Do you feel overwhelmed constantly, and now you’re at the point where you feel like you just don’t care anymore?
You may be experiencing emotional burnout. It saps you of all your drive and motivation, but it doesn’t need to be this way. Read this article to learn how to turn your life around.
What Is Emotional Burnout?
When you’re constantly dealing with stressful events or challenges in life, you’ll find yourself feeling like you’re always emotionally exhausted and drained.
This is emotional burnout. This is often noted in professionals in high-stress work environments, caregivers, people surviving poverty, parents, and people dealing with chronic illness.
As you deal with excessive and prolonged stress, you’ll feel like you’re unable to meet the constant demands you face.
The stress continues, and you start to lose the interest and motivation that you had prior to taking on whatever responsibilities that caused these stressors.
Emotional burnout has a lot of negative effects, and once that burnout sets in, it can spill into every aspect of your life. This is why it’s so important to recognize emotional burnout before it consumes you.
What Makes Burnout Different From Stress?
Stress can cause burnout, but burnout isn’t just excessive stress. Stress is from too much pressure on you, which takes a physical and mental toll.
Despite that, a person who’s stressed still holds the belief that as long as they can get things under wraps, they’ll feel better.
Stress is extensively covered on the Liven wellbeing platform, where you can learn more about how to deal with it in a healthy manner.
This isn’t the case with emotional burnout. Burnout leaves you feeling empty and mentally exhausted. You’ll feel like you don’t have it in you to care, and you’ll be devoid of all motivation.
People who are dealing with burnout don’t typically have any hope of their situation changing for the better. This is also why burnout tends to creep up on you. You won’t notice your energy and drive being sapped away until it’s too late.
Things That Might Cause Emotional Burnout
Emotional burnout is typically multifocal. Most people experiencing this sort of exhaustion do so because of factors derived from their work life, lifestyle, inner psyche, and even societal changes.
To stop emotional burnout from setting in at all, you need to recognize what might cause them in the first place. Take a look at a few of these triggers:
Workplace
- Working in a chaotic or high-pressure environment, or in a hostile workplace
- Doing monotonous or unchallenging work
- Overly demanding or unclear job expectations
- No rewards and a lack of recognition for a job well done
- Feeling like you have little or no control over your work
Inner Psyche
- Being a perfectionist, leading to feeling like nothing is ever good enough
- A pessimistic view of yourself and the world
- A need to be in control, as well as a reluctance to depend on others
- Having a high-achieving Type A personality
Lifestyle
- Working too much, but not taking the time to socialize or relax
- Lack of supportive relationships
- Taking on more responsibilities than you can handle, and forgoing help from others
- Not getting enough sleep
Societal Changes
- Cultural expectations, such as that of reaching a certain job title, having a family, being expected to provide
- Economic instability through job insecurity, inflation, and other financial obligations
- Limited access to vital resources like affordable healthcare, mental health services, and childcare
Learning To Recognize When Emotional Burnout Is Setting In
Emotional burnout can induce physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms, but they can often be confused with stress or advance to depression. In order to prevent emotional burnout from getting worse, you need to recognize when it’s setting in.
Keep an eye out for the following signs if you’re worried about being emotionally exhausted:
Physical Symptoms
- Feeling tired or fatigued
- Getting sick often
- Body aches
- Recurring headaches
- Loss of appetite
- Sleep disturbances like insomnia
- Stomach and bowel problems
Emotional Symptoms
- Lack of enthusiasm
- Feeling drained
- Anxiety and worry
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Feelings of overwhelm
- Increased irritability
- Self-doubt, helplessness
- Increasing cynicism
Behavioral Symptoms
- Alienation from social activities
- Procrastination
- Indecisiveness
- Unhealthy coping mechanisms
- Increased absenteeism
How You Can Combat Emotional Burnout
When you notice emotional burnout setting in, you can’t just try to push through that exhaustion. That’ll just cause you to feel more drained.
When you’re getting burned out, it’s time to give yourself a break and approach your problems from a different perspective. When dealing with burnout, follow the “Three R” approach:
- Recognize: Learn to recognize the warning signs of emotional burnout.
- Reverse:Reverse the damage already done to you by seeking support and managing stress.
- Resilience: Bolster your resilience against stress by taking care of your physical and emotional health.
Now, let’s take a look at a few ways in which you can prevent or deal with burnout:
Reframe The Way You Look At Work
If your job feels monotonous and unfulfilling, you might consider quitting and finding a job that you enjoy. While that’s the easiest solution, it isn’t always feasible. Try to find some value in your work, better balance in your life, or take some time off if you can’t quit.
Reevaluate Your Priorities
When you’re experiencing burnout, it’s indicative of the fact that something in your life isn’t working out the way you wanted it to. Try to reassess your goals and relationships, and rediscover what’s truly important to you.
Set boundaries so you don’t overextend yourself, try to foster your creative side, get enough sleep, and take a break from technology everyday for a little bit.
Fix Up Your Diet
Having a healthy diet can have a major positive impact on your mood and energy levels throughout the day. Try to minimize the amount of sugar and refined carbs you consume, avoid nicotine and alcohol, and try to eat more foods that contain Omega-3 fatty acids.
Prioritize Exercise
Endorphins are natural mood boosters, and exercise happens to release a lot of them. Regular exercise, as simple as a ten minute walk every day, can do wonders for your mental state.
A regular exercise routine gives you some structure to your day, and leaves you with a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Socialize More
Humans are social creatures, and social contact is a great way to reduce stress, especially if you’re engaging with a good listener. Having someone to vent to can help you get rid of a lot of stress.
Remember that you aren’t alone in this, and more often than not your family and coworkers have been in your shoes. Reach out to the people you trust, and try to limit your contact with negative people.
Conclusion
Stress is unavoidable, but you don’t need to let it get to the point of life-consuming emotional burnout. Keep an eye out for those symptoms, and practice the tips we mentioned the best you can, and you’ll live a fulfilling life.