How to recognize burnout

Do you often experience a ton of stress?

If so, I urge you to read through this list of burnout symptoms and consider how many of them apply to you.

Burnout can be completely debilitating. It is an extreme form of stress and, if you want to, you can look up exactly how bad excessive stress is for your body and your mind. It's not pretty.

As you might know, I suffered from burnout in 2016 and 2017 and still have trouble with some side-effects now and then.

So if you frequently experience a lot of stress, ask yourself whether you have at least a few of these symptoms:

Bodily symptoms

• You feel tired, like you have no energy
• You have trouble sleeping well or staying asleep
• You experience pain in the shoulders and neck area
• You often feel dizzy
• You sometimes lose sight for a few seconds
• You've been getting sick more often than usual
• Your blood pressure is higher than normal
• You can regularly hear your heart beating intensely when you're not performing strenuous physical exercise

Psychological symptoms

• You feel mentally exhausted
• You have trouble focusing or concentrating (e.g. on your work)
• You forget things more often than you used to
• You are less happy with yourself
• You regularly feel annoyed or even angry
• You frequently feel intense fear and anxiety
• You are developing apathy (e.g. towards your work)

Behavioral symptoms

• You make more mistakes than you used to
• You are trying to cope with stress by smoking or drinking (more)
• You avoid social contact
• You have trouble making what should be routine decisions (like what to wear today)

This isn't an exhaustive list or even a very precise list. I just collated some information from a few reputable sources and from my experience.

I am sharing this with you because I see a lot of people suffering from stress. When you experience so much stress that it reaches burnout territory, the stress takes a massive toll on your body and on your mind.

But burnout can be treated well.

So if you exhibit a bunch of these symptoms, please have a chat with your doctor—they'll tell you whether you should see a psychologist.

Yours,

— Peter