How To Tell If You’re Burnt Out: 14 Signs/Symptoms + Good Vibes Creative Ave

How To Tell If You're Burnt Out: 14 Signs/Symptoms

If you don’t know what Psychological burnout means let’s start there: Psychology Today defines burnout as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. You mostly hear about burnout when it relates to someone’s work or job, caretakers, parenting, or even relationships, but anyone can experience burnout in any area of their life – even with things they enjoy. However, the symptoms of burnout may look different in each person.

Burnout is when your body and mind are on constant alert and in a constant state of survival mode. We live in a culture that glorifies ‘the grind’ and being on alert 24/7. Everything is on-demand, and we are available to everyone day or night. Believe it or not, our bodies were not made to be under this much pressure all the time. Most of us were not taught how to manage our stress or anxiety in a healthy way. (Hi, I’m one of them 🙋🏼‍♀️) So most of us think that when we are so stressed we can’t function there is something ‘wrong’ with us. When in fact there is most likely NOTHING wrong with you, you’re probably just burnt out.

Again, how burnout looks to one person may not look the same to another in some ways. Burnout can look a lot like depression, but technically isn’t. However, if your burnout is left untreated it can most certainly turn into depression. That’s why if you’re feeling most of these symptoms it should be a wake-up call to perhaps stop and take care of your mental health.

You may be going through a certain situation where you’re feeling you’re becoming depressed. If you feel like you can’t manage your burnout in a healthy way on your own I encourage you to reach out to a professional to help you get on the right track. Yes, there are ways to manage your burnout on your own, but it starts with your self-awareness and making a conscious change.

Unfortunately, burnout doesn’t just ‘go away’ after an extended vacation, your symptoms may be alleviated for a short time, but you will end up in the same place very quickly if you don’t learn how to manage your stress in a healthy way. I could write forever about different ways to manage stress, anxiety, and burnout, but for the sake of this article not being too long you can check out a few different ways to get started managing stress by reading ‘How To Reduce Stress and Anxiety: 3 Simple Steps’ or try a few of these self-care tips. Or, if you’re like me and you love books here are a couple of different books to check out to start managing your burnout in a healthy way:

Burn Bright – Charlene Rymsha

Beginning Mindfulness – Andrew Weiss

3 Minute Positivity Workbook – Susan Reynolds

P.S I realized that none of the book covers I have look the same as the ones online. If you can find them at your local book store they might have similar covers 🙂

So how do you know if you’re burnt out?

Let’s take a look at the burnout symptom self-assessment list below. This list comes from the book “Burn Bright” by Charlene Rymsha. In this book, she walks you through how to heal yourself from burnout and start to live with presence, purpose, and peace. (Great book to help you be more aware of your emotions and stress triggers)

To determine whether you’re experiencing burnout (and in what way) take a look at the list below. Note: this isn’t a full diagnostic test or a full list of all burnout symptoms, but more of a self-awareness tool to help you understand if you’re currently feeling burnt out in some area of your life.

Burnout Self-Assessment Checklist

I’m totally exhausted most of the time
I feel overwhelmed by my to-do list and competing priorities
I feel constantly busy, yet I feel like I’m achieving less than I should
I experience anxiety or low-grade panic
I struggle with work-life balance and have little personal time, even for friends and family
I’m becoming increasingly irritable, annoyed, angry, and short-tempered
I’m under a crushing amount of pressure to succeed
I’m increasingly cynical or hypocritical towards myself and others
I have trouble either falling asleep or staying asleep
I find it hard to concentrate and stay on task
Life has become a bunch of tasks to get done, and I’m losing all sense of purpose
I’ve been drinking and/or eating too much (or too little)
I worry a lot about work, people, and the future and/or past
I suffer from digestion problems, tension headaches, and/or chronic aches and pains

After reading through the list take a moment and check in with yourself. Do you have most of the symptoms listed? Do you feel a little better being able to identify why you’ve been so irritable lately? Or maybe it could be a wake-up call to stop and get some help?

Don't Forget:

Whatever you may feel, be kind to yourself. You’re human! None of us are perfect, and it takes consistent work and effort to ‘keep the peace’ in our bodies and minds. Give yourself some kudos though, if you’re looking up the symptoms of burnout or how to manage your burnout then you’ve already made a small change. Now, don’t give up, and keep working on bringing your body and mind back to a place of peace.

HERE are some ideas to start managing your burnout in a healthy way, but if you feel like you just can’t get yourself to do anything then maybe reaching out to a professional could help. They may be able to provide additional support and resources for you to stay accountable and start healing.

Online-Therapy is a great place to start if you’re looking to connect with a professional.

Use Code: THERAPY20 for 20% off your first month of therapy.

Remember, when we change our mindset, we can change our lives.

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“In today’s rush, we all think too much – seek too much – want too much – and forget about the joy of just being.” – Eckhart Tolle