Through these blog posts, we find it is useful to talk about the different things associated and linked to mental health. Doing this we can raise more awareness towards many of the things that can impact our day to day mental health and well-being. So for this week’s blog post, we are going to talk about the topic of Burnout.
Burnout is defined as a state of physical and emotional exhaustion that often is experienced after going through long term stress in a work environment or in an emotionally draining role for a considerable length of time.
There are several signs of burnout…
- Feeling tired/drained
- Finding your outlook to have become a lot more cynical
- A feeling of being overwhelmed
- Self-doubt
- Experiencing a feeling of helplessness, being trapped/defeated
- Feeling detached or alone
- Procrastinating on getting things done
Whilst Burnout is most commonly linked to the workplace, in many cases it can also affect other parts of life too, such as leaking to your home or social life. For example, you may find yourself having less desire to do things with the people you care about.
It can seem quite similar to stress, however there is a difference between the two. With stress, you may still be able feel like once you have got everything under control you may feel better whereas with burnout, it is more the feeling of having given everything you can and being too exhausted mentally/physically to keep going.
So how can we get through burnout/limit its impact on our mental health and well-being?
Reach out to those closest to you. Having a support system in place when you are struggling in any situation in life can truly be so much help. There is never anything wrong about talking about your feelings or asking for help.
Spending meaningful time away from stresses. When you are spending time with loved ones, it can help to try not to think about what’s burning you out and just focusing on making the time spent with loved one’s positive. This can help break up the focus on the difficult things causing burnout and clear your mind.
Limiting your time with negative people. People who are constantly negative could further develop any negative feelings you are experiencing and worsening your burnout as a result. It’s important to surround yourself with people who have a positive impact upon your life.
Having a hobby or something to look forward to away from work. This can help give you something to enjoy whilst also keep you motivated!
Mental health in the workplace is so important! If everyone is feeling supported and mentally well, it can make the workplace a much better productive environment.
At Burton and District Mind we offer workplace training in the hopes of spreading mental health throughout the workplace. For more information on this, you can find that here -> https://www.burtonmind.co.uk/workplacetraining