Oh Sh*t, I Think I’m Burnt Out

Questions to ask and steps to take when your spark has faded.

Burnout doesn’t actually look like this most of the time. It looks like caffeinated, perky, slightly cynical high achievement. Success. Until, all of a sudden, this.

Numbers released yesterday in the Netherlands show that people in their 20s and 30s are experiencing increasing and unprecedented levels of work stress. As one expert puts it, “Most people keep working, even with serious symptoms, for far too long.”

One of the challenges of dealing with work stress is that once you are in a state of chronic stress, it can be hard to avoid full-blown burnout. That’s because when the sympathetic nervous system (the one that triggers your flight, fight, freeze or fawn response) is activated, you are zoomed in on the threat. You are trying vigilantly to end our exposure to whatever is causing us stress.

In this high-alert state, you often no longer have the perspective to see with clarity or compassion what is happening. You lose sight of your options. You become incapable of making objective, healthy decisions for your own welfare. You may start to get the sense of feeling lost.

“If you’re feeling crispy, it’s important to know you’re not alone, and you don’t have to heal by yourself. In fact, you cannot heal by yourself.”