Warning Signs You’re Burned Out (Not Lazy)!
It's not your fault. We live in a decidedly achievement-oriented society where stress is part of the norm. If you're not stressed, you're not contributing, it seems. We are all too easily infected and carried away by this tempest in a teapot. At some point, we notice that we can't get anything done, that we don't feel like doing anything, and that any extracurricular activity is incredibly difficult for us. We can hardly get out of bed in the morning, and on weekends we would prefer to just stay there, with the covers over our heads, of course. We also can't get up the nerve to go out with family and friends. Has laziness finally taken hold of us? Has the inner sloth won? In this article we show you 6 signs that this is not the case. You haven't suddenly mutated into a good-for-nothing. The reason is much more serious: A burnout has you firmly in its grip.
You've become moody and irritable.
Mood swings are a clear indication that we are becoming psychologically unbalanced. These first warning signs should give us particular food for thought in people who have actually always been the balanced ones. If they suddenly react unpredictably and emotionally, something is very wrong. Family members are usually the first to notice this change. But those affected deny everything or stonewall. When we are noticeably out of kilter, we have to go somewhere with our discontent and the impending collapse that is already dangling over our heads like a sword of Damocles. Emotional outbursts and roller coasters of feelings are then the outlet for this.
Your self-care comes up short.
Similar to depression, burnout announces itself through significant changes in self-care. What begins with neglecting personal hygiene ends with cutting off social contacts and activities that once brought us great joy. When we notice that those around us stop changing their clothes for several days, stop taking vacations or time off, and work through lunch breaks, these are the first early warning signs of impending burnout. You are already so caught up in the delusion of having to function that you leave out important things of an orderly everyday life that are actually a matter of course. If you can no longer manage to eat, sleep and look good, you should urgently give yourself a break. Nothing in the world can be more important than taking care of our needs.
The changes came insidiously.
The fatal thing about burnout is the quiet feet it comes creeping in on, taking control of our lives bit by bit. It starts with small favors, an occasional "yes" where a "no" would actually be the correct answer, and lots of minimal accumulations of to-dos and appointments. The bizarre thing is that at the beginning we are still happy about the more responsibility and the broader range of activities we are allowed to take on. As I said, it's never the lazy ones who are at risk of burnout. It's always the hard-working who make their contribution and want to leave their mark on the working world. If you were to throw a frog into a pot of boiling hot water, it would immediately jump out. If, on the other hand, it sits in cool water that’s gradually heated, it takes a very long time for it to make the jump. It's a similar story with burnout; who can say which little extra task will tip the scales, tipping the balance of our mental equilibrium. Who knows in advance whether project X or the 20th extra hour will be just that little bit too much that will break the camel's back.
Anything is better than work.
Many people see no easy way out of their professional dilemma. The dedicated ones aren't necessarily the ones who immediately call in sick for a cold and stay home. But at some point any excuse will do, so that we might find ourselves happy to hear that we need eight subsequent visits to the dentist, because it means eight additional appointments during working hours, it means a type of escape. This means something is not going well at all in our lives. It is often at this stage of burnout that we sustain injuries and have minor accidents. We are also susceptible to infections because our immune system sends up the white flag for us. All of this doesn't happen by accident, our soul cries out for a time out and passes the word to our body. Better pull the emergency brake while the symptoms are still relatively harmless. You certainly don't want to have to join the long line of work-related heart attacks that the new widespread disease burn-out has already claimed.
You used to be highly motivated.
Only those who burn for a cause can burn out. This sentence is probably the most important one to give burnout victims on their way to recovery. The chronic sloths and parasites, who always only provide the minimum of performance and constantly muddle through everywhere, will never suffer from burnout. One could almost get the impression that it pays off in the long run to be among the freeloaders and social parasites. By the way, one is born to these categories – there’s hardly a person who was once highly motivated and committed that then decides overnight to live at the expense of others. You either have ambitions or you don't. If you were once the shining example of diligence and ambition, but today you simply work your hours as if cast in concrete, burnout has you firmly in its stranglehold.
Your connection to the outside world seems severed.
Probably the most important differentiator between laziness and burnout is the importance of our activity then and now. If you used to be in the middle of things instead of just there when one feat of strength after another was required at work, you're not suddenly disinterested and ignorant, you just simply don't have the energy to face the daily madness anymore. None of your activities fills you with joy. You check off little successes like annoying compulsory exercises. So one day after the other passes, where you feel like a free-floating speck of dust that threatens to disappear at any moment. Who would miss you? When would someone at work notice that you were gone? How quickly would you be replaced? Such and similar thoughts are tickets towards depression. It is not for nothing that depression is one of the gloomy side effects that accompany classic burnout.
Today’s Conclusion
Never say never. Would you like to guess which sentence burnout sufferers have uttered most often throughout their lives? It is: "Burnout will never happen to me!'' How insidiously and in what microscopic doses this psychological burden assaults us. Like a sneak-thief in the dark of night, it nests in us. Especially those of us who think we have such vulnerabilities should be careful. Once you are motivated and love your job, you are automatically on the list of employees at risk; the tragedy of burnout is not what it does to a person. The real dilemma is that it always hits those who keep the economy going and with it the world. That's it for today.