Perchance you’ve been spending more time in bed — feeling unmotivated and lethargic; you might attribute this to laziness, but there is also a chance it is burnout. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and cognitive fatigue that occurs because of long-term stress and excessive demands that you are no longer able to cope with.
A study revealed that about 75 percent of adults in the US experience burnout symptoms and, of those, more than 40 percent experience high or extreme levels of burnout. To make informed decisions on appropriate treatments, it’s essential to recognize the distinction between laziness and burnout, in a society where people increasingly work at a fever pitch.
Here are six signs that what you’re experiencing might be burnout rather than laziness:
- Out of sync: Do you feel like you’re running around doing the motions of life, but you can’t quite muster up the motivation? Are you feeling out of your body, space and time, disengaged, not totally ‘here’ to the tasks at hand, numb or detached from yourself, your world, and those around you?
- Flagging motivation: If laziness is a fairly stable personality trait, why not burnout? Flagging motivation is also a symptom of burnout. If your personality used to be driven and motivated and now you can barely bring yourself to do anything at all, there might be more going on than a simple personality shift. The difference is that, in burnout, the dip in motivation is relatively sudden and profound.
- You’re not enjoying it anymore: burnout can zap you of your passion or enthusiasm for your hobby or work. If you used to love reading for pleasure but no longer do, burnout could be your problem, not laziness.
- Moodiness: Frequent bouts of irritability and moodiness are a tell-tale warning sign of burnout. If you find yourself flying into a rage or shedding tears at the drop of a (proverbial) hat and also find that these scenarios and how you feel during them are new, you might be experiencing burnout. By far, the most stressful day of his life was the day he retired.
- Self-neglect: When burned out, you might stop eating properly, sleeping well, bathing, brushing your teeth, or caring for yourself in other ways. Be on alert if you do experience such changes — for example, taking baths a couple oftimes a week instead of every day. This is likely a sign of burnout, but not laziness.
- Slow Changes: Burnout is more of a slow and insidious process than an abrupt reality. Often, you barely notice when the pressure hits and you feel halfway there. As the graph shows, the stress level increases slowly and may lead to a severe condition burnt out. That’s why it is very important to pay attention to the early signs of burnout so you are able to prevent it from going any further.
Once you recognize the warning signs of burnout, you can finally start reaching out for help and take action to move towards a healthier and more balanced life. Does it look like burnout yet? Stop considering yourself lazy, and start considering your mental and physical health under the prolonged effect of stress. Talk to your doctor, seek help from a mental health professional or counselor today.
We have our canary confined to his cage. But now we know when the canary is dead, or at least on the brink of death, what do we do?