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“Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.”
Burnout isn’t as simple as being tired after a long week of work or boredom and frustration while working on a project or event, though those are certainly signs that a person may be heading that way. Burnout is like hitting productivity rock bottom.
The signs and symptoms of burnout are often the same as those of folx struggling with depression, anxiety, and exhaustion. While this list is by no means exhaustive, it’s a good sample of things folx have expressed feeling leading up to and during burnout:
Feeling tired or drained most of the time
Disinterest in things that usually make you happy
Feeling unmotivated
Having an excessively negative perspective
Not feeling pride or satisfaction when you’ve achieved or completed something
Being short tempered
Procrastinating (if you’re not a regular procrastinator)
Avoiding communications
Feeling detached or alone
Not caring about something that once had meaning to you
If all of the above isn’t bad enough in the moment, there are some long term effects of burnout that make it even worse.
From a personal perspective, being burned out doesn’t impact just one portion of your life. It threads its way into everything. It can lead to long term physical and mental health issues and break down relationships and projects we hold dear.
From a project perspective, it has similar insidious consequences. The most innocuous of which is missed deadlines and communication breakdowns, the worst of which being a loss of phenomenal community members and contributors to the project.
There is no magic solution to avoiding burnout. If there was a switch I could flip to keep all of you from burning out I most certainly would. The best way I have found to avoid burnout or to turn it back when I seem to be heading down that path is to be aware.
Keep an eye out for those warning signs in yourself and those you work with and be transparent about it. If you realize you’re suffering from burnout or on the road to burnout or see that someone else is please say something.
Sharing your feelings of frustration or being heard can go a long way toward making things better. Seek the support of others in our project, talk to a counselor if that is an option for you, and do what you can to mitigate stress in all the areas of your life. Also this is an excellent time to say no to additional commitments and requests. Here’s an older Tuesday Trainings post with additional guidance to saying no when you’re asked to take on more than you can handle.
So many of the folks I’ve had the honor of working with in our community always put others before themselves. They make supporting and aiding others a mission and it is a beautiful thing to behold. But for those caretaking individuals it’s important to remember that you can’t take care of others if you’re not taking care of yourself. The phrase “you can’t pour from an empty cup” always makes the most sense to me here. Recognize your limits and make sure you’re not exceeding them. Give yourself a day off. Make sure you’re doing what needs to be done to care for both your physical and mental health.