There is a unique kind of exhaustion that does not arise after a single long day or difficult event. Instead, it happens slowly over time, whether months or even years have passed, and at some point, the person who is exhausted is unable to pinpoint either the moment when the feeling occurred or why the simplest tasks have become so impossible to complete. That is burnout from the inside out. And it could happen to anyone – no matter if because of an overworking job, a business which keeps calling for your attention, an overwhelming situation at home, or even because of the constant need to look after yourself.
This last example needs more elaboration. As we have seen from the discussion of various types of burnout, there is such a phenomenon as wellness burnout – the exhaustion which happens precisely because of self-care programs which are designed to alleviate the problem.
WHAT BURNOUT REALLY IS AND WHAT IT ISN’T
Burnout became official when the World Health Organization acknowledged it in 2019, listing it in the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Edition. Burnout is not a disease in the true medical sense but a syndrome that results from chronic occupational and personal stress that has not been adequately addressed.
This is not meant to downplay the significance of the condition; on the contrary, syndromes are officially defined clusters of symptoms that have tangible effects. The WHO defines burnout as having three well-recognized dimensions, based on groundbreaking research conducted by organizational psychologist Christina Maslach.
Exhaustion refers to constant fatigue, which cannot be cured through rest. Detachment or cynicism is a developing lack of emotional involvement with work and other obligations that used to matter to you. Efficacy is diminishing even though one is still working effectively.
Burnout is not the same thing as being lazy. Burnout is not just feeling tired at the end of a hectic week. It is a physical and psychological reaction to uncontrolled prolonged stress.
HOW BURNOUT DEVELOPS: THE CYCLE THAT EVERYONE OVERLOOKS
Burnout does not come as a surprise all of a sudden. Burnout comes in stages, one of the reasons people overlook it when it happens.
Stage number one can be described as high effort. It could mean that you have a high-effort job or your company is growing fast, or your family is too difficult to manage, or you simply take your well-being too seriously. The effort is justified during this stage, and the sacrifice seems invisible.
Stage number two consists of realization that what you do is not sustainable and the choice to go on anyway. It is the stage when people look back and realize that burnout started there.
Stage three is depletion. The person’s inner resources, which sustained his/her ability to function, emotional resilience, motivation, physical energy, ability to be patient, are not replenishing as quickly as they are depleting. By this stage, it appears that the individual is still functioning properly from an external perspective despite his/her own exhaustion.
What emerges from Maslach’s studies is the consistent fact that one’s state of burnout will not improve on its own if the causes of the burnout continue to exist. Vacationing does not help; a good night’s sleep is only temporary relief, but does not make up for the lost inner resources.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BURNOUT AND JUST FEELING TIRED
There is a practical reason to differentiate between the two. Tiredness can be easily cured by sleep or by having a day without many tasks – one will be well-rested after that. But burnout cannot be solved through rest in the same way.
One of the most reliable signs of burnout is the inability to get better through rest. One has a good sleep during the night but wakes up already exhausted. A week of vacation from work – no difference. The reason for it is that burnout is not just about a lack of rest. It is about the exhaustion of inner resources necessary to cope with prolonged stress.
This is an important factor since it alters how the process of recovery looks. Recovery from burnout that focuses only on relaxation and sleep without tackling the underlying causes of stress will bring some temporary relief, but no real recovery. This is because the underlying factors remain the same.
THE WELLNESS PRESSURE PROBLEM NOBODY TALKS ABOUT HONESTLY
The wellness market was worth over five trillion dollars by 2024. In addition to its health benefits, the expansion of the industry has brought about one other thing: an incredible amount of pressure on what proper self-care should be like.
The problem is not that the methods of well-being are bad for you. For the most part, they are quite beneficial if done voluntarily. The problem is the manner in which they are being presented. Getting out of bed at 5 AM. Meditating for 20 minutes before looking at your phone. Journaling. Healthy eating. Steps. Tracking sleep. Limiting screen time. On their own, all of these can be great ideas. But in the context of daily performance goals, enforced by guilt and social pressure, they become yet another thing to fail at.
