Burnout is a syndrome. Its a syndrome because it is characterized by a set of symptoms that occur after prolonged stress. Burnout often occurs when one is feeling excessive pressure within themselves and from the environment. It normally manifests in low productivity, anxiety, fatigue, mental blockage and generally having negative, distrustful attitude towards one’s works. These signs are almost parallel to indications of mental illness. Similar to burnout, mental illness is also associated with distress and significantly affects one’s social life, work life and one’s general wellbeing. 

There are many ways in which one can experience burnout. It could be from work overload, feeling underchallenged or feeling as though you do not have the ability to perform/ feeling incompetent. If one doesn’t challenge these beliefs, the distress may deteriorate one’s health to the point of premature death.

The key to being in your element and performing your best is simply being aware of when your nervous system is under too much pressure. It’s ideal to consistently keep track of one’s emotional or physical state so as to avoid bottling up issues to the point of loosing equilibrium. 

Chronic stress impacts one is such an intense way that will not be so observable at first. It weakens one’s mind and creates an atmosphere of self depreciation. 

A few signs that point out that one is heading down this destructive path include:

–Emotional exhaustion: It takes a lot of mental strength and balance to maintain social harmony. One can easily feel drained due to the need to have a high energy during interactions. Without proper and regular selfcare, there will be high chance of one experience emotional imbalance. This may in turn be projected to others and lead to other unnecessary conflicts.

–Burnout could manifest in physical depletion: stress greatly affects one’s cortisol levels which is the ‘stress hormone’. It comes through when our ‘fight or flight’ instincts are triggered which is necessary for our survival. However, being in this state of survival constantly will cause biological and physiological disturbances. Due to the overproduction of cortisol we may experience gut issues, high blood pressure, muscle aches/ fatigue, headaches and mental disturbances. 

–Reduced Performance comes with burnout. One may want to perform and be productive but the body lacking stamina will only create internal and external conflict. What happens within a person will eventually mirror into one’s reality.  

–Self doubt and low self esteem: Its easy to begin feeling like your letting yourself down when your efforts to perform are futile. Not performing optimally will lead to doubting one’s abilities. 

–Feeling lonely and detached: Chronic stress affects one holistically and not taking action to restore peace within oneself will worsen the symptoms. Already the symptoms of burnout mimic a number of mental disorders and when they stay consistent, it will throw one so out of balance and further from being whole.

It’s advisable to learn relaxation techniques and do activities that one enjoys. It can something simple as a simple nap or taking a walk. However, it’s always best to have a therapist check in monthly in order to confirm that there are no suppressed emotions.