Tips for people in Chicago or elsewhere struggling with burnout.
By: Alexandra DeWoskin, LCSW
Burnout was initially applied to those in the human services — health care, social work, therapy and police work. But, burnout has expanded to all sorts of workers and caregivers. Burnout can sometimes sneak up on us and is the culmination of multiple, chronic stressors, exhaustion and a lack of interest in things over an extended period of time leading to no longer performing at our best and a decline in performance.
It’s when you feel overwhelming physical and/or emotional exhaustion, frustration, and cynicism-depersonalization. Areas areas that can result in burnout include work overload; lack of control over the work; insufficient rewards; workplace community problems, such as incivility and a lack of support among co-workers; a lack of fairness, inequality of pay, promotions or workload; and a conflict between one’s personal values and the requirements of a job.
We also can experience burnout when we try to be everything to everyone — even though when we’re depleted, we don’t have much to give.
Burnout can inhibit our creativity, problem solving, focus, and memory capabilities—all of those abilities could help us deal with some of our burnout-related stressors in the first place. Many burnout symptoms are similar to those of depression except when you’re experiencing burnout rather than depression, your symptoms diminish when you take an extended break and really disconnect from work or your stressor.
Burnout can also be a warning sign of other underlying issues, like anxiety or depression. Over a long period of time, serious chronic stress can create real health problems like digestive issues, heart disease, high blood pressure, depression and obesity.
Chronic stress manifests in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a part of the neuroendocrine system that manages our physical stress response and fuels the fight-or-flight phenomenon.
The HPA is in charge of how much we release of cortisol and other stress hormones. These hormones naturally rise when we encounter something stressful, then fall once the situation has ended. But, this system is meant for short-term situations not chronic stress. In addition, serotonin and dopamine, our “happy hormones,” may become depleted when we experience burnout.
The signs can be subtle at first. Your neck and shoulders might be stiff or you may start to resent the task you’re working on. But, then the signs grow and exhaustion spreads through your entire body. You may literally feel a sense of your nerves being ‘fried’ or ‘burnt,’ which can include headache, fatigue, irritability, and sensory sensitivity.
We also might feel bored, numb and disconnected; and have little to no energy or enthusiasm to bring to any situation. We might take longer to complete tasks, lash out at anyone who requests anything, and view fun tasks as just another thing to cross off our lists. In order to catch burnout and combat it early, it’s important to know what to look out for.
- Exhaustion (Mental and/or Physical)
- Lack of Motivation or Enthusiasm
- Frustration, Cynicism, Pessimism
- Cognitive Issues (lower attention or concentration and forgetfulness)
- Slipping Job Performance
- Interpersonal Problems at Home and at Work
- Lack of Self-Care and Unhealthy Coping Mechanism (ie. Self-medication)
- Being Preoccupied with Work … When You’re Not at Work
- Generally Decreased Satisfaction
- Health Problems
Left unchecked, burnout can wreak havoc on one’s health, happiness, relationship, and job performance. To prevent burnout, old-fashioned self-care can go a long way. Maintaining a life outside of our work or caretaking duties helps protect us from burnout. We need to keep up with hobbies, friends, and physical activity.
Since the condition often creeps up slowly over time, keeping up with the basics like eating well, exercise, getting good sleep, and taking time to disconnect are a huge help in lowering your odds of suffering. And as much as possible, it can try to create a reasonable workload. What follows are strategies to help combat burnout:
Say no to new things (Boundaries)
Take on zero new commitments for a while. Sometimes, it can be tough to say no (especially if you’re used to saying yes, and that’s how you ended up feeling burnt out in the first place). You can be honest as to why you can’t take on any new projects or tasks.
Take some special time at home
Do things that are calm and restorative even if you only have a few minutes. Take a bath, cuddle up on the couch and read a chapter of a book, light a candle, call your best friend.
Take control of your priorities
Priorities are just extensions of your core values and require us to make choices about how we spend our time, so we’re serving those values. Wasting time on tasks that are exhausting and don’t matter much to us cause burnout.
Focus on your strengths — and delegate your weaknesses
When we are able to use our natural strengths on tasks, they tend to feel easier and can even boost our energy.
Take Relaxation Seriously
Whether you take up meditation, listen to music, read a book, take a walk or visit with friends and family, set an intention and designate time for it.
Cultivate a Rich Non-Work Life
Find something outside of work that you are passionate about – that’s challenging, engaging and you really enjoy—whether a hobby, sport or fitness activity, or volunteering, being able to “turn off” and participate in rewarding non-work activities is energizing and fulfilling.
Unplug
While technology can promote productivity, it can also allow work stressors to seep into family time, vacation and social activities. Set boundaries by turning off cell phones at dinner and delegating certain times to check email and social media
Get Enough Sleep
Research suggests that having fewer than six hours of sleep per night is a risk factor for burnout. It can lead to fatigue, decrease in motivation, sensitivity to stressful events, impairment of mental function, increased susceptibility to errors, and difficulty juggling competing demands. Clean up your sleep ritual, wind down before bed, turn of technology 30 minutes before bed, make your sleep environment conducive to sleep.
Get Organized
Get organized, clear your head, put together a to-do list (or an electronic task list) then prioritize. That way, you don’t have to keep thinking about those things because you’ll have systems in place to remind you.
Stay Attuned
It’s important to tune into the precursors of burnout. Look for physical signs that you might be under too much stress: more headaches, tight shoulders, stiff neck or more frequent stomach upset, mental health including anxiety and depression symptoms. Intervene early.
Know When It’s You, and When It’s Them
Burnout is sometimes motivated by internal factors and sometimes it’s really a symptom of external ones. In the first case, ask yourself, “Where is this coming from?” so you can figure out what’s stressing you out, and how to maintain your internal resources to keep yourself motivated, doing your best work, and functioning well. At work, issues like increased demands, fewer resources, and challenging environments can all be very stressful. Figure out what’s in your control and what’s not.
Figure Out When Enough Is Enough
If your employer provides EAP services (employee assistance program), mental health benefits or stress management training, you might want to consider utilizing those resources. But, maybe issues are unresolvable and it is time for a culture change. Sometimes, no matter what you try, it is just time to move on.
Finally, many of us try to push through burnout. But, we can’t will ourselves out of it. You can try to push through it in the short term, but eventually you will have to slow down, rest and reenergize. We need to respect our bodies and ourselves in order to be able to even give to others. Many people who experience burnout hold themselves to impossibly high standards.
It’s important to develop good boundaries, realistic expectations of self and others, and healthy coping mechanisms. Learn to forgive yourself for inevitable errors that we all make, be as kind to yourself as possible, understand you deserve respect and reasonable expectations from your employer or whomever you care for as well as from yourself. In terms of mental health, burnout affects depression.
If you’re depressed, that can also affect your level of burnout—it goes both ways. So, if the issues you’re struggling with are really serious and getting worse, you may need to seek professional help. Talk to a counselor, therapist, pastor to get help beyond support from just your friends and family members. And remember self-care comes first above all other obligations.
