Stacy, a dermatologist, came to me exhausted. No matter how much she slept, she couldn’t shake her fatigue. She was frustrated and negative about everyone (and just about everything) at work. To top it off, her boss had recently pulled her aside to say her work wasn’t up to par.
I knew immediately she was burned out. She had all of the most common symptoms. Maybe you can relate?
- Exhaustion.
Even with plenty of sleep, you feel bone tired.
- Negativity.
You feel frustrated, hopeless, cynical, cranky, and have a hard time caring. You may feel shut down. You find yourself angry at everyone.
- Hyperactive stress response.
You are over-reacting to triggers and can’t seem to set things aside. Things that used to hardly bother you now enrage you.
- Performance suffers.
Your workplace efficacy is decreased (things take much longer to get done, for instance). You might be withdrawing from responsibilities.
Experts say you might be burned out if you are often over-reacting and under caring.
“That’s me to a tee,” Stacy said. Then, she started crying.
Stacy is definitely not alone. The World Health Organization classified burnout as a bonafide syndrome in the summer of 2019. It was the first time burnout was classified as a syndrome—not just a word bandied around in business circles. Burnout costs businesses hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
For individuals like Stacy, the price is terribly high—sucking so much of the good stuff from life.
There are many causes of burnout. People who work in high-pressure positions where they have very low control and little or no autonomy burn out at rates higher than their peers—so do employees who are micromanaged.
Stress is one of the biggest contributing factors to burnout. Better managing your stress is one of the BEST ways you can heal your burnout.
Please check out all of the articles on stress in this section to help support your healing from burnout.