He's Burned Out, Father

Venus, the Workaholic

During a light chat with one of my colleagues about what goes on in my day in a certain period of my life, a period when I was centered around my work only and I wasn’t paying much attention to anything else, her lips uttered words that I didn’t know will have such a high effect on my self-perception…

“Venus, you’re a workaholic.”

She said it to describe my condition at the time from her point of view; and with my total fear at the time of being someone who would hit professional failure, I wore this description as a badge of honor on my chest.

The trending culture that normalizes the individuals’ obligation to actualize themselves according to specific methods and conditions that are mostly closely related to their productivity like machines, rearranges their priorities; hence, we find that according to this culture, the priorities of our work productivity and earning a living rise above the priorities of taking care of ourselves physically and psychologically, and these ideas restrict our sense of accomplishment and pride in following their narrow and limited steps towards what is considered to be an achievement that deserves celebrating.

The thing is, I didn’t know then that it’s only a matter of months till I collide with other words from that same colleague, when I started telling her about my completely unpleasant condition…

“Venus, you need to rest, I think you’re burnt out.”

Thus, we present to you in the following lines the knowledge Venus has reached about Burnout, and the understanding of the phase he’s going through.

The ABCs of Burnout

The term “Burnout” is a relatively new term, coined for the first time by Herbert Freudenberger in one of his books, described as “The high cost of high achievement”. He originally defined Burnout as “The loss of drive or motivation, or when a person’s dedication fails to achieve the hoped-for results.”

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental tiredness resulting from excessive and prolonged exhaustion, which is the outcome of a period of being drained and unable to fulfill the constant demands. And with the continuation of stress causing Burnout, you start to lose the passion and motive that drove you to do a certain role in the first place.

Burnout decreases productivity and drains your energy, which makes you feel increasing incompetence, despair, frustration and discontent; in the end, you may feel you don’t have more to offer. The negative effects increase to reach each of life’s aspects, including your home, job, and social life.

The stress that contributes in Burnout may come primarily from your job, but it might also happen due to the stress coming from the general lifestyle; and this stress might be increased by the personality traits and thinking styles, like “Perfectionism” and “Pessimism” as well.

10 Signs You Are Burnt Out

1- Exhaustion

One of the clear signs to Burnout is feeling tired all the time; this exhaustion can be emotional, mental, or physical. It is the feeling you possess no energy anymore, and that it is completely expended.

2- Loss of Passion

When you no longer feel excited about anything or motivated to do your job, this is a strong indication that you are suffering from Burnout. This may appear in several forms, like the increasing difficulty to start your day each morning, and the difficulty of dragging yourself to work each day.

3- Feeling Frustrated and Many Other Negative Feelings

You start to feel that what you do no longer matters, and feel disappointed about everything; you may notice that you are generally pessimistic more than the usual.

It is very probable that everyone feels some negative feelings from one time to the other, but it’s important to know when these feelings become atypical to you.

4- Issues in the Ease of Comprehension and Focus

Burnout and Chronic Stress may interfere with your capability to be attentive and focused, as the feeling of stress causes a lack of concentration on anything other than the negative elements that we consider a threat or a cause to the problem. On the short term, this mechanism helps us in dealing with the problem in hand, but our bodies and brains are designed to deal with this in limited dosages then returning back to the natural mechanism; when stress becomes chronic this narrow concentration lasts for a long period of time, which results in hardship to pay attention to other things, which in turn negatively affects our ability to solve problems or make decisions.

5- Occupational Performance Drop

Since Burnout tends to occur over a long period of time, comparing the occupational performance during a Burnout with its parallel prior to the Burnout period may reveal if you are in a temporary recession that is soon to be over, or if you are suffering from a chronic Burnout.

6- The Increase of Personal Problems’ Rate in Home and Work

This may appear in two forms: a) The increase of conflicts with the people surrounding you at home, work, or other places. b) Constantly feeling you need to withdraw from contact with those around you, and avoid any discussions or conversations with them.

7- Not Taking Care of Yourself

When individuals suffer from Burnout, they engage in unhealthy adaptation strategies and methods: Like excessive drinking of alcoholic drinks, smoking, extreme sluggishness, eating too much fast food, or not getting enough sleep. Self-medication is another problem, self-medication that would include individuals’ dependency on sleeping pills, drinking more alcohol at the end of the day to release stress, or even drinking more coffee to conjure the energy needed to drag yourself to work in the morning.

8- Thinking About Work… When You’re Not at Work

You make no time for yourself after your actual working hours are over, and you don’t completely stop thinking about the chores and errands related to work.

9- General Dissatisfaction

This appears in the form of feeling less happiness and satisfaction with your professional and home lives; you may feel unsatisfied or even stuck when it comes to what happens at home, the circles around you, or in your social activities.

10- Health Complications

On the long run, dangerous chronic exhaustion that results from Burnout may lead to actual health problems, like complications in the Digestive System, heart diseases, depression, and obesity.

Hot Tips

1- Treat the Relaxation Process and the Time You Give It Seriously

No matter what it is that you prefer to do in your relaxation time like meditation, listening to music, reading books, walking, or social get-togethers, treat it as something that deserves to be done and deserves part of your time.

2- Build A Life Outside of Work’s Context

Look for something outside work that really motivates and inspires you, whether it’s a hobby, sport, or different activities, and give it attention to build a routine that involves it and makes it a habit.

3- Isolate Yourself from Technology

While communication technology may enhance productivity at the current time, it may also allow work pressures and what relates to it to slip into your family time, and your vacation and social activities time. Force boundaries, through turning off your mobile phone while attending any social activity, and specify certain times to check your email and communication apps.

4- Get Enough Sleep

Researches indicate that sleeping for less than six hours a night is a main contributor to Burnout and exhaustion, and it may have negative effects on your work performance and productivity; and vice versa, good sleep can actually enhance your memory.

Recovery from chronic Burnout and exhaustion demands the removal or decrease of pressure falling on you and rejuvenating your resources, and sleep is one of the strategies to rejuvenate these resources.

5- Organize Your Life Better

When individuals feel Burnout, many times they spend a lot of time worrying that they’re going to forget doing something or something important will slip out of their minds. Be organized, search a lot inside your head, put a task list, then prioritize; this way, you won’t have to keep thinking about these things because you will have systems to remind you.

6- Train Yourself to Know Your Limits

Contemplate on your past and present performances, know the problems that face you at work, find out when things exceeded what they deserved to you. Build limits to your capabilities, and rational limitations to the effort and ability you can invest in work.