What does burnout look like?

Burnout is going to look different for each person.

Here’s what burnout looked like for me:

• I would sit in my car every morning before going into the office and cry because I was so overwhelmed by everything I knew was on my plate.
• I would climb under my desk in the afternoon and cry. Again because I was overwhelmed and putting incredible pressure on myself to do everything and do it all perfectly.
• I would get anxious thinking about work projects (even on the weekend, evenings, and any other time I was out of the office).
• I began to resent anyone who wasn’t working the same crazy overwhelming hours I was.
• I was unusually short-tempered and would snap at co-workers, vendors, family and friends with a reaction out of proportion to their action (or inaction).
• And I physically manifested my stress, battling frequent migraines and using energy drinks to fight through constant exhaustion.

BUT, that’s what burnout looked like for me. You’ve probably heard me say this before, and you’ll hear me say it again.  We’re not cookie cutter humans.  And because of that, the way burnout manifests will look different for each of us.

Burnout isn’t contained to just one part of our lives

Here’s the thing you might have noticed from my experience – burnout doesn’t just affect us at work.  We don’t walk out the door and suddenly find ourselves full of energy.  Once we’re burnt out, it seeps into every aspect of our lives.

And while you might be pointing to work as the straw that broke the camel’s back, changing jobs won’t help you recover from burnout or prevent you from becoming burnt out again.

Burnout is the result of our own struggle with boundaries, lack of consistent and sufficient self-care, and inability to prioritize our own needs in every aspect of our lives.

Check out the Solicited Advice episodes on burnout linked at the top of this post, and learn more about the signs of burnout here.

If you’re asking this question, chances are good that you are in fact burnt out.  The best thing you can do right now is start to increase the amount of self-care in your life.  Self-care is the only way we replenish our depleted energy reserves.

Learn more about self-care, and how to build a self-care routine that works for you and your life by getting your copy of my free Self-Care Toolkit!

I’m sending you a great big hug – you’ve got this!