Usually, when we reach a point sometimes where we are exhausted and stop being able to perform at the same level we once did, probably because of overwhelming expectations placed on our shoulders at work, or we do not feel recognized for the work we do, it leads to stress. This feeling is called burnout.
It is common to experience these periods of burnout in the workplace. If this feeling of burnout we are experiencing is neglected, our physical and mental health may suffer and this may affect our personal life and well being.
In our culture we seem to idolize people who overwork themselves up and look up to those who sacrifice work/life balance to build a career. But not everyone can thrive on a schedule that involves nonstop work into the early hours of the morning without ever showing signs of physical exhaustion.
Heavy workloads and stress can contribute to energy depletion and burn out. Burn out is a point at which you hit a wall and feel totally overwhelmed with tasks and responsibilities you have to perform or complete.
If this is left unchecked burn out at your job can lead to anxiety and depression. And even lead to employees resigning from their positions. Burn out is very common in work places and affects everyone from business leaders through to part time employees and its impact is considerable.
For example: statistics have it that 48% of US workers feel mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the work day compared with 39% of the global average. And so steps must be taken to proactively reduce high stress levels and burn out among workers.
Some Signs of Burnout
At the beginning of any job there is the honeymoon stage where we feel engaged by a challenging job and excited to show up at work everyday. But overtime maybe due to experiencing unfair treatment, work/life imbalance and extremely late hours of work your physical and mental wellbeing could be affected and could therefore result in chronic workplace stress.
At this point it is only a matter of time before signs of burn out begin to show because in many ways you begin to feel like an overstretched rubber band with cracks that begin to show.
According to WHO burnout is an occupational phenomenon where an employee feels any of the following:
- Exhaustion and energy depletion
- Physical ailments with symptoms such as headaches, stomach aches, insomnia, back aches and many more
- A lack of confidence in your abilities
- A lack of motivation, for example arriving late at work regularly
- Cynicism (feeling of distrust that something is going to work out well) & apathy for your work
- Reduced professional efficacy
- Increased mental distance, for example making careless mistakes, uncooperative behavior
How to Cope
A schedule at this time could be created to help discover a better work/life balance and incorporate relaxation techniques into this. This important because all our self worth or self esteem should not come from our jobs. And just good self care could help avoid burn out.
Our personal life represents a huge part of who we are as a person and contributes to living a fulfilled life. This clearly tells us that our jobs DO NOT GIVE A FULL DEFINITION OF WHO WE ARE.
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