By Stephen Scherer, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist,
Last week we started to take a look at what we have on our plates and how it impacts us.
Before we can successfully develop a plan to recover from feeling overworked or burnout and learn to thrive again, we need to first assess the problem and figure out how we got to this point. The first thing to note is that no one chooses to feel miserable and burned out at work. This is something that has developed over time, sometimes without us knowing it is happening. Unfortunately, this happens because of the stigma around burnout and mental health in general. “If I talk about my problems or let others know I’m suffering at work, then they will judge me” might be a thought that came to mind at some point. Chances are that what you’re feeling is actually quite similar to what your colleagues are feeling as well, just no one wants to voice it out of fear of judgement or seeming “weak.”
The high demand to produce can be very overwhelming. We tend to mistakenly compare our inner experience of feeling burned out to the external presentation of others and this causes us to believe that everyone else around us is doing much better than we are, that they “have their lives together, and I’m a mess.” This simply is not a fair or accurate comparison. It’s like looking at the surface of a stream, it may appear calm at first glance, but once you dive in you are caught in the chaos of the undercurrent. With this in mind, it’s safe to say that keeping our experiences at work to ourselves is not necessarily best practice. The more intense our burnout is, the more one tends to isolate (due to thinking that others are much better off than we are.) This only perpetuates the cycle of feeling worse, isolating more from peers, and so on.
The effects of burnout can be extremely painful and debilitating. Take a look at the list below and write down any of the symptoms you experience which may be draining you throughout each day:
Avoidance symptoms:
· Avoidance of thoughts, feelings, people, environments associated with work
· Avoidance of conversations, activities or situations that carry reminders of work
· Dreading seeing certain colleagues or students
· Experiencing a heavy feeling of low motivation to complete work-related tasks or to write
· Procrastinating or pushing back important tasks until the very last minute
· Withdrawing from enjoyable activities or friends
Emotional symptoms:
· Easily losing patience with students, colleagues, family, or friends
· Feeling down or depressed
· Feeling detached, emotionally numb, flat, dissatisfied, or empty
· Feeling irritated in meetings or when talking to others (ex: “let’s get this over with” or ”can we hurry this up?”)
· Feeling chronically behind or worry that you are behind on work
· Loss of self-efficacy and increased thoughts that you can’t do your job or are a fraud
· Outbursts of anger or irritability that are out of proportion for the situation
· Tuning out peers or students in the first few minutes of a meeting or conversation
Cognitive symptoms:
· Distressing dreams about work
· Difficulty concentrating or focusing on the details of a task
· Gaps in memory for events that occurred in the recent past
· Intrusive (involuntary/unwanted) images or thoughts of feeling inadequate
· Mental fogginess or writer’s block
· Thoughts/sudden distressing memories associated with work while at home
· Trouble staying or getting organized
Physical symptoms:
· Chronic feelings of fatigue or waking up feeling tired
· Decreased stamina or feeling low energy
· Elevated blood pressure
· Emotional/physical reactions that are triggered by reminders of work
· Feeling on-edge much of the time (hypervigilance, easily startled, jumpy, etc.)
· Feeling shaky or jittery throughout the day
· GI distress
· Trouble falling asleep
· Waking up multiple times throughout the night
Despite this being a long list of possible symptoms of burn out, it is not exhaustive. It’s clear that burnout isn’t something to be taken lightly and thankfully it’s also not something to feel more worried about because it is 100% reversible. Recovery from burn out starts with first recognizing it and how it impacts our lives, the next step is increasing self-compassion. Again, this isn’t something people choose to experience, it’s a process that happens outside of our awareness. It isn’t a motivation or laziness issue either, which are common judgements that arise when feeling burned out. Unfortunately, thoughts such as “I’m lazy,” “I deserve to feel this way,” “there is nothing I can do about it,” or “I need to stop being weak/get over it” only perpetuate the problem. How many problems have been solved by simply willing the issue out of existance? I imagine the answer is few to none. Developing compassion towards ourselves through strategies like positive affirmations will give the energy boost needed to take more concrete action steps.
Next post we will talk about specific steps we can take to identify the root of the problem and begin to formulate a plan to recovery!
Scholarly Action Step: Take a look at your plate from last week and draw a full cup of water next to it. Think about the glass as being your “emotional reserves, or emotional tank.” The amount of “stuff” you can handle in a day is equal to the glass. Now ask yourself, how much do I have left in the glass at the end of the day? It can be helpful to show how much water each think on your plate drains from you on a daily basis. We will use this and our plate next week to start putting our plan together!
*The information in this blog post is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult with a qualified mental health professional before making any changes to your lifestyle to make sure they are right for you.
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