I have experienced every single one of these burnout symptoms at one time or another. Have you? On one level I’ve always just assumed this was some version of normal within a busy and sometimes demanding life. But, if I take a closer look, the above signs and symptoms seem to indicate more of a problem. Take a look at the table below. It attempts to differentiate a little bit between stress and burnout. The level of impairment, severity of consequences, and length of impairment seem to be different.
It has always been my habit to just push through, but it always comes at a cost. My perception is that the more of these symptoms you are experiencing at the same time, the bigger the risk. I’ll dive into more of the impacts of burnout in future posts and you can look forward to lots of tips and strategies as well. For now, just let these lists sink in a little bit. Take inventory of your own resilience, physically and emotionally. I am now committed to changing my thinking and habits in order to banish burnout to whatever extent that is possible. I look forward to sharing this journey together.