“My candle burns at both ends/it will not last the night.” Edna St. Vincent Millay
Burnout resists simple definition because it affects so many aspects of life. In their book, Beyond Burnout, authors David Welch, Donald Medeiros and George Tate, describe burnout as a condition that affects us physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and spiritually.
One of the first physical symptoms of burnout is fatigue. Intellectually, there may be a loss of creativity and sharpness in problem solving; cynicism may replace enthusiasm. Emotionally, the loss of dreams and expectations can result in feelings of helplessness and depression. In the social realm, isolation overtakes feelings of involvement. Spiritually, the person experiencing burnout may feel a lack of meaning or struggle with finding a purpose in life.
According to a recent study, one in three Americans is expected to burn out on the job in the near future and, in the two years preceding the study, 14% of the work force quit or changed jobs due to job stress. But burnout can happen in all walks of life, not just on the job. How can you avoid becoming one of the burnout statistics?
Recognizing Burnout
- Feelings of frustration, overwhelm and never being caught up,
- A sense of losing control over how you live and what happens in your life,
- Emotional outbursts,
- Withdrawal and isolation,
- Dreading going to work,
- Frequent sickness, low energy or other health problems,
- Self-medicating through over consumption of alcohol, drugs or food, and/or
- A desire to quit or run away, along with a fear of doing so.
Taking a few days off or a vacation to Tahiti won’t contain the burnout. Neither will simply leaving one job or situation for another. Burnout has more to do with an individual’s attitudes and behavior than it does with his or her external situation. It is primarily an act of self-destruction.
Avoiding Burnout
1: Self-management. Set specific, realistic goals that are aligned with your values and communicate them clearly to others.
2: Stress management. Know your own responses to stress and develop a plan to manage them. Exercise, take breaks, eat healthy, leave work at work, make time for play and rest. Discover what works best for you and your body and practice consistent, nurturing self-care.
3: Support systems. Family, friends, co-workers, spiritual groups and other organizations can help in times of stress.
4: Skill building. Look for opportunities to leverage and further develop your natural skills, talents and abilities. Encourage your continued growth rather than stagnation.
5: Balance. Seek an intentionally balanced life. Feed your soul by infusing your life with relationships and activities that matter to you.
6: Think positive. Helpless thinking is a major contributor to burnout. Replace negativity with optimism. Everything’s an opportunity. Look for the silver lining in even the darkest cloud.
7: Be creative. Adopt a new perspective. Try a different approach to your unpleasant situation and perceived problems. Break free from your everyday routine. Let your workspace express your individuality.
8: Humor and playfulness. Humor reduces stress, promotes physical healing, is essential for mental health and can add years to your life. No wonder they say laughter is the best medicine. Make enjoying yourself and your life a priority. You matter!
Author’s content adapted under license, © 2008 Claire Communications
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About djwlifecoach
I am retired from 40+ years of helping individuals and teams build lives and organizations they love. One of the great joys of my retirement from professional practice is having greater bandwidth to donate my professional and creative talents to support and promote animal and social welfare charities.
During my 30 years as an organization transformation consultant, I served as a senior partner in four of the world’s largest, most prestigious global professional services firms. In 2005, I took a five-year sabbatical to find healing and peace because non-stop work had taken its toll.
My recovery from burnout led to finding my purpose guiding others on their journeys. As a board-certified coach, author, consultant, radio host, Reiki Master and EFT/tapping practitioner, I share hope, possibilities and empowerment with the world.
111419 DJW Sid CH Pet Corner Photo ShootI help clients achieve rapid, extraordinary, sustainable results by connecting who they are with what they do, a connection often lost through stress and the sheer busy-ness of daily life. Courageous self-awareness and unconditional self-love lead to honest choices based on priorities that nurture you and those around you on a journey to wholeness.
Decades in coaching, consulting, change management, organization development, human resources and mixed media artistic expression honed my business sense, professionalism, creativity, intuition, leadership and communication skills. The result? Practical tools that help you become more insightful, creative, committed, productive and fulfilled.
Even the most dedicated and hard-working individuals can shift from frustration to a sense of futility when their values, passion, work, and lives become disconnected. One of the problems with not taking care of our health is that the effects of ignoring it are often slow to show up. We continue to juggle family responsibilities, work and finances until we lose ourselves, waking up one day 50 pounds heavier in body and soul—no good to ourselves or anyone else.
I love working with people who are ready to take life-changing action to make their dreams a reality. At each moment, you have inside you all the wisdom you seek to choose your life and your way of showing up. Limiting thoughts, beliefs and feelings can block you from moving forward. An absence of love and concern for yourself can result in negative head talk that holds you back with discouraging messages about who you are and what you can do.
By listening and caring deeply, I guide you in connecting with your own inner wisdom. We identify the way you’d like to live. We determine what’s blocking you and release you from the hold those blocks have over you—unleashing the positive energy that will fuel you forward. Together we develop a plan to move you closer to your heart’s desire.
My books, blog, radio show and signature coaching programs help individuals and organizations harness the transformative energy of love to turn unexplored possibilities into fulfilling realities and step into their greatness. What’s love got to do with it? Everything! My book, Choose Your Energy: Change Your Life! (Hay House/ Balboa Press 2013) shares my story and the stories of 10 of my clients along with my signature Discovery Framework.
For fun, I love reading, sewing, knitting, yin yoga, afternoon tea, opera and movies. I live in Williamsburg, Virginia with my spouse, Wilson Abney, and the cat who runs our life, Maisy Jane.
“My candle burns at both ends/it will not last the night.” Edna St. Vincent Millay
Choose Your Energy: Change Your Life! 
Thanks for this article Deborah. This article will be good to review once a week to refresh my mind to curb the burnout slide.