Based on my own experience, and that of people I’ve helped, I have developed my own definition of burnout.
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Most of all, the burnout is a heavy emotional exhaustion.
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Anything can trigger it, anything can with time drain you to the bone, most often it’s several factors at once. What matters is, if you end up feeling so dried out that you can’t even break into tears to relieve the tension, you are most probably in a state of burnout.
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Here are a few more indicators:
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π messiness: of your thoughts, of your daily activities, of your to-do list being larger than you can cope with
π mental blur: your life feels like a huge pile of everything, and you don’t know where to start in order to sort it out
π despair: you feel powerless to get back control over your life
π feeling lost: draining routine and daily rush have so consumed you that you’ve lost memory of what you want and dream about in your life. You actually don’t remember how does it feel to dream, to begin with.
π indifference: you are so emotionally exhausted that you don’t have energy any more to even care
π anger: you feel trapped, maybe even in a cage of your own doing. Socially imposed stereotypes of what is a “successful life” are strong enough to push you into creating for yourself a life that is absolutely not yours. And you just realised that you want OUT. NOW.
π the breaking point: it’s that feeling, as if something just cracked inside of you, and you are done with feeling this shitty, desperate way. You are just absolutely adamant that it is time for a change, for breaking free from the cage, and you entirely don’t care about the cautious “why-should-I-stay” reasonings. You’ve taken the decision to make the change and the next steps and there is no turning back. Just no.
π the fear: it’s normal. You have decided you are breaking up with the burnout and are ready to make the change. But you are afraid that you are too tired to succeed with your next step.
π the decisiveness: nevertheless, you check your options and begin to plan how to act next. That is usually the moment where you realise external help may considerably speed up your recovery process and progress.
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If you recognise yourself in any or several of these indicators, and want to get back the control and ownership over your life, then Personal Alchemy: From Burnout to Balance service might be the right place for you to start.