Did you know that burnout can be liberating? Perhaps you’ve had this very same thought before?

Chatting with someone this week they said exactly this. I was stunned at first, and then I began to think more about it.

When a person burns out, we often think they’ve fallen off a cliff – that is have found themselves unable to work, to show up. Nothing seems to help. They need rest. Often need medical support. I’ve not burnt out to that point myself, and have experienced at different times that feeling of tiredness, loss of concentration, yearning to lay somewhere in the sun or in bed and not move… for days or weeks. This often happens off the back of an extremely busy time.

There are degrees of burnout, and I’m wondering if you’ve ever noticed yourself or someone else showing early signs of burnout? What did you do? How did you respond?

Let’s look at those early signs of burnout and see if it can liberate you!

Symptoms of burnout include; lack of concentration, tiredness, blurry eyes, starting to be critical or feeling cynical about your work, short-fused with work related people, disillusioned about your job, boss or the company to name a few.

If you’re feeling like this stop and consider the cause.

Do you:
1. Have enough control over the work you do?
2. Are you doing more than is required of you in your role?
3. Is your job description unclear, and as a result you’re expected to do more?
4. Is there friction and emotional undercurrents at play?
5. Are you working way beyond and habitually normal hours and contribution?
6. Are you able to spend time outside of work on things you want to for leisure?

These are all contributing risk factors to burnout.

What can you do to stop the burnout process?

1. Take some time to work out what your options are. Discuss/chat with people you trust and tease out those options and the course of action you will take
2. Get help! If you are finding that what you’re doing to address burnout isn’t working so well, get help. Your employer may have an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) that you can utilise. Its confidential. Or speak to your Doctor.
3. Wellbeing. There are many options when it comes to wellbeing. Tap into something in your local area, or if your employer has a program try something out.