How To Deal With Burnout

Tired ? Unmotivated ? Stressed ? Are you dealing with burnout ? I only recently found out that after months of doctors appointments and constantly feeling sluggish, that I was in fact burnt out. At first I thought great, a few nights of good sleep and I'll be grand. Unfortunately I've learned it doesn't quite work as easy as that. 

So what exactly is burnout ? Burnout by definition is a state of prolonged emotional, physical or mental stress that results in exhaustion that can go on for months. Burnout while it's not actually a medical disorder, it's still very dangerous and something you do not want, trust me. 

So what causes it and what are the tell tale signs ? Putting yourself under a lot of pressure on a regular basis, high levels of stress, not giving yourself a proper break etc will definitely cause burnout. There are many symptoms and people often confuse it with the symptoms of depression. Some symptoms include; Anxiety, loss of appetite, forgetfulness, insomnia, chronic fatigue, increased illness(because your body is depleted, your immune system is weakened therefore you're more vulnerable to colds or the flu etc), depression and anger. 

Is every day a bad day ?  Are you exhausted all the time ? Do you feel like everything you do is a waste of time or unappreciated ? Do you find tasks you do during the day to be either mind-numbingly dull or extremely over whelming ? If you're sitting there nodding, then you too might be burnt out. This is not the be all and end all. There are many ways to stop burnout in its tracks and prevent/ avoid it.

Cut down and start saying 'no'

Every time you say 'yes' to something, you're adding another thing to your workload and never ending to-do list. It will eventually end up either half done or not done at all and causing you to stress out. Start saying no, the world will go on. I promise.

Break up projects

Break up a project into bite sized pieces. For example, If I have a uni project, I'll download all relevant lecture slides one day, research the topic of the project and make notes another, plan the layout and timeline and eventually do the actual project. But by breaking it up, a huge project suddenly doesn't seem so bad and is a lot easier to attempt. This can be applied to many things, not just uni projects.

Stop trying to be perfect

Sometimes it's ok to do something that's not 100% perfect. Try to be satisfied with what you can realistically get done in your time frame, otherwise you'll end up exhausted.Set yourself boundaries for acceptable work and stick to them.

Give up on getting motivated 

If you're properly burnt out, you'll be too exhausted to stay positive and motivated, so don't try. Give yourself a break. Listen toyour body and your body needs. If you're too tired to run, walk. If you're too tired to walk then sit, take a little nap if you want to.

Investigate

Try and figure out what caused you to be burnt out, so that you can prevent it in the future. If it was a long event or work or lots of high pressured deadlines, whatever it is figure it out so next time you'll recognize it and be able to take a step back.

Make downtime a daily ritual

Build time into your daily schedule for downtime. Even if it's half an hour of reading or going for a walk with the dog. Studies suggest if you do something every day for two consecutive weeks, it becomes a habit. After a while you won't need to remind yourself to do it, you'll just do it naturally.

Most importantly treat yourself every now and again, you deserve it !

Erin x

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Labels: Lifestyle