Hi everyone!

I want to talk about burnout, something we all experience at any age, at any stage and occupation in our lives. Burnout is a state of exhaustion caused by lingering ongoing stress that affects a person emotionally, physically, and mentally. When a person reaches the point of feeling burned out, it impacts stamina, and the energy once felt is draining, slipping away, or no longer there; it alters mood and interferes with their ability to maintain productivity and motivation. Burnout results from overwhelming stress accumulation, leading to negative performance and impact on health.

Picture a lit candle burnt out, the energy levels running low on a battery, or a degree meter with green, yellow, and red; plenty of visual imagery represents the burnout concept.

I recently started thinking about the different ways burnout shows up. Aside from burnout in the workplace, Senioritis describes a decline in focus, energy, motivation, and effort in students as they finish their academic schooling stage because of fatigue, stress, and pressure buildup. Similarly, students experience midterm and final burnout; due to fatigue, stress, and pressure.

Burnout and recovery can last a short or long time, depending on several factors, such as recognition, severity, resilience, approach, and support.

In my previous posts, I mentioned stress, lack of motivation, and detours in staying on track, which are contributors to burnout. Stress is the root of burnout. Exhaustion in burnout causes a lack of motivation, distraction, and energy depletion. Productivity interference or reduced productivity in burnout causes difficulty getting and staying on track and achieving the headspace. Anxiety also goes hand in hand with burnout, and distress may be connected too.

Burnout causes you to slow down, and recovery is crucial to bring you back up. The candle needs reigniting, recharging the battery, and turning the meter back down to keep going. Some tips to combat burnout:

• Simplify your routine for easy maintenance: It may be hard to stick strictly to the routine you set from the beginning, leading to feeling fatigued and unproductive faster. Choose and focus on at least three main tasks each day.
• Rest: Rest is a big part of self-care; strive for quality sleep, rest, and relaxation. Set time to create downtime for balance and breaks in your schedule to re-energize.
• Reward: celebrate big and small achievements to maintain motivation.
• Move: Get up, walk, look around, and stretch; this will help prevent exhaustion.
• Breathe: Slow, deep, and intentional breathing helps destress, keep exhaustion away, and refresh focus and motivation, getting you ready to be productive again.
• Listen to your body: Slow down when needed and modify your daily routine to how you feel and the signs your body gives.
• Remind yourself: remind yourself of your goals, how far you have gotten, and that others feel this too.

Managing stress will prevent burnout and give you the power to return to work happy and healthy.