What is Burnout?

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 healing from burnout today. For me, burnout was feeling constantly stressed and overwhelmed. I was exhausted yet I wasn’t able to sleep. I felt drained. I wasn’t hungry. I was losing weight. I felt nauseous all the time. I had headaches all the time. I had a short temper. It took all my will power to get out of my car each morning to start work. I was drowning in the constant demands there. 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. I was working in a dysfunctional environment. I couldn’t keep going like this. I hit a breaking point.​

Burnout happens when you’re emotional, mentally and physically exhausted because of chronic stress. 
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Chronic stress is your response when you are exposed to stress over a long period of time. If affects your mind and your body’s sympathetic nervous system. Your sympathetic nervous system is responsible for regulating your hormones. The signs and symptoms of chronic stress are subtle at first. Eventually they get worse. If you ignore them, they can affect your health in negative ways. 

• Have an increased heart rate
• Develop heart disease
• Have elevated blood pressure
• Have increased risk for heart attack
• Store excess fat
• Have high blood sugar
• Develop diabetes
• Have decreased immune response to disease
• Have decreased memory
• Have sleep disorders

Burnout is a gradual process. It looks different for each person. Chronic stress develops over time. Chronic stress can be caused when: 

• You aren’t in control of how things are going
• You lack support
• You aren’t working towards a goal that makes sense to you
• You aren’t able to take a break
• Your boundaries are being ignored
• You have unclear job expectations
• You’re in a dysfunctional work environment 
• You have a work-life imbalance
• You have reduced professional value

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon. The WHO defines burnout as “resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.

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 healing from burnout today.