Life is dynamic, and the dynamism of life is what keeps us going. Have you ever experienced a situation whereby you wake up and feel no sense of purpose, you have a bunch of activities planned out but you hardly complete a single one, you probably can watch movies or listen to music all day on your bed but cannot do anything productive, you feel a weight on your body or fatigue within your system and you feel horrible about not completing your planned activities?
Yes, Right. You’ve experienced BurnOut.
A short personal experience;
Early 2021, I started learning how to code. I partook in the 100 days of code challenge; I did well and did not miss a day. However, I overworked myself because I created projects everyday while learning, sometimes even two in a day. I was rushing to finish learning Front-end design so as to begin Back-end in the second quarter of the year.
My goal was unrealistic as I did not want to take baby steps. As time went on while learning JavaScript, I became exhausted and could not do more, no matter how I try to. By June, I started serving in a company that does nothing related to coding, so I took a break from coding. In my head, I planned taking 2 weeks break to adjust to my work environment, but this break extended till December. That was when I realized I was burnt out. I am currently taking care of myself with less activities and more rest. I wish I realized I was burnt out earlier. However I am glad I didn’t reach the Third phase of it.
Now let’s define BurnOut shall we?
BURNOUT has been defined as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of low personal accomplishment that leads to decreased effectiveness at work. While burnout was initially spotted in health practitioners like Doctors, Nurses, Social workers, etc, it is now realized to be a widespread syndrome and not attributed to only health workers.
There are twelve (12) phases of BurnOut as described by American Psychologist, Herbert Freundenberger. This was later simplified into five stages, mentioned as follows:
- The Honeymoon Phase
This is the first stage of BurnOut. It is more common when you start a new job, a new course, a new school, or a new activity. At this stage, you are filled with enthusiasm, passion, zeal and energy to take on several tasks. This productivity gets you excited on how much more tasks you can take on and you are filled with optimism to do more. This is where the risk comes up, because if you don’t adopt ways to prevent overworking, this phase could last for only a short time. Heck, even if you adopt strategies, there is only a limited amount of tasks a human can perform in a day. Besides, everyday cannot be the same!
- The Onset of Stress
You graduate to the next stage where you notice some days are more stressful than the others; you have less time for your personal needs, family, events, exercise and other relevant things. Your main concern is only that job, school or course you are doing. You keep putting off other activities and it makes you stressed, overthink, lack focus, not eat and sleep on time or even get mild headaches.
- Chronic Stress
The frequency of experiencing stage 2 may lead to chronic stress if not managed earlier. You find yourself performing with less efficiency than usual, procrastinating on things you could do in minutes, you feel powerless, useless and under pressure. This could take a toll on your mental health as you may not be applauded as usual, you cannot regulate your emotions, you become distant and in extreme cases, self-medicate by taking drugs or alcohol to escape negative emotions. At this stage, it gets that BAD.
- BurnOut
Not addressing the first three stages results to the actual BurnOut. This stage is that of critical fatigue, you cannot be productive and you feel horrible but still cannot do anything about it, the feeling of despair and failure leads you to become indifferent about your job, school or online course and you don’t see a way out. At this point, you say to yourself “if I die I die abeg”. Symptoms intensify as you become always hungry, tired and sick. You are pessimistic and despise attention.
- Habitual BurnOut
In this final stage, you are used to being burnt out and it has become a part of your life. Your behavior and attitude towards others have changed and you feel no self-worth or purpose. You hate everyone around you and you are constantly sick and sad. It affects every aspect of your life and you cannot do anything about it. At this stage, only outsourced help and rest can help you move to the trajectory of recovery. However, you have to be patient with your helper which could be a therapist, psychologist or anyone, as your recovery could take 6 to 12 months.
In Summary;
Fig 1: Stages of Burnout
Fig 2: Factors that influence Burnout
CONCLUSION
The path of burnout may take long to realize. Most times, you may be in denial, or seek some sense of productivity and accomplishment, which leads you to this possibly unending phase.
However, After reading this article, love yourself by taking vigilance, do not take too much workload that could lead to stress and you should possibly breakdown an activity into hours with a rest in-between.
Once you realize you are taking into the second or third stage, REST. Reduce your workload and try to exercise or meditate. Set personal boundaries and always have quality time.
If you experience fatigue, headache and any mental symptoms, visit a healthcare professional as soon as possible, to prevent it from escalating.
Always put your mental health first.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing.
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