Ep 60 – Qs to reflect on when experiencing burnout
By Shweta
Tired of feeling tired all the time? Constant stress and overwhelm can lead to burnout, irritability, and total dissatisfaction at work, relationships, and in life. It’s hard to keep a vehicle’s engines going without fuel and same is the case with us. We can’t function to our fullest potential when we burn out and we must pause to nourish ourselves.
Hello and welcome back to the Deep Dive series of the Being Meraklis podcast and I’m your host and self-awareness coach Shwetha Sivaraman helping you ask the right questions.
Today we are going to explore burnout, it’s symptoms, and what questions we can reflect on to bring back some vitality and energy into our lives.
Burnout is nothing but exceeding our ability to cope with certain activity in life. And this includes both physical and mental activity. If you’re working 18-hour workdays for long periods or if you’re work is 8 hours or less but you feel you’re not supported by your colleagues or mentally detest it and are hating it the whole time – both are examples of burnout. While it’s commonly attributed as a work-related phenomena, it can also come from having endless arguments in relationships, caregiving for a loved one and other prolonged or excessive stress inducing situations. However unlike stressful situations where you’re constantly doing, when you feel burnout you are constantly disengaging and feel no motivation or urge to take control of the situation.
The biggest challenge with a burnout is that you don’t realize it until it’s quite late. Here are some signs that you are on the verge or are experiencing some burnout
- No motivation to do anything
- Excessive irritability
- Inability to be present in other relationships with family or loved ones
- Insomnia
- Constant lack of energy
- Emotionally vulnerable
If you’re seeing signs of these indicators in your life, here are some questions to reflect on:
1. What is the source of this burnout?
Often when one things go wrong, a lot other aspects of our lives gets impacted too, but it’s important to understand and isolate the root cause of burnout for better mitigation
2. What can I do right away to ease the stress?
Can you de-prioritize some work streams? Or delegate certain things? Or can you have an open conversation with the spouse help buy you time to pause, reflect, and recover before the crash of a burnout.
3. Who can I speak to about this?
When we are overwhelmed or stressed we start isolating ourselves and start living more in our heads which makes it harder for those close to us to connect with us. So instead of isolating, consciously ask yourself if there’s someone you can trust and open up about this. If its not friends and family it can be your therapist or coach, but don’t keep it bottled up within you.
4. How can I find smaller joys in the process of resolving the root cause of my burnout?
Ideally if you’re experiencing a burnout, chances are that the situations is complex and complicated. While you resolve that, it might be a good idea to find joys in the little things in the meantime. Maybe it is going for a 10 min walk in nature or talking to your mom for a few minutes everyday or sipping that freshly brewed coffee with love and attention or reading a good book of fiction. Whatever they are for you, make some time to enjoy the little things and connect with your true self.
Deep dive on these aspects the next time you feel close to a burnout and find answers within! If you’d like more 1:1 support with me as your Coach, reach out to me for a 30 min discovery session and let’s explore if self-awareness coaching can help you find that balance and thrive across life situations.