Most people will experience burnout symptoms at some point during their career. When you have burnout, you feel completely exhausted and can no longer bring yourself to go to work. You are literally burned out.
But although burnout is common, this does not have to mean that we should just let it happen. In fact, burnout is preventable - especially if you are aware of the stages of burnout. You can think of the early stages of burnout as signals to pay closer attention to. Burnout symptoms are actually signals that tell you to make adjustments in your daily life.
We are not giving medical advice. This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent illness. Do you have mental or physical complaints and want medical advice from a specialist? Then always consult a (company) doctor or psychologist.
What are the stages of burnout?
Recognizing the 12 stages of burnout will help you detect early signs of burnout and prevent you from getting completely burned out.
1. Ambition and commitment. While ambition and commitment seem harmless, they can also have negative consequences. You may have a tendency to link your self-worth to your achievements and not often feel "good enough. To compensate for this feeling, you may take on extra tasks or put extra pressure on yourself.
2. Working harder and working overtime. You accomplish extra tasks to prove yourself and you may work overtime. A work-life imbalance develops. Often you are still busy at home with work-related tasks such as answering emails.
3. Not taking good care of yourself. Work is number one and this comes at the expense of your normal needs like getting enough sleep, eating healthy, exercising and spending time with friends and family. You may be sleeping poorly and eventually build up a sleep deficit.
4. Ignoring reality. You realize that you are overstepping your own boundaries, but you don't see a way out yourself. It may also be that your family, partner and friends are suffering because of your hard work. You don't quite know how to change and put off dealing with the problems.
5. Revisiting values. There comes a point when you see that you are being destructive. Perhaps your friends and family even speak to you about it. But instead of spending less time on your work, you start focusing entirely on your work. You put your work first and no longer have time for self-care.
6. Ignoring new problems. Focusing entirely on your work brings new problems. Your environment does not understand you and you may even see your colleagues as lazy or unmotivated. You experience tremendous stress.
7. Withdrawal. You spend less and less time with friends and family and focus only on your work. In your head, you are also only concerned with your work.
8. Negative impact on others. Your loved ones are affected by your behavior. You have little to no time for them and are more easily irritated.
9. Depersonalization. You feel like you are numb or it feels like your body is no longer yours. It can feel like you are an outsider looking at his or her own life. Your enthusiasm and ambition disappear and you often feel indifferent.
10. A sense of emptiness. You feel like you have failed and can no longer see your own value. You have lost your drive and can no longer push yourself to work.
11. Depression. Nothing matters to you anymore or can make you happy. You are mentally and emotionally exhausted. You can no longer manage to do everyday things and you feel lost.
12. Burnout. You get completely burned out and reach a low point. Some people literally collapse at this stage because their bodies are depleted. If you are completely burned out, it can take months or even years before you feel better again.
How long does burnout last?
Do you think you have burnout? Then you're probably wondering how long recovery from burnout takes. On average, it takes three months to a year to recover from burnout. In extreme cases, fully recovering from burnout can take more than 2 years.
Remember that recovering from burnout is not a linear process. Often you will actually feel worse before you are fully recovered. This is because, although it may not seem like it, your body is hard at work during recovery. Namely, your body has to relearn how to properly switch between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Also, sometimes it may seem like you are having a relapse. This is all part of the process and requires a lot of patience.
While recovering from burnout, rest is paramount. Schedule moments of rest, do nothing at all more often and discover what things give you energy outside of work. In addition, it is important to remind yourself that you cannot rush recovery from burnout. There is no finish line that you have to reach as soon as possible. In fact, it's just the opposite: you have to learn to accept that resting is your #1 priority. And that you probably need more rest than you think.
Burnout recovery schedule
To recover from burnout, it is important to get enough rest daily. It can help to make a burnout recovery schedule, where you schedule set resting times for yourself. For example, take a moment for yourself every day at 4 o'clock (for example, on the couch with a cup of tea) and go to bed every evening at 10 o'clock.
Read here step by step how to recover from burnout.
Resting can feel uncomfortable. Especially if you're used to always being busy. If this applies to you, doing a meditation can help. During a guided meditation, a voice guides you through the meditation. Your thoughts are less likely to wander, and you don't think about your worries (and your work) for a while. Daily meditation also helps prevent burnout.
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