“Burnout is when long-term exhaustion meets diminished interest” Unknown
Burnout has become a major problem as the pace of life continues to speed up, and the glorification of busyness has raised the bar yet again.
Burnout feels like slow death. It steals your enjoyment of life, wrecks your health on every level, and turns your once highly functioning brain into scrambled eggs, leaving you with mental fog and confusion. You feel as if you have nothing left to give until you eventually hit the wall that is your limit.
Sound familiar? Here are six signs that you are ready to hit the wall.
- Chronic Fatigue
Burnout goes far beyond feeling tired, cured by a few early nights, voila, you are back to your most brilliant self. You feel tired to your very bones, in every cell of your body. You wake up in the morning and feel more tired than the night before. Chronic fatigue is your constant companion.
2. Physical Illness
Your immune system may be be weak from prolonged exposure to stress. You feel bombarded with aches, pains, headaches and a feeling of being under the weather for no obvious reason. Your energy levels are at an all-time low. If left unattended, you may go on to develop high blood pressure, heart problems or other serious illnesses. Stress is the number one silent killer.
3. Insomnia
You feel that you could drop down with tiredness at any point and long for your bed all day long. Yet when you go to bed, your brain goes into overdrive, as repetitive thoughts swirl round and round in one long loop. Once you manage to drop off to sleep, you walk throughout the night with your mind ready to begin again.
4. Loss of Interest In Life
A person on the verge of burnout may also suffer from symptoms or go on to develop depression. Everything feels like hard work. Your hobbies and leisure time no longer give you any satisfaction. You feel like a zombie, having lost your zest for life, and you feel that you must keep going to stay in control.
5 Lack Of Tolerance
The stress and tension that you have carried for too long turn you into an elastic band stretched to the greatest limit. You have low to zero tolerance for the people around you and are ready to snap at any trigger.
6. Mental Fog
Your once active and sharp mind starts to turn to mush. The tasks that you once performed with your eyes closed take longer and longer. Your judgment becomes clouded, and snap-decisions become impossible. You just can’t think straight. Productivity hits an all-time low.
If you are experiencing burnout symptoms, your body is ringing the alarm bells, trying to get your attention. Ignoring the signs of burnout by trying to carry on will only make your symptoms worse. Take it as a call to action for the health of your mind, body and soul.
If you are an empath experiencing burnout symptoms, check out my Wild Empath book. I share everything you need to become a healthy empath. Click the link below for details.
Photo Credit I Need Chemicalx
(c) Samantha Wilson. All rights reserved.
