Tackling Work Burnout: 3 Warning Signs and 3 Fixes

One of the most common issues folks bring to me as a therapist is the issue around work burnout. People feel dissatisfied in their careers. It creates a lot of stress and therefore decreases their quality of life. I'm Evan, your resident mental health and addiction therapist, and in this video I'm going to go through three reasons why you may be experiencing work burnout and three possible solutions. Sign number one is experiencing a loss of passion that you once had. Now in some ways this can be normal because when you start a new job, typically you have this initial spark of excitement for something new.

However, if you find yourself in an overly stressful situation where maybe you're not getting enough validation for the hard work you're putting in, that excitement, that passion for the thing that got you into that career in the first place, starts to feel lost. Number two is noticing a general decline in your overall wellbeing. That the stress and dissatisfaction of work is applying outside of your life and having an impact on the things you once loved and your relationships. Now, of course, it could be the opposite where your outside life is impacting how you feel about work.

But if you're experiencing this, it's really time to reflect and notice how these things interplay. And number three is that I find people experiencing burnout are typically struggling with overall physical fatigue, not just mental. They're feeling tired that they don't have the energy to complete the job duties that they once had. This overall feeling of mental dissatisfaction very often translates to how we feel physically as well. Alright, so those are the signs and problems that come with work burnout, but what can we do about it?

Strategy number one is about having an open dialogue with your employer, to be honest with them about how you're feeling to be vulnerable. Because if you don't address it over time, you're just going to experience more burnout and eventually just have to leave or stay and be dissatisfied forever. Having this dialogue could really lead to some tangible changes, whether it's lessening your workload or them offering you more support. Hopefully your job values you and they want you to stick around. They don't want you to experience burnout and leave.

Number two is prioritizing your mental health and well being outside of work, having healthy routines and practices that may make you feel better at work itself. Because as I mentioned before, sometimes it's those outside factors that can bleed into your work and how you feel about it. Some strategies for this may be incorporating healthier lifestyle choices, whether it's more exercise, mindfulness and meditation, or doing therapy. And number three is if all these other strategies fail, it may be time to find something new.

No matter what we do, if it's not a right fit, things are not going to change and you're not going to be satisfied. Change can be scary. Perhaps you feel you may not find anything else. But before you leave that job, you can do things like work with a career counselor or a recruitment to see what else is out there. Because if you don't look, you don't know what's out there and you may not have that opportunity to find something better. To sum it up, our work or our career is a big part of our lives.

That 40 hours a week really adds up to how we feel about ourselves and our lives in general. And this is why it's so crucial to be able to recognize these signs of burnout and prioritize your overall mental well being. By having some of these strategies, you may be able to improve your situation, or at least know that it may be time to find something else to spark that passion and be overall healthier and happier.