Some people go to work loving their job, and putting all of their energy into it. They wake up happy in the morning, day after day, and love their job. Somehow, along the way, they lose interest or lack the passion, so going to work becomes a drag. Sometimes, they still want to get involved in their job the way they used but feel exhausted from all that work.  

What’s the easiest way to describe burnout at work?

Burnout refers to one’s state of emotional and physical exhaustion. It can happen after going through a lot of stress at work. It can also develop when you’ve been working in an emotionally and physically consuming role for too long.

When you no longer get results at work, feeling disappointed in your performance, burnout is what you’re going through.

Is there such thing as “symptoms of burnout”?

It's essential to make a difference between feeling down for a couple of days and experiencing burnout at work. Here are the main symptoms of burnout:

• You feel exhausted 24/7
• You don’t feel productive at work anymore
• You think that you have too many responsibilities
• You don't think as patient as you used to
• You’ve lost interest in your job and don’t enjoy it any way anymore
• You look for escapist behavior, such as excessive drinking or abusing substances
• You feel there is no hope for you at work or even in life
• You also experience physical symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, and heart palpitations. You don’t sleep at night as well, and you should see a physician when experiencing the physical symptoms.

According to research, people experiencing burnout early in their career have a better chance and a more natural way to overcome burnout at work, unlike the people that experiencing it later in life. No matter where you are in your life and career, you should also seek help or try different methods for overcoming burnout.

Is recovery from burnout challenging?

You don't just wake up in the morning and feeling that the burnout disappeared on its own. Unless you're addressing the leading causes, exhaustion will only get worse in time. Just like in addiction, or PTSD, healing burnout means finding out the reasons which led to its appearance. You don't just address the symptoms, and you need to go deep inside and see how come burnout occurs.

Overcoming burnout doesn’t happen in just one day or a week. You need to be patient and let the treatments work. HBOT therapy, floatation therapy, meditation, or yoga, are only some of the methods to try within a healing center. 

Changing the scenery for some time and giving yourself a break from anything is fundamental, no matter which methods you decide to try. Keep in mind that no way is universal, and no treatment will have the same efficiency for everybody. When a technique isn't your cup of tea, you should try something else. If you keep pushing it, you will only feel frustrated for not seeing any results or improvements.

What are conventional methods of dealing with burnout?

Not everyone is in touch with their inner self, and not everyone knows how to meditate. Sometimes, you don’t even need to spend a lot of time thinking about what caused your burnout. It’s not the same for everyone, and some will need some time and professional guidance for unrevealing the causes. Here are some solutions to try when you’re going through burnout at work:

1. Take a vacation

We're not talking about a weekend vacation, but rather about a nice vacation away from home and work. Change the scenery completely (science always talks about the benefits of nature for our health, so a luxury recovering facility on the coast of the Pacific sounds excellent).

Two weeks is a reasonable amount of time to be away from your colleagues at work and your job. Don't forget to turn down your phone and not to check any emails while you're gone. Even if you don't have any vacation days left, you should still ask for an unpaid break. Not taking a break now may cost you more in the long run than a two-week vacation in Mexic.

2. Stop using and abusing coffee, alcohol, or whatever is your substance of choice

People going through burnout often develop a chaotic lifestyle, with excessive drinking, smoking, or eating. They can work in reasonable amounts, but addiction develops quite fast, especially when you’re stressed out every single day. 

Soon enough, burnout isn't going to be the only problem in your life; you will also have to heal addiction. Should you look for a holistic center that provides help and support for healing addiction, too (along with stress, anxiety, depression), you get a higher chance of getting back on track sooner.

3. Look for a release

When you're burning out at work, you turn into a pressure cooker of stress. And it would help if you used the release valve any time and then so that the "cooker" doesn't explode. We mean that you may end up in tears, crying, or yelling in the most awkward moments at work.

Physical activity is a great way to eliminate stress. It can be martial arts, or CrossFit-whatever floats your boat. It doesn't matter if it's video games, soccer, bowling, or a dozen laps of the pool. Doing something physical with the stress inside gives you a better chance of dealing with burnout.

4. Identify ways to make work more appealing

You can ask for new responsibilities; maybe you only need the challenge to feel interested in your action once again. If possible, you can also request to work from home for a while, at least you're changing the scenery.
Looking for creative ways to add a bit of fun and color at your job depends a lot on you. Free your imagination and look for the most exciting methods for doing your job.

5. Sleep well, exercise, and eat well too

Should you take a peek at the holistic treatments, you’ll notice that healing doesn’t mean just addressing the symptoms. It means to heal your mind, body, and soul. You need to eat better and healthier food (have you tried to switch to organic food?), do plenty of exercises (mens Sana in corpore Sano, they say), and find ways to sleep soundly throughout the entire night.
One last piece of advice

Just because you’re experiencing burnout at work, doesn’t mean that you should go through it on your own. Don’t hesitate to talk to your friends and let them know what you’re going through. It\s not about being in the same industry and advise you professionally; it’s about finding moral and emotional support for your current struggle.

When you're going through burnout, you don't have the energy to spend time with friends and lose interest in social activities. Even if it's challenging to take the first step, reaching for someone's shoulder to cry on (sort to speak) is an crucial step to make for healing.