What is burnout?
A chronic state developed over time of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion resulting from prolonged and unmanaged stress. There has been an observed increase in folks who are experiencing burnout since the pandemic and particularly in healthcare and frontline workers. Higher rates of burnout are found in women, POC, neurodivergent folks, and the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Often, people believe that burnout is inevitable based on societal narratives, pressures, and/or their career choice. While burnout is largely a systemic issue, there are several things within your control to manage, prevent and control how burnout is showing up in your life.
Stress vs burnout
Although stress and burnout can often resemble each other, there are key differences between the two (this is not a comprehensive list):
Stress
Burnout
- Natural response to acute distress
- Can be intense but often temporary
- Can boost anxiety or productivity
- Typically, a short-term response to a perceived threat
- Can present through physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, muscle tension, or headaches that dissipate once stressor is resolved
- Result of prolonged exposure to unmanaged stress
- Often builds slowly over time, chipping away at our well-being
- Prolonged feelings of defeat, and skepticism of improvement
- Can present through physical symptoms such as chronic fatigue and sleep difficulties
- Includes feelings of detachment, helplessness, and irritability
Signs/Symptoms of burnout
- Worry at night, or trouble falling or staying asleep
- Feeling unappreciated or “used” on the job
- Tired/Fatigued even after getting enough sleep
- Brain fog
- Feeling angry, irritated, annoyed, or disappointed with those around you
- Connecting with friends or family less often
- Increased forgetfulness e.g. appointments, deadlines, placement of items
- Avoiding conversations or isolating from others
- Increased substance use
- Difficulty to find joy or pleasure in hobbies
- Unable to filter negative attitudes or thoughts
- Lack of joy or meaning in your job
- Increased conflict with others
- Often wanting to take time off work or always watching the clock
- Increased physical complaints e.g. headaches, stomach issues, colds
Though many of the above imply career related symptoms, keep in mind that burnout can happen in other areas of life too e.g., caregiving.
Levels and Severity
Symptoms of burnout can look different based on each individual person in addition to the level of severity experienced by that person.
Minimal
You feel a sense of commitment, accomplishment or purpose in what you’re doing. You experience situational stress that does not impair your day-to-day functioning. You have some self-care items in place but will often abandon if asked to do something for someone in need. You’re uncertain what additional boundaries need to be put in place.
Mild
More frequent feelings of stress, and notice mild impact on well-being. Often wanting to say “no” to requests from others but unsure how. Feeling less optimistic, more tired, decreased feelings of accomplishment. Symptoms aren’t always consistent but come and go, or improve after some time away/off.
Moderate
Feeling stressed more consistently. Increased irritability or lack of patience with others. You’ll notice physical and emotional exhaustion, feelings of cynicism, decreased productivity and feelings of purpose. Spending less time with others or engaging in hobbies. Still manage to get by day-to-day.
Severe
Feeling stressed most of the time. Day-to-day functioning is impaired and you find it difficult to accomplish basic tasks. Feelings of extreme physical and mental exhaustion. Likely have isolated yourself, feel pessimistic, are self-critical, and have major doubt that things will improve.
Debilitating
Unable to function day-to-day and the impacts of stress are present within all areas of your life. Feelings of hopelessness regarding improvement. May be reliant on maladaptive coping skills such as substance use or other numbing behaviours.
Your body will always provide you with signs and symptoms of stressors, so it’s important to be on the lookout so that you can release or manage that stress. If you don’t actively allow yourself to release stress, it will build in your body until you quite literally can’t ignore it anymore. Building increased awareness of your body isn’t always easy, practice and regular mindfulness will be just as important as utilizing tools to release stress.
Risk Factors
This is not a comprehensive list, but it demonstrates how burnout can not only take place in several areas of your life but can also stem from various sources.
