of you disappointing at least one person, thus keeping you in that toxic cycle of people pleasing and disappointing, people pleasing and disappointing, over and over again.
4. Have a wellness/self-care routine
People will take away your time unless you create time for yourself. I challenge you to daily make time for self-care. The best time could be in the morning, at midday, or in the evenings. It does not have to take that long, even for just a few minutes, do something just for you. Read a nice book, take a walk, sit in silence, listen to relaxing music, unplug from the noise in social media. Build a routine, just to give back to yourself.
That is all I have for today’s post. I hope you have enjoyed it and learned something new. If you are burnt out, take time to rest. The world can wait.
I’ll see you on the next one.
Xoxo,
BK.
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