Most of us are familiar with the feeling of being motivated and having an incentive towards working to achieve our goals. These goals may be short term or long term, and when you’re motivated and energized, you feel like it may be the best thing you’re doing, the right thing, and achieving them makes you feel completely euphoric. It could be considered common belief that if you’re focused on your goal and want to accomplish it, motivation and interest would appear hand in hand. But that is not always the case.
Throughout the past decade, it has become increasingly common for more and more people to experience what is termed as Burnout. And while it is quite common to hear the term from a variety of sources, what exactly is Burnout?
Simply put, Burnout is the accumulation of workplace stress over time that has not been managed effectively. Originally, Burnout was used to refer to the accumulation of stress that occurs due to careers and jobs that people do, nowadays, it is not uncommon that burnout is also experienced by students. Burnout is when stress and frustration slowly build up over time resulting in the reduction of motivation, incentive, joy in the activity that’s to be performed and increase in feelings of helplessness or hopelessness and overall exhaustion. Common feelings that may pop up when you feel burnt out are
- “I can’t do this anymore”
- “What is the point of this?”
- “Every day is Exhausting”
- “I feel drained”
- “My internal battery is dead”
- “I don't care about the consequences anymore”
- “I feel out of it”
- “I’m on auto-pilot”
- “Every day is a bad day”
If you have felt or have had thoughts like this, you may be experiencing burnout. Another common feeling that burnout brings about is the feeling of laziness. Burnout can often be confused with laziness regarding all aspects of daily living. Not wanting to get out of bed, being too tired to do anything, trying to do work but getting nowhere, excessive procrastinating, etc. even though previously you were motivated and had passion for your work may all be signs of burnout and not just laziness.
There are a variety of reasons due to which a person may become burnt out.
While there are a lot of reasons why someone may get burnt out, these are some of the most common reasons for burnout. Other reasons include, doing work in an environment with high pressure — commonly seen in students appearing for competitive exams, taking on too many responsibilities — commonly seen in teachers and nurses and not finding the time to properly relax.
What can you do if you’re experiencing the signs of burnout?
Well, the best thing to do first, is to make sure that what you are experiencing is indeed Burnout. An at-home way to know if you are experiencing burnout is to check if the signs that you are noticing correlate with the common signs and symptoms of burnout. If most of the signs given below are present, you may want to consider Burnout as what you are experiencing.
If you are experiencing most of these, then it is advised to seek therapy. Therapy may allow you to understand the reason for burnout and ways you can productively deal with it. Depending on the reasoning, it may also help you re-evaluate your work choices and find ways to help you relax during the time that you are not supposed to be working. Finding a good work-life balance is key towards leading a happier and restful life. This applies to work in terms of career and in terms of academics. Academic Burnout is also a rising phenomenon in the current time. Experienced by students, who have taken up or have been given too much work without the time to properly relax and manage their stress, academic burnout may lead to students becoming disinterested in what they are learning and/or pursuing.
If you are experiencing a few of the signs mentioned above, and are unsure if it is burnout, there are ways to put a stop to it before it brews into a full-blown burnout. Some ways to help yourself are:
- Set proper schedules. Work time is worktime; and personal time is personal time. Managing the time that you have; and giving yourself the break that you deserve; is an important step to staying healthy physically, emotionally, and mentally.
- Try to Relax. This can be in the form of doing an activity that makes you feel relaxed or taking up proper relaxation techniques like muscle relaxation and mindfulness.
- Incorporate Physical exercise. Taking a walk in between working hours and working out daily will allow your body to get some time away from work and help improve your health.
- Socialize. To all the introverts out there — No, you do not have to go out of your way and try to mingle. Socialize here is in the simple way of taking time to spend with friends and family, the people who support you and make you feel better about yourself.
- Seek Creativity. A common biproduct of being burned out or on the verge of it, is losing one’s creativity. Try new things and give yourself time to have fun. Taking the time for yourself will allow you to find peace of mind and creativity to keep being more productive.
There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to how you are supposed to feel and how burnout is supposed to feel. Like most matters of the mind and heart, Burnout, anxiety, stress, and so on are felt differently by each person. It is best to try and stay as mentally healthy as you can and enjoy what you do to the fullest. Here’s to having stress free healthy days!