Work
- Toxic work environment
- Stressful commute
- Unrealistic expectations
- Lack of support/mentorship
- Lack of flexibility in schedule
- Often working with an angry public
- Long days/hours or working nights/weekends
- Unfulfilling or tedious work
- Disrespect from others
- Denied breaks, lunch, sick leave or vacation
Lifestyle
- Too much time on social media or devices
- Lack of exercise or body movement
- Completing work during personal time
- Lack of routine/consistency
- Lack of proper diet/nutrition
Survival
- Racism or discrimination
- Financial struggles
- Health problems (e.g., chronic pain or chronic fatigue)
- Current/Past experiences of trauma
- Lack of housing or safety
Inner experience
- Perfectionism (link blog)
- Self-criticism
- Imposter syndrome
- Unable to set boundaries with self and others
- Ignoring sign/symptoms of stress
- Lacking self-care
Relationship with others
- Lack of feelings of connection or community
- Difficulty asking for or receiving help
- Isolation
- People pleasing
- Unable to be vulnerable with appropriate people
- Unhealthy relationships
- Lack of boundaries
- Experiencing abuse
Home
- Caregiving for others
- Carrying majority of the mental load
- Over or lack of Meal-planning
- Over or lack of Cleaning
- Lack of time or too many Errands
- Lack of support managing household tasks
Recovery
Recovery can vary greatly from person to person and depend on circumstances and the severity level that you’re at. Noticed improvement can be seen anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. The earlier you begin to intervene the better! Regardless of if you’re on the mild end of the severity spectrum, prevention of further burnout is key. Thus, creating a plan will still serve you well in maintaining your well-being and increasing your awareness of your stressors to better manage them. Create a concrete plan to help you get closer to regaining your well-being. Here’s an example of how to create a plan:
- Identify Signs & Stressors: by reflecting on the risk factors of your own life, identify the signs, symptoms and primary stressors within your life. If helpful, also take note of the stressors that feel secondary or tertiary.
- Identify Coping: big or small, identify actionable things that fuel you. It is recommended to have a range of coping skills accessible to you. Elements like deep breathing, going for a walk, reading, creating art, phoning a friend, all the way to, a week’s vacation are important to take note of. So long as all your items listed are REALISTIC, and can fit within your life. For example, don’t add weekly facials or a week in Hawaii to your coping list if that’s not in your budget. You may need to get creative, if a gym membership is not in the budget, utilize at home workouts. YouTube is a great tool for this, E.g. Yoga with Adriene or Grow with Jo.
- Implement Tools: start small to build up momentum and habits. Begin with whatever feels the easiest, regardless of if it seems it’ll impact the primary stressor. E.g. You’re a mom who works full time and carries the mental load of the household, struggling to find a minute throughout the day for a moment of peace and quiet. Start with something small, achievable and realistic. While you’re getting ready in the bathroom in the morning, take 60 seconds for deep breathing, reminding yourself it’s the only thing you need to do in that moment. Consistency of this small act can build confidence and momentum for further needed self-care like taking a few hours a week to engage in a hobby.
- Create Boundaries: with yourself and with others. See our blog post for more details on boundary setting. A boundary with self can look like limiting the time you spend on social media. Or, knowing you need 7 hours of sleep a night, means you need to stop working at X time. Boundaries with others can look like implementing a knocking policy with co-workers before they enter your office.
- Regularly Re-Assess Your Needs: life changes and so will your needs. You may notice some strategies or boundaries help more than others. You may notice your schedule is busier this week and need to pivot in the tools you’re using. Maybe you got a new job, and your new manager addresses things differently that may require new boundaries. Additionally, with efforts in executing this plan, hopefully you’ll notice your symptoms change. Therefore, if you found yourself identifying in the severe category and now you’re in the mild category, you may now need a prevention plan instead of a recovery plan.
Extra Considerations
- Self -care is hardest to implement when you need it the most.
- Don’t get caught in the trap of stopping your coping tools or letting go of boundaries once you start to feel better. Sometimes folks think that because they’re feeling better, they no longer need these things in their life. In reality, having these elements in your life is the reason you’re feeling better. Self-care should always be used as a prevention rather than a solution to a problem.
If you find yourself in the severe or debilitating categories of burnout, expanding your network of support and circle of care is essential. Please reach out to your physician or seek support from a therapist.
