What Burnout Feels Like

What does burnout feels like?

I didn’t realize that I was burnt out for a long time. I knew I was tired, that I wasn’t sleeping well, that I had a lot on my plate at work but I didn’t think I was burnt out. I just thought I was part of a busy work project.

If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll likely know that I’m not the best at knowing what my feelings are. If you’re new around here, I used to think that I didn’t get stressed. I had such a disconnect between my body and my mind. I dive deeper into this here if you’re curious to know more.

For me, burnout was feeling constantly stressed and overwhelmed at work. I was exhausted yet I wasn’t able to sleep. 

I felt drained. 

I wasn’t hungry. I was losing weight. I felt nauseous most of the time. 

I had headaches all the time. 

I had a short temper. Like, shorter than usual for me. 

It took all my will power to get out of my car each morning to start work. I would sit in the parking garage once I arrived and talk myself into getting out of my car and going into the office versus starting the car back up and driving ANYWHERE but there.

I was drowning in the constant demands at work. 

I couldn’t catch a break with all that was being asked of me. 

I felt defeated. 

I had self-doubt with my abilities. 

I couldn’t get through a workday without crying. And I’m not a cryer. In fact, at this point in my life I would do everything in my power not to cry in front of other people. And the mere thought that I could be brought to tears by any unexpected thing was terrifying.

I was working in a dysfunctional environment. It was fraught with misogyny, bullying and disrespect to name a few and management knew this and turned a blind eye (for whatever their reasoning).

When I found myself unable to hold back tears at work for a third time in one day I finally knew I was experiencing burnout. I knew that I couldn’t keep going like this. 

I hit my breaking point. 

Work isn’t supposed to make you feel hopeless. Your health and wellness shouldn’t be affected by your job. Being able to enjoy your life shouldn’t be affected by your job nor should your sleep. 

There are emotional, mental and physical signs and symptoms of burnout. Recognizing these signs and symptoms early can help prevent burnout. If you ignore them when they first appear, you’ll eventually burnout as chronic stress (the cause of burnout) doesn’t just go away overnight. To read more about the signs and symptoms of burnout, check out this post here.

If your stress has become too much for too long, my eBook "A Way Out of Burnout" offers simple and practical steps so you can start your burnout recovery today.