Do you feel lazy? Are you constantly feeling exhausted and have lost any sort of motivation towards your responsibilities? You’re most likely going through a burnout. Burnout is caused by excessive stress which leads to over-exhaustion of your mental health, emotions and your physical energy. It can be best described as a negative state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. The reasons for it can vary from personal relationship problems to work or professional stress.
Burnout is a serious issue that is becoming more and more prevalent in our competitive world. Men are more susceptible to burnout which results from overworking which also affects their personal relationships and emotional volatility. But however, this is an issue that is faced by all genders equally. Let us understand more about it!
Symptoms
There are various symptoms which can give you an idea if you are suffering from a burnout or if anyone you know is.
Spending most of your time in bed
In the instance of a burnout you tend to lie on your bed most of the time. You would tend to your responsibilities and then just hit the hay and lay there. It does not necessarily mean you are sleepy or lazy, you just have no intention of doing anything else and feel numb.
Easily get tired
In such cases of exhaustion you won’t feel as energetic or enthusiastic in anything like you used to. You would feel tired, drained and feel strained whenever you do anything. It takes a great deal of effort to even get up from your bed.
Disconnected from everything
You feel disconnected from your surroundings. Everything around you seems to be moving and flowing but you couldn’t care less. It’s also known as depersonalisation. You feel disconnected and numb from yourself and the cycle of the world..
Socially withdrawn
In times of burnout you tend to disconnect yourself from people. By people it does not only mean social circles but includes your loved ones too. You tend to avoid conversing with them or meeting them, living like a recluse most of the time. This tends to add more to your mental detoratition as during such times when you really need someone you instead tend to push them away, act cold and become more lonely.
Lost motivation
You lose motivation for things that you used to be passionate and enthusiastic about. This is one of the biggest symptoms as your profession or passion might have pushed you beyond what you were capable of doing and has turned into a stressful task. Overworking yourself is one of the biggest reasons to be affected by burnout. This starts to make you more sad as you wonder why something you cared about so much is something you want to run away from now instead. You witness a loss of passion in your life.
Moody & irritable – Emotionally volatile
In times of a burnout, you tend to lose control of your emotions. You might spend most of your time being extremely moody and/or irritable. There might be often times where you are unable to control your emotions and lash out at others, even your loved ones. In such situations you might not also be aware of your actions and freak out in the most simple of things. There is also a tendency to apologise less and you might even go down a rabbit hole of remorse by reflecting on your actions and feeling embarrassed and guilty about it.
Neglecting self care
When you are exhausted emotionally you stop taking care of yourself. You don’t shower regularly, or brush your teeth or comb your hair. You do not even manage to change your clothes sometimes. That is one of the most dangerous symptoms and effects of a burnout. Such an ill maintained lifestyle adds more to your mental health, making it a toxic lifestyle.
Feelings of hopelessness
At a time when you have lost your passion and motivation to move forward, it gets easy to fall into borderline depression. Feelings of hopeless, low self esteem and numbness take over making you feel empty inside of yourself. There will also be instances where you might be on your knees and bawling for a long time.
Insomnia
It becomes ironic that during a burnout you feel tired the whole day and when you finally are in bed you’re unable to sleep. Insomnia is also one of the biggest symptoms and is a dangerous one. With you being constantly tired and having no way to rest up it pushes your body to the point where you might faint or even dehydrate. Hydration and a good sleep pattern becomes crucial.
Avoidance of responsibilities
There eventually comes a point in this state where you even start to avoid your responsibilities. From work, to doing your chores and sometimes even remembering to eat. You lose any or all sorts of directions and only want one thing in life, which is to lie in bed the whole time. Prolonged condition of this habit might lead to feelings of low self esteem and frustration where even if you feel like doing anything you cannot, as you are unable to get up and turn your life around. Some days are worse than the others.
All the above mentioned symptoms are not something one notices in a day or a few hours, it is a gradual process that happens in the course of weeks and months and it is important that you are aware of it so as to act on it before it’s too late.
How can you deal with it
There are many ways to deal with a burnout which begins from the smallest of things:
Taking a break from your work even if it’s something you love. Taking a break always helps clearing up any clogs and helps you to jump back to it with more motivation and enthusiasm.
Having decent hours of sleep. Making sure to fix your sleeping pattern as it will help you to get back into routine and make you do your tasks more fluently throughout the day.
Spending more time with your loved ones. That is an instant detox from all the stress and worries from your life. You loved ones will appreciate it and so will you.
There are many more ways depending on how severe your case is. It will be dealt with and explained in more detail in our future content.
Conclusion
A burnout is a serious case of mental exhaustion which is not to be taken lightly. The above-mentioned symptoms are to help you diagnose if you or anyone you know is going though such a phase in their life. Remember that life is not only about constantly working and trying to perfect and control every little nuance. It is also about letting it flow and see how the course of things change to understand the beauty of it. So lay back once in a while and give yourself that well deserved break so that you can get back to your tasks with better optimisation.