Even the most capable and determined professionals will hit a wall occasionally and burn out, and ultimately burnout is a career phenomenon. It comes about when high levels of pressure and stress are combined with and need to steam them for a little longer period of time. And the combination of those two factors tends to wear down the body physically, as well as psychologically.
You see, episodic stress is a lot easier for us to manage. If for example, you know that your department is always under the gun at the end of the quarter then you can wrap your head around what’s required and rally and maybe you will need to dig in for a few weeks and work long hours but then once the quarter is closed, you get to ease up. You get to decompress and in that way episodic stress is manageable but heightened stress that is long-term or chronic or sustained for a continuous period of time is always a recipe for burnout.
On some level, you probably know this already from living through 2020. a lot of us experienced the same thing with COVID’s arrival. We were under a heightened level of stress from the pandemic, and then when it became apparent that it wasn’t going to be a short-term stressor but a long-term one, it caused a lot of burnout. That is because burnout is always exacerbated when the light at the end of the tunnel of your particular circumstances feels to you like they are unsustainably far away. That leaves you without the hope or expectation that your stress will alleviate in the short term. so as you start by asking yourself, how far away is the light at the end of your tunnel? Are you working on a three-month objective and a six-month rework? Are you waiting for the light at the end of your tunnel to be retirement three years from now? how far away is it?
Now let’s look at the telltale symptoms and signs of burnout. From a mental health perspective burnout often causes a moderate bout of depression, in which you experience a decreased amount of joy from the things that normally bring you a lot of joy. And you also experience less optimism than you might normally be known for if you are a highly motivated individual during the state of burnout, you must be noticing that it’s really hard to source that internal drive that internal energy to move forward because your batteries are feeling drained. Burnout can create anxiety and some individuals as they become concerned with meeting the objectives that live before they start questioning whether or not they’re actually up for this task. What if you’ve taken on more than you’re capable of? It is not uncommon for even the most confident individuals to start questioning themselves under those chronic conditions of burnout and this is because burnout populates your mind with more negative thoughts that might be typical of your thinking patterns. Sleep disturbances are also common in burnout, and of course, chronic stress can bring about physical ailments, including but not limited to fatigue or hormone imbalance.
Career Coach for Professionals
Finally, we know that you are at higher risk of burnout if you have a challenging relationship with your immediate supervisor. Research tells us that is a key indicator. secondly, if you have ongoing stressors at home and concurrently ongoing stressors at the office, you are also at a high risk of burnout. That makes a lot of sense, right? Because then home fails to be a sanctuary in which you can simply recharge your batteries.
If these symptoms resonate with you ask yourself if is it time for you to commit to doing something to treat your burnout. To learn more click here.