A burnout is referred to as a ‘death by a thousand cuts’. So there is never one thing that will push you over the edge. It’s always a combination. A cocktail.
Let’s start with a few quotes from people who had a burnout. This might not resonate with you directly because you may not feel like this. But this is to give you a grasp of how it feels when it’s been too much.
“It’s not just having too much to do, it’s having committed to doing more than you know you have time for. It’s committing to things you know at the time you won’t be able to get to, but another voice in your head says, ‘I’ll make it work somehow.’”
“Different people manifest burnout in different ways, but I think for all of us, it’s some variety of a shutdown,” she says. Parts of your personality start to contract. Your range of expression shrinks. Your world view narrows.”
Practical Frameworks for Beating Burnout
“Suddenly without direction, I started feeling more and more disconnected. My work was no longer motivating, and it became harder and harder to stay focused. I felt like I was failing – like I should be able to make things work, but for some reason, I couldn’t.”
“I wasn’t overworked, but I was exhausted all the time. I couldn’t concentrate on my work – even simple tasks like responding to emails felt monumental. I was only able to work at a mere fraction of what I knew I was capable of. Things that used to be easy were almost impossible. I was plagued with insomnia, and found myself forgetting meals. My creativity had vanished – I could barely even respond to emails, let alone design a product.”
“Joyful activities, like playing with my infant daughter, suddenly felt like an obligation and a chore.”
So I hope this helps you grasp how you might feel when it’s already too much. If you feel like ‘omg this is me’, that is a red flag…
After a lot of reading and talking to people, I made a list of red flags that kept popping up:
Symptoms you can look for by yourself (this is really different for everybody and therefore not list you can cross off)