One minute you are a thriving kid playing in the sandpit with fellow kids, and the next you are a grown, working, adult going through a phase where you don’t even understand yourself and the tumultuous emotions you’re going through and really entertaining the thought that your parents gave birth to you so that you can grow up, work for the rest of your life, suffer and then die! Burnout is what it is called and it sort of creeps up on you like a ninja in the night.
Shockingly, “Burnout” isn’t a medical diagnosis. Some experts think other conditions, such as depression, are behind burnout. You can diagnose yourself since you’re the one going through the motions.
Working life can get really hectic, especially if you are a normal person trying to climb up the corporate ladder. Burnout hits us out of the blue like an avalanche and so it becomes mandatory to know the signs of that upcoming avalanche which are:
- Reduced performance and productivity
- Anxiety
- Detachment
- Feeling listless
- Low mood
- Difficulty concentrating
- Lack of creativity
- Fatigue
- Negative attitudes toward one’s coworkers or job
- Low commitment to the role
- Loss of purpose
- Absenteeism
- Quickness to anger
- Job turnover
- Cynicism
- Emotional numbness
- Frustration
Burnout can manifest physically like…
- Exhaustion
- Generalized aches
- Headaches
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Hypertension
- Difficulty sleeping and/or a disrupted sleep cycle
- Increased susceptibility to colds and flu
- Muscle tension
And with that, here are the 12 stages of burnout…
Stage 1
You feel there is a strong need to prove yourself.
Stage 2
You keep working harder to achieve this.
Stage 3
You begin to neglect your own needs more
Stage 4
You are conflicted and blame others or the situation
Stage 5
You change your values to focus on work more.
Stage 6
You deny the problems that arise due to work stress.
Stage 7
You withdraw from social life and your family as well.
Stage 8
Your behavior changes and this upsets your loved ones.
Stage 9
Depersonalization happens, and you start feeling not like yourself.
Stage 10
You feel empty and numb. Substance abuse can happen in this stage…
Stage 11
You feel depressed, lost, and completely exhausted.
Stage 12
You mentally and physically collapse, full burnout!
