7 Warning Signs of Burnout

Hey there and welcome to let's Talk about it with Laurie Streeter. A space to talk honestly and get real about mental health, therapy and all things wellness. I'm Lori, licensed therapist, speaker and your host, here to bring you insights, tools and information you can actually use, whether you're navigating anxiety, healing your relationship with food, or trying to figure out which techniques will work for your life.

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Welcome to another episode of let's Talk about it with Laurie Streeter. Today we're going to talk about seven signs of burnout. We're going to make this super quick, useful, helpful, so that you can spot the signs of burnout. If you feel like you've been running on fumes or you're tired and sleep isn't helping, or you've been feeling off, this is going to be for you and help you start to see if this is burnout and what to do about it. So the World Health Organization categorizes burnout with three things. Feeling exhausted, feeling ineffective, and becoming mentally distant. They talk about it more in terms of work and career, but we know burnout can happen in our personal lives, but it is often talked about in terms of work. So that's how the World Health Organization talks about it. I'm obviously going to speak about it in a grander scale, but it might apply to work, it might apply to your personal life, or it might apply to both. Burnout starts to show signs long before we often realize them. So if you've been operating in a chronic state of fight or flight, in a state of survival mode, and if you haven't had great boundaries, this is something that can happen. Everybody's tolerance level is different. What might affect you might not affect someone else and vice versa. So I'm going to give you the seven signs and you can figure out if they apply to your life or if there's things you're starting to see in yourself. Number one is feeling emotionally exhausted. This is the kind of exhaustion that sleep can't really fix and that people are like, I'm getting rest, but I'm still exhausted all the time. So that physical fatigue, but also that emotional and mental exhaustion, it looks like you feel like you used to have a lot of emotion and now you're just going through the motions. Number two is lack of patience. You're annoyed more because you have less capacity. It looks like being able to tolerate more stuff, more things to more responsibilities. And now you're so tapped out, there's no room for anything else and you get irritated a lot quicker and less patient with all of the stimulation coming in. Number three goes along with the emotional exhaustion of number one. But number three is that you're feeling disconnected. Things that used to bring you joy don't anymore. Things that used to do it for you don't excite you. You're not looking forward to things. When we look at something like this, this is a core symptom of depression. It's called anhedonia. So with burnout, it starts as a feeling of disconnectedness. But if it doesn't get worked on, if you don't address it, it can turn into anhedonia, which then can lead to depression. Number four are physical symptoms. Anytime you're in a chronic state of fight or flight or chronic state of stress, or your nervous system is putting in overtime hours, you're probably going to start to feel physical symptoms. So this looks like headaches, stomach aches, body aches, tension, trouble sleeping. If you're someone who has a chronic illness, you might deal with some of these physical symptoms. But anytime there's physical symptoms that aren't typical for you, it's always something to pay attention to. Number five is brain fog. This is something that's a little difficult to explain if you haven't experienced it. But this looks like simple decisions being difficult to make. Overwhelm that feeling, like your thoughts are moving through molasses, difficulty concentrating, not feeling as sharp as you used to, or like your memory isn't as good as it once was or as good as it was six months ago. Number six is cynicism. If you used to be a neutral person or a more positive person and you're not anymore, pay attention to that. When you're detached and mentally exhausted, you're probably not feeling like your most positive self. So if your entire outlook on life has shifted from more optimistic to pessimistic, or you're feeling more cynical about stuff, it's definitely something to acknowledge. And number seven is feeling ineffective at what you do. Whether it's your sport or school or your personal life, taking care of your family, your job, your career, when you're doing so much and not feeling like you're effective or not feeling like you're getting anywhere, not feeling like you're able to be productive, it is a really shitty feeling. And this often looks like a lot of comparison, a lot of self doubt and not feeling competent at the stuff you once felt you could accomplish. So what do we do about all of this because I want to make sure I leave you with something very tangible that you can practice. If you heard yourself in any or a few or all of these signs of burnout, number one is the typical ask for help and accept help. I know that's annoying to hear, but a lot of times as women, we feel like we can't ask for help. We feel like we don't have someone to go to, we don't want to ask for help. We feel like we should be able to handle stuff. Ask for help, take something off your plate and accept the help. If someone's offering, figure out if there's something that they can do. Or if you're going to someone for help, think of the little things that you can take off your plate. It might not seem like a big deal, but. But it can start to free up some physical time that you have, but also the mental capacity that is so tapped out. The second tip I have for you is to let things be good enough. When you're struggling with burnout or you're seeing yourself in any of these signs, this is not the time to lean into perfectionism. So start to really, kind of really push yourself and practice letting some things be good enough. Finish a project, even if it's not perfect. Now, I know we have things as adults that have to get done, maybe in a very particular, particular way, but there are bound to be things in your life that you're doing and not finishing or not getting started with because you don't feel like they're going to be perfect. Remember, this is, like I said, not the time to be leaning more into trying to be perfect. And the third thing is, I like to teach people to really look at the micro recovery moments that they have accessible to them. A lot of times when someone feels like they're on the brink of burnout or they're experiencing some of these symptoms, they're. There isn't a lot of time to implement a lot of things. So we look at those little moments of again, what I call micro recovery, Taking a deep breath every time you get in and out of your car. Just a few seconds, everything is still gonna be there. Take a couple seconds, take a good, full, deep breath, and let your system get the oxygen it needs. A lot of times when we're stressed or focused, we tend to breathe in a very shallow manner. So taking good, full, deep breaths when you get in and out of your car, when you go into the bathroom, just find times in your that you can easily remember, oh, I'm Here, let me take a couple deep breaths, get some sunshine, go for a quick walk. It doesn't have to be a perfect 30 or 60 minute workout, but move your body around a little more, straighten up your posture, find something to make you laugh. That little happiness hit is not a bad thing. A lot of these things might seem very small and you're like, lori, these are not going to change my life. I'm aware of that. What I like to really teach people is that small does not mean insignificant.

So.

So if you start to implement some of these things throughout your day in a very accessible way, it will start to have a compounding effect and pull you out of the burnout feeling. Now, depending on what's going on in your life and your goals and your lifestyle and kind of where you are in the burnout spectrum is gonna depend on what you need and how long this takes. Give yourself some patience, but really start to try to implement some of these micro recovery moments and and over time you're bound to see some positive effects. As always, I appreciate you being here. I hope this helps and gives you a little bit of direction. And until next time, take care.

Thanks for hanging out with me today on let's Talk about it with Laurie Streeter. If this episode resonated with you, it would mean so much if you'd leave a five star review, share it with a friend, or come say hi on Instagram loristreeter. Your support will help this podcast grow and I so appreciate you being here today. I want to help people just like you feel like they're not alone and gain the tools they need to grow. Until next time, take care.