Are you feeling burned out?
The hot July sun bakes you as you walk to your car, spent from a long day of dealing with blinding spreadsheets, mindless meetings and overbearing co-workers. You picture yourself running away from everyone to a beach in Cancun. You can feel it now, the sea breeze misting your face as you lay on a deserted beach with a tropical drink in your hand. A honk startles you to reality. You blink realizing you haven’t moved an inch on Slopac. Thank you Company for your mandatory in person days with release times at 5:00 pm. A text comes in reminding you it’s your turn to get groceries if you want anything other than dog food to eat tonight.
While this scenario might happen from time to time and not bring you home in a sobbing mess, the following symptoms below may indicate a pattern is forming that will most certainly lead to burnout. Burnout can occur with your job, your relationships and any role you hold.
How do you know if burnout is creeping in?
Ask yourself these questions:
Are you constantly exhausted despite getting a good night’s sleep?
Do you feel apathetic or numb towards your job, friends or loved ones?
Are you irritable and snapping at people more often than normal?
Are you getting sick more frequently or experiencing increased headaches/stomachaches?
If you answered yes to 2 or more of those questions, you may already be on the path to burning out. Luckily, it’s not too late to turn your sinking ship around. Below are simple steps to take to cool down and refresh.
Try these today:
1. Take time off and turn your phone off while you’re at it. Yes you’re important to others, but if you don’t turn off the stimuli and listen to the silence, your body will rebel against you. Why do I insist you turn off the phone? For starters, watch Toy Story 5. But also, real joy, the kind that restores, takes time to build and lasts longer than the instant gratification of a text message ping or that three-minute vine on YouTok. Shut down your phone for a few hours (and the anxiety pre-built into it) and get outside where you might…
2. Find your sense of awe. Awe is typically triggered when encountering something vast, powerful, or beautiful that challenges your understanding of the world. Think starry skies, majestic musical performances or amazing athletic fetes. Step outside of yourself and remember how much bigger the world is outside of your tiny bubble. Back when I was burnt out as a teacher, my therapist (shout out Brenda!) encouraged me to take the trip I had been on the verge of backing out of. It instilled in me a sense of awe and I survived the remainder of the year knowing there was a great big world out there waiting for me.
3. Build connection. We need each other like plants need sunlight and water. We are not meant to be alone. Call your friends, your mom, your pastor. Stop telling yourself people don’t want to hear about your pain. Stop telling yourself you’re the only person who’s ever failed this hard or felt this low. That’s the number one thing I wish my clients knew: you are not alone or the worst. There’s someone out there feeling just like you at this very moment. This is not the end. Bonus points if you add in exercise while talking to these supports. Walk, swim, dance, lift, climb, move! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Stress needs somewhere to go. Move it out!
If you need help navigating your feeling of burnout, therapy can provide you the space to breathe, reflect and create new ideas about what changes you need to make to come out feeling renewed. If you need guidance in assessing whether this is burnout, or something deeper happening, reach out here to see if therapy with me can help you overcome the emotional challenges keeping you stuck.
For the book lovers out there, I highly recommend Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle.