This is not helpful for someone who is already working with depleted resources. This increases their cognitive load. It sets up a new type of failure in an arena where they were meant to find some relief. The guidance about being overwhelmed by recommending they do more and then feel bad about failing at consistency with that recommendation is helping create the very problem it’s trying to solve.
The most reliable result from burnout recovery studies is that recovery necessitates the diminishment of responsibilities rather than the acquisition of more coping mechanisms. True self-care, within the realm of burnout, is doing less.
PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES OF BURNOUT OTHER THAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ONES
Burnout can be considered a condition whose consequences are mainly psychological and emotional. However, physical consequences are not less real and important than psychological ones.
High levels of sustained stress result in elevated levels of cortisol, the main stress hormone produced by the body. Prolonged elevation of the level of this hormone leads to suppression of the immune system, poor quality of sleep, inflammation, cardiovascular problems, and various physical symptoms such as fatigue, frequent illnesses, tension headaches, and digestive disorders.
Untreated burnout has been found to be correlated with an increased susceptibility to the development of clinical depression and anxiety disorders. The differentiation between burnout and depression is often unclear in some cases, where untreated burnout may turn into a clinical condition requiring professional help.
The physical component is important because it clarifies why thinking-based interventions fail on their own. There is real stress being processed by the body. It does not help much to instruct people to have a positive outlook while this stress level is not changed.
CARING FOR YOURSELF WITHOUT THE BURDEN OF DOING EVERYTHING
The tricky thing about burnout recovery is that it’s about doing less, rather than doing the right things better. And this is really hard to swallow when we live in a society that glorifies doing more.
Recognizing what’s happening is one of the first steps, and it’s no small thing. There is a strong component of denial associated with burnout, and the idea that just hanging on for a while longer, and everything will work out fine. Recognizing that this won’t happen until some things change is where recovery starts.
Once you do this, three areas tend to become important.
The first one is recognizing and minimizing the main causes of pressure wherever truly feasible. There are some things that cannot be eliminated from our lives because of their necessity. However, quite a lot of stress that we accumulate is the kind that we put on ourselves or the society puts on us.
The second thing is rest that does not have any other function but being restful. Watching your favorite movie without any guilty feelings. Just sitting outside without having any specific goals for that moment. Being surrounded by people that do not require anything from you. This is not self-indulgence. This is the environment where the nervous system starts regulating itself.
The third thing is understanding what self-care is about in relation to yourself, not according to the recommendations given by the content. You have to ask yourself how you feel after you do something, not what you should be doing. The answers will turn out to be simpler than what the industry of wellness tells us.
WHEN PROFESSIONAL HELP IS THE PROPER SOLUTION
However, there comes a time when burnout has become too much for self-management. If you experience continuous insomnia, lack of motivation towards previously satisfying activities, bodily symptoms that are interfering with your everyday activities, as well as feelings of hopelessness, then these factors should serve as red flags to contact your doctor or a specialist in psychology.
If you have experienced burnout leading to clinical depression and/or anxiety disorders, this is a matter of medicine, and needs a proper treatment rather than a more efficient morning ritual. There are various scientific researches proving that cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in dealing with burnout. Sometimes medical assistance is also needed.
Contacting a professional specialist does not mean that you failed to take care of yourself properly. It means that some situations need more help than one person can provide himself.
THE PART WORTH CARRYING ONWARD
Burnout is not a sign of weakness. Burnout is neither a personality trait nor the outcome of a lack of will power. Instead, burnout is a valid physical and mental reaction to prolonged exposure to stress, and wellness burnout highlights the fact that self-care done out of duty is not true self-care.
The way forward does not involve doing things right but being truthful. Being honest about what you are actually carrying on your shoulders. Being honest about how much weight can actually be taken off. Being honest about what rest looks like for you, as opposed to what it has been taught to look like.
Truthfulness in and of itself is a form of self-care that costs nothing and needs no maintenance whatsoever.
Leave A Comment