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Stress versus Burnout
What is Burnout?
Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.
Burnout reduces your productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless, cynical and resentful. Eventually, you may feel like you have nothing more to give.
You may be on your way to burnout if:
- Every day is a bad day
- You feel neither happy nor sad
- Caring about your work or home life seems like a total waste of energy
- You are exhausted all of the time
- The majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming
- You may feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated
The negative effects of burnout tend to affect most areas of your life – including your home and social life. Burnout can also cause long-term changes to your body that makes you more prone to illnesses like colds and flu.
The difference between stress and burnout
Burnout may be the result of constant stress, but it isn’t the same as too much stress. Stress, overall, tends to involve TOO MUCH: too many pressures that demand too much of you physically and psychologically. Stressed people can still imagine and think that if they can just get everything under control, they will eventually feel better.
Burnout is the opposite, it is all about NOT ENOUGH. Being burned out means feeling empty and devoid of motivation, and beyond caring. People experiencing burnout tend not to see much hope of positive change in their situation. If we think of chronic stress like drowning in the deep waters of responsibilities, then burnout is being in a hot desert where you feel dried out.
Another major significant difference between stress and burnout is that we are usually aware of being under a lot of stress, most people don’t always notice burnout when it happens. There is a high correlation between burnout and mental illnesses such as depression.
Stress vs Burnout
Stress
- Over-engagement
- Overactive emotions
- Produces urgency and hyperactivity
- Loss of energy
- Primary damage is physical
- May kill you prematurely
Burnout
- Disengagement
- Blunted emotions
- Produces helplessness and hopelessness
- Loss of motivation, ideals and hope
- Primary damage is emotional
- May make life seem not worth living
Work-related causes of burnout:
- Feeling like you have little or no control over your work
- Lack of recognition or rewards for good work
- Unclear or overly demanding job expectations
- Doing work that is monotonous or unchallenging
- Working in a chaotic or high pressure environment
Lifestyle causes of burnout:
- Working too much, without enough time for relaxing and socialising
- Being expected to be too many things to too many people
- Taking on too many responsibilities, without enough help from others
- Not getting enough sleep
- Lack of close, supportive relationships
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