Burnout: What Is It and How to Deal with It

Losing your motivation, feeling anxious and underwhelmed, having no desire to do your job, studies or other parts of a daily routine — these are all the signs of burnout. It can happen to anyone and you should be ready to face and combat it. In this short guide, I’ve gathered the essential information about burnout and the ways to deal with it.

What is Burnout

Most often, we hear about burnout in a professional context, when people describe their fatigue, depression and tiredness from their daily routine. We used to associate it with very social roles, such as a teacher or nurse, or with very creative activities, such as journalism or design. According to different research papers, between 50% and 70% of people have experienced a work-related burnout at least once in their current job. However, burnout can happen with anyone and relate not only to your work or studies but also to your personal life, including family, housekeeping and hobbies.

The scientific definition of burnout includes three key components:

• Emotional exhaustion: the fatigue that comes from caring too much, for too long;
• Depersonalization: lack of empathy, caring, and compassion;
• Decreased sense of accomplishment: an unconquerable sense of futility: feeling that nothing you do makes any difference.

Burnout does not happen suddenly, it grows over time as you get more and more eaten by your routine. Over time, you feel less and less motivation to do your work, spend time with friends or colleagues, study something, etc. Your productivity decreases and your clear thinking is replaced by anxiety and endless stress.

I experienced it myself, noticing that I do not enjoy producing content for one of my channels anymore. I was less interested in what I’m saying and it showed in the audience’s reaction to my videos: engagement started to decrease and I felt even more stressed and depressed about it. My discomfort became almost a physical sensation. That’s when I tried to understand what burnout is and how I can deal with it.

Why Do We Experience Burnout

The main problem is that our real desires do not match the goals we are trying to pursue. On Instagram, many popular bloggers endlessly share their stories of success. They speak about their numerous businesses / sources of income / art projects / social roles, and their lives look perfect. We aspire to be like them and set goals for ourselves without thinking it through.

However, if you were to watch these people closely enough, you would notice that their lives are not perfect. Sharing one successful side of it, they hide problems with others. Aiming to be like all of these people at once means you are setting up the wrong goals for yourself. I explained how to set goals in my previous post.

Pursuing many goals at the same time means you have no focus. You may not perform well at any of the tasks and it makes you feel like a loser. Pressure and anxiety grow, you feel overwhelmed and eventually lose your motivation and desire to do anything. This is why we experience burnout.

To address it, you need first to take a step back and analyze what makes you stressed right now. When you re-evaluate your every goal and cut down on unnecessary activities, you will have more time and resources to focus on what’s important for you. Try introducing new things in small portions.

For instance, if you set a goal to learn English, you can exhaust yourself with hours of studies or you could instead enjoy bite-size online lessons with LinguaTrip.com. Check out our portfolio of intensive courses and marathons and choose the one that suits your goals. Being happy is the ultimate goal for everyone.

How to Deal With Burnout

You should remember, however, that addressing the cause of the stress is not the same as addressing the stress itself. There are a few ways to get rid of the anxiety and get over the burnout. In the book “Burnout: The Secret to Solving the Stress Cycle” by Emily and Amelia Nagoski, they speak about wellness practices that may help you with reducing stress. However, they point out that many of us promise to follow them and eventually put it off until it gets too late and we become depressed.

“The problem is the world turned “wellness” into yet another goal everyone “should” strive for, but only people with time and money and nannies and yachts and Oprah’s phone number can actually achieve,” they say.

So please, make wellness practice a part of your daily routine instead of taking note of it and never trying to do it in real life.

Here are the most effective ways to deal with stress and burnout:

Physical activity

It may surprise you but our brain still considers every stressful situation as a “fight-or-flight” situation where it either needs to activate your body muscles to run from the danger or get ready for combat. It was an efficient way to deal with predators and enemies in ancient times, however, nowadays, most of our stress is caused by daily routines. So it does not involve physical activity when you are dealing with it. Still, your body produces adrenaline and some other hormones. You simply need to exercise to burn them down and feel better. Choose a sport or workout to your liking and try doing it at least a few times a week to see positive results. Remember: you do not need to run a marathon or kill yourself in the gym. Try dancing, tennis, or swimming, these kinds of physical activity make you happier.

Mindfulness practices

This category includes all kinds of breathing practices and meditations. It’s a scientifically proven fact that meditation can improve our memory and make us more empathetic, compassionate, and resilient under stress. As neuroscientist Sara Lazar put it in her TED talk, “Meditation can really change your brain”. From regular meditations and mindfulness sessions grows aspiration.

“Working hard for something we don’t like called “stress”. Working hard for something we love called “passion”.” — says mindfulness advisor and writer Allan Ting.

You discover motivation but meditation also helps you with finding the balance between different tasks and integrating your work, personal life, and self-development into your busy schedule. The third very important consequence of regular meditations is rejuvenation. You become more focused and mindful, stopping unnecessary rushing and achieving more while burning less energy.

Positive social interactions

This includes quality time with your family and friends as well as romantic relationships. Getting physical contact is as important as having regular moral support, and you should ensure that you find time to spend with important people who surround you. Note that it won’t help with your anxiety and stress if you spend all the time only sharing your worries and troubles. Instead, spend time creating good memories and bonding over the things you like. Go out for a walk, cook your favorite meal together, play some games, or just watch a good film. Remember, laughter is another good way to deal with stress. Maybe, it makes sense to watch a comedy series or movies regularly.

Switch between various activities

Focusing on too many goals is not good for you. But so is focusing on a single problem. If you have a stressful project at work, you may need to take breaks and switch to other projects or activities to be less anxious. Try going to the gym in the middle of the day or taking a short break to switch to studies.

For instance, you could try our English Skype lessons: our tutors can help you to boost your general or business English and get ready for various language exams at your chosen dates and times.

Summary

Burnout is a common problem for many people all over the world. It happens when we pursue too many goals, and lose our focus. Looking at others in social media makes us feel anxious and desperate to succeed. However, their goals are not ours and we do not need to pursue every single activity and aim that seems to be inspiring. Doing anything without motivation and a sense of purpose makes us feel anxious and stressed. The best way to get over the burnout is to exclude the sources of stress from our life and introduce regular wellness practices. Sports, meditation, quality social time — all these can help with decreasing your stress levels and making your life better.