Burnout is increasingly becoming a popular buzzword regarding work and school. What is the psychological definition, though? Burnout is primarily a drawn-out response to chronic stress we experience at our jobs (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). There are quite a few symptoms that being to appear when someone is experiencing burnout than can be filtered into three categories: overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism/detachment from the job, and a feeling of inadequacy and a lack of accomplishment (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). Burnout does not present as simple tiredness, but rather that deep exhaustion that an extra hour or two of sleep on the weekends doesn’t fix. You may begin to care less about the work that you are doing or the projects you are assigned. You may then feel as though you are not doing as good of a job as you were before, or that your skills are atrophying. This can in turn have a deep effect on our mental health by leading to higher rates of depression and anxiety. Unfortunately, burnout is not something that can be fixed by taking a long weekend or taking a week off. Speaking from experience, these are great ways to temporarily reduce feelings of burnout, but, in the long run, it doesn’t cure it. I had to take an entire year away from school in order to feel some relief from the burnout that was a result of having been in school since I was five years old. It doesn’t go away overnight. It takes time.
Now, I know not everyone has the privilege of being able to take a year off from whatever stressor is the root cause of their burnout, especially if it’s work. So how do we treat, cope, and reduce our feelings of burnout when we can’t walk away? Let’s split up the coping skills into different tiers: Big Steps and Little Steps. Big Steps are going to be things we can do that take a significant amount of time and effort, but they will have longer lasting effects. Little Steps are things we can do that take only a little time and effort and may reduce feelings of burnout in the moment but will not have too long of a lasting effect. Always remember that different things work for different people; some of these steps may not be plausible for some, while others may be the step in the right direction.
Big Steps
Little Steps
This is not an exhaustive list of steps we can take to reduce feelings of burnout. There are so many more suggestions from different websites. If you feel like none of these may work for you, there is bound to be a suggestion out there that will feel just right. All in all, if you are feeling symptoms of burnout, just know that you are not alone! There are many of us in the fight right now, and it’s important to take these steps to stave off burnout.
Written by,
Annika Bushman, Intern
www.cuttingedge-therapy.com