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Burnout- is the word that I am familiar with this past few month (people might argue that it's a quarter life crisis and not burnout, but that's for next time). I feel like I want to escape, find something new and feel like I lost my purpose because my work no longer makes me happy. I feel exhausted, irritable, emails and messages trigger my anxiety, and I can’t muster up any enthusiasm about my daily work tasks. The peak was when I finally hate doing fieldwork; wake up every morning, going to the forest, interacting with the other staff feels like a chore that I want to avoid. I just feel like I'm expired.
The worst part was, I can not name that feeling or that situation, I always feel like it was me, my fault that I felt that way. Because I am a bad employee.
Apparently, in our busy culture, burnout has become an epidemic, but this constant state of exhaustion and overwhelm is still somewhat normalized. "The World Health Organization included burnout as an occupational phenomenon in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases" (Boogaard, 2020).
Let's explore this topic a bit more to find out about burnout so we can wipe this shitty feeling off our mind.
What is burnout?
Not many people are familiar with the definition of burnout, to put it simply burnout is a state of mental and physical exhaustion that will leave you feeling at rock bottom, alone and unable to cope. Dr. Emily Anhalt, psychologist and co-founder of Coa said that " Work stress that is not mitigated and supported becomes burnout—just as putting your body through stress will eventually lead to illness,”.
There are 3 components of burnout:
1. Emotional exhaustion; feeling depleted even rest or sleep don’t help you feel replenished
2. Cynicism and depersonalization; not feeling connected to your job, sour attitude to the office each day
3. Feeling of ineffectiveness; feeling like you can not meet the demand and achieve your goal in the work place
You ever feel like this before? Well, it is not entirely our fault, in her book The Burnout Fix, Dr. Jacinta Jiménez mention that "Conventional wisdom is that burnout is primarily a problem of the individual. That is, people burn out because of flaws in their characters, behavior, or productivity. According to this perspective, people are the problem. However, extensive research suggests otherwise. A big contributing factor is a social environment in which a person works in.” (Boogaard, 2020).
So, good news, it's not us!
How to deal with burnout?
I guess I feel like this since so long ago, I remember telling my friends that sometimes I couldn't find things interesting anymore. That life has lost it's beauty. But, I'm only 25! If I feel burnt out now, how am I going to survive this life and earn that much needed cash to survive? Maybe I should just suck it up, after all working isn’t always a walk in the park—that’s why we take home a paycheck.
Well, since I am not an expert, let's see how the experts suggest us to deal with burnout. But I will skipped the cliches like 'show gratitude' and blah blah.
1. Own the problem
Admit that we have the problem. Own it so we can address the issues and can change your attitude, workload and habit. Own it so we will realized that we need to make those changes and take the first step to kick burnout to the curb. Maybe start writing a journal or talk to a friend.
2. Set clear boundaries
It is important to set boundaries and priorities in our job. And maybe learn to mentally detach from our work when our day is done would help. Do not open email, or avoid topics about work after work hours.
3. Build strong routines of work-life balance
This is no walk in the park, so many people struggle with this. Maybe it's not our attitudes that needs to change, but our workload. We spread ourselves to thin, do too much. Build a strong routines; pursue a hobby, exercise, hangout with friends and family. Fill our day with something that sparks joy and fulfillment.
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For me personally, I try to overcome the burnout by taking a gap year from work. It is a very risky move that not everyone can afford. But this helps me to finally face my feelings that I keep avoiding by working. It is not easy, there are so many hard days where I can not wake up from my bed, days where I need to toughen up so I won't breakdown on the floor for no reason. Days where I think this is not the right choice and I am a failure. But I know I need this to re-discover my sense of purpose.
But well, I will survive. We WILL survive!
So, let me know do you ever felt like this? How did you overcome this feelings?
Cheers, ❤️