Burnout: causes, symptoms and ways you can relieve it

This feeling might be familiar to you.

It feels like you can taste ashes in your mouth. 

And you have that constant feeling that you’re scorched. You’re not feeling warm on the inside. You feel burnt out and it is painful.

It is painful because it makes it…

Difficult to get out of bed.

Difficult to concentrate.

Difficult to do any task that you could have finished with your eyes closed.

It just feels like your brain is trying to navigate through a thick fog, without a compass or a map.

And the cherry on top is exhaustion.

The exhaustion of starting a task. The exhaustion of going forward. 

The exhaustion you feel when the world is too much.

If you are feeling any of the above, do not worry. 

You are not going insane, far by it. 

These symptoms have a name. And it’s called burnout.

What is burnout? 

WHO defines burnout as a “syndrome that results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. It manifests through:

• Continuous exhaustion due to a mental effort. Physical weakness after a minimal mental effort.
• Insomnia, cognitive deficit, physical pain, irregular heartbeats, stomach aches, light and sound sensitivity. 

To be diagnosed with burnout, you have to meet the 2 conditions below:

• Feeling stressed for the past 6 months.
• Have half of the symptoms described above for at least 2 weeks.

What causes burnout?

WHO says that the main reason for burnout is the workplace. However, clinical psychologists mention that the main cause of burnout is stress. Therefore, burnout can also appear because of emotional exhaustion caused by problems at home. 

However, burnout is usually intensified by the workplace. 

But when we say “workplace”, that doesn’t mean the upper management or freelancers can escape it. Far by it. You can experience burnout even if you are an entrepreneur, a director or even a freelancer. 

Now let’s see what causes burnout: 

• Huge workload

Or in other words, when you have way too many tasks and way too little time to complete them. 

Why is this contributing to burnout? Because it decreases your mental capacities to finish the tasks. 

Moreover, when you have a huge workload constantly, in general, you have too little time to relax, recover and find balance. 

• Lack of role clarity

There you are – the jack of all trades. You do everything at your job. You stretch yourself too thin. You’re not sure how many of these tasks that come to you should be done by you. But you do them, because hey, you need the money.

Yet, stretching yourself too thin leaves you depleted of energy. And suddenly things don’t make sense anymore. And you get tired. And you just want to quit. 

• Lack of communication and support from management

I talked in one of my previous articles about how important it is to understand your employees in order to motivate them. But, at the same time, it is important to also offer them support. 

Especially in times like these. The pandemic, the imminent crisis. Everything is taking its toll on your employees.

How can you support your employees? By praising their work. By talking to them. By telling them to ask you if they need something. If you avoid doing this, they will feel invaluable. And they will slowly become very careless.

• Relationship problems among colleagues

Now, it’s great when your employees are friends. It’s actually amazing. However, if friendship is off the table due to objective reasons, it is necessary for them to have at least a civilized relationship, where they can get along. 

On the other hand, if there is a lot of pressure – they argue, they are unsupportive to each other, you can expect your employees to become cynical, angry and hostile. And thus the quality of their work can decrease. 

• Incompatibility between their own values and the companies’

When there’s a clash between one employee’s values and the companies….there has to be a compromise. 

Usually, the compromise looks like this: between the work they have to do vs. the work they want to do. And this internal conflict, this internal struggle takes one closer to burnout. 

The usual effects are lack of satisfaction, reduced work engagement, the intention of leaving the workplace and turnover. 

Can you heal from burnout?

The short answer: yes. 

The longer answer: it is possible, however it takes time and effort. 

Let’s reiterate a bit some details about burnout.

The main cause of burnout is stress. From work, from home. And stress leads you to exhaustion. When you are exhausted mentally, your body follows. Your body tries to tell you that things are not ok. 

Moreover, it is important to note that there are two types of stress:

• • Acute stress. When you are stressed for a determined period of time and you know exactly why are you stressed.

• Chronic stress. When you have been stressed for years and stress becomes your baseline. You don’t remember where it came from and one day you break from a small inconvenience. 

Now, having this in mind, let’s see ways you can heal from burnout. Some of them might work if your stress is only acute, but for people who have chronic stress…these may not be enough. 

6 ways to heal burnout

• Find the source of the stress

Stress doesn’t appear from the void. It is a reaction to repetitive stimuli that your brain perceives as threatening. 

So, if you believe you might be burned out, the first thing you have to do is to sit down and find out what exactly stresses you. Sometimes it can be easy to find it. Now, if you have chronic stress, you may not realize exactly what triggers you. But it is worth to give it a try. 

• Control the stress factors

When you find out what makes your heart beat faster and makes your anxiety go nuts, you need to control the intensity of the stress factors.

Usually, the most common stress factor is a huge workload. If this applies to you, here’s what you can do:

• Learn to prioritize. Find the most important tasks and tackle those first. And if you don’t have any energy left, continue the next day. Or you can do the next step.
• Delegate. You can’t do everything on your own. So, find out which tasks can be done by your colleagues and give them up.
• Leave work at work. It happens to everyone. You take work home. You can’t sleep because your mind goes back there. But, it is very important to find a way to balance work and life. I know it is a“sounding-good-holistic-term”, but it is necessary actually. 

1. Set boundaries

• Take breaks. 
• Think twice after you finish your important tasks and see if you can’t delegate them.
• Learn to say “no” when your plate is full.
  
  

• Talk to people you trust

Social support is highly important for healing your burnout. So if you feel like you have too much going on, turn to the people you trust. They can be friends, family or even a therapist.

• Take care of your needs

• Make sure you have enough restful sleep.
• Find a balance between spending time with your close ones and yourself.
• Try to work out every day.
• Ensure your food has a high nutrition score and that you drink enough water.
• Try meditation, yoga or any mindfulness practice to relax. 
  

• Talk to a therapist

If you have been stressed for a long time, none of the above might work for you. So, the best option is to talk with a professional in order to find coping mechanisms that can help you relieve burnout symptoms. 

Before you go, I would like you to keep this in mind:

Just because you are burned out, it doesn’t mean you are a weak person. 

It means you stretched yourself too thin. 

It means you gave your best for too long and now you have to take a break.

Don’t forget to reach out to someone.

If you are employed, I highly recommend you to tell your direct manager you are struggling with burnout. It’s highly important to communicate this.. 

Because when you’re exhausted you can make mistakes. Your productivity decreases. And if you don’t communicate the real issue, the misunderstandings can lead to harsh consequences. Consequences you don’t need. 

For instance, here at Oves Enterprise, we try to keep communicating this as open as possible. I am aware that my employees are going through a lot, so I try to take their pulse weekly. And if they are on the verge of burnout, I try to help them by giving them fewer tasks or by letting them choose their work hours. 

And if you are an entrepreneur, I recommend you to do the same. It will strengthen the bond between you and your team and your business won’t suffer.