We live in a competitive society that demands more and more from us every single day. In the race of being more successful, a lot of us have started neglecting the things that actually matter in life. Amidst this chaos, we often forget our health, be it mental or physical. As the years have gone by, there has been a spike in the cases of depression, anxiety, and other stress-related health problems, and most of them have work or academic stress as the root cause.
What is Burnout?
Do simple work tasks have started to overwhelm you? Or do you feel like you are no longer interested in the activities that once excited you? Chances are you are experiencing burnout. It is often confused with laziness, but there is a huge difference between the two. Burnout originates from a point of stress whereas laziness is what you feel when you are required to do something that you are not interested in.
Burnout can be detrimental for both your health and career if not dealt with properly. Not being able to acquire a semblance of balanced work or academic life can take a toll on your mental health. Here are a few signs that will help you identify whether you are burning out or simply being lazy:
1. Tired All The Time
A textbook symptom of burnout is consistent exhaustion. People with burnout describe it in the sense of not having the energy to deal with anything. A clear-cut sign is social interactions you once enjoyed now feel draining.
2. Lack Of Motivation
Do you feel like you no longer have internal motivation for your work? Can you remember a time when you would feel excited to work on something new? But now you have no enthusiasm about anything that goes on in your life. If you feel like it is getting difficult to drag yourself to work day by day, you may be experiencing burnout.
3. Train Of Negative Emotions
Burnout brings out the worst in people. Instead of having a train of thought, people with burnout experience something we like to call a train of negative emotions. From frustration to depression to lack of motivation, burnout makes you feel like nothing matters anymore. It is normal to have negative thoughts from time to time. But, if you feel like you’ve been feeling more pessimistic than you used to, there is a high chance that you are burned out completely.
4. Reduced Focus And Attention
Burnout creates a lack of focus and shortens your attention span. Have you noticed that your focus and concentration shift even at slight disturbances? If small inconveniences frustrate you and make you lose your focus and attention, it may be a sign that you need to take a prolonged break from your work.
5. Declining Work/Academic Performance
A simple way to find out whether you have burnout or not is to compare your current job/academic performance with your previous performance. Since symptoms of burnout are manifested over an extended period, a continuous decline in your performance may indicate that you are heading towards burnout.
6. More Arguments, Less Work
Burnout can make you irritated and moody. This leads to unwanted arguments and baseless banter with your colleagues, friends, and loved ones. If you notice that you have been spending more time arguing than working, burnout has probably got the best of you.
7. Zoning Out Often
Do you often tune out your friends, your family members, or your co-workers? Even when you are physically present in a room full of people you often find yourself zoned out. If you have been experiencing this feeling for a long time it may point towards mental fatigue and burnout.
8. Not taking Care of yourself
People experiencing burnout may seek refuge in self-destructing coping mechanisms such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, overeating, sleeping too much, or not sleeping at all. Burnout puts huge amounts of mental strain, which forces people to rely on escaping methods such as sleeping pills and reckless drinking at the end of the day. Others become dependent on high caffeine intake to get some sort of work done.
9. All You Ever Think About Is Work
Another classic manifestation of burnout is that you often find yourself mulling over your job even when you’re not working. Stressing about your work at every moment doesn’t give you the time to recover from the mental strain generated throughout the day.
10. Feeling Dissatisfied
You may feel like nothing makes you happy anymore. And you often feel dissatisfied and stuck at whatever is going on at your home or your work. The idea of getting involved in activities seems moot.
Final Word
Burnout leaves people feeling exhausted, unhappy, unmotivated, and dissatisfied with their lives. High-levels of work/academic stress are one of the many causes of burnout. You can prevent it by taking care of yourself and keeping your mental health in check. Avoid setting unrealistic goals and just take one day at a time. Remember everything only matters as long as you are healthy and happy.
