Are you burnt out? At work? At life? Do you know burnout is a real thing? Well, it may not be as scientific or as measurable or quantifiable as something like stress, but it certainly exists and can be really harmful to your health.
There are many signs and symptoms of burnout, like fatigue, pessimism, irritability, lack of motivation, and, of course, stress. When you combine all of these, and possibly a few others, you have a recipe for burnout.
And burnout can occur in many areas of life: Obviously, and probably most common, it can happen at work or with your job. But it can also happen at home with your day-to-day chores. Or extracurricular activities with kids. Or with a hobby. Basically, it can happen anywhere and everywhere. And, likely, it’s going to happen. Which is why it is good to be prepared when the signs start to pop up that it is occurring.
Now the ways to combat burnout are very similar to the ways to combat stress. There is both a physical or physiological aspect to burn out, as well as a psychological aspect. The physical aspect is the fatigue, the chest tightness, the physical feeling of butterflies in your stomach or fast heart rate and high blood pressure. Or it could be the opposite when you are just down in the dumps.
The psychological aspects can be sadness or lack of meaning and purpose, or feeling as if you’re not contributing anymore to something. The mindset aspect of burn out (with really anything in life related to health well-being, in my opinion) is most important. Without the proper mindset, it’s very hard to take the necessary action to prevent and overcome burn out.
Where to Start
But, that being said, the simplest way to change and what helps drive behavioral improvement and that shift in mindset is to simply move the body first and foremost. It does not take a lot of brain power or motivation to simply go for a walk. Start small.
When you are on your walk, start to work on your mind. Dissect your thoughts and your situation. Use a little cognitive restructuring for growth mindset development techniques (which I’ve talked about on this platform) to tackle the burn out. Find out why exactly you are burning out or what is causing it. And then go deep.
Why is this occurring? Has this occurred in the past? Is the reason this is occurring because of somebody else or my own thoughts? Are these thoughts true? Is there anything I can do about this?
Once you unpack the source of burn out, then you can begin to change your thinking and game plan ways to overcome. If the source is an angry boss, for example, develop a growth mindset and go have a difficult conversation with them. You can always change, they can always change, and the situation can always get better. There’s always a way to move forward and grow. You can always change your situation if need be, and the burn out will pass.
It’s the mindset plus the physiology that will get you through. Don’t forget about techniques like mindfulness meditation, journaling, and breathing to help calm the brain and body and put you in a more relaxed, focused state in order to drive the mindset and physiological change. All are described and then some on this platform.
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