mdolla: Successful People Suffer from Burnout Too. But They Know How to Deal with It

Ever felt that it’s all getting too much? It’s not a pleasant feeling and often makes us believe that we’re failing in some way.

But I’m here to tell you that you’re not failing. In fact, many people we deem successful in work and life in general, suffer from burnout too they just have a way of dealing with the situation that quickly gets them back on track.

What it boils down to is adopting a mindset that cultivates looking after yourself, acknowledging that it’s getting too much but that’s okay, and taking positive steps to improve the situation.

Why Can It Seem So Hard to Deal With a Burnout?

When we’re in the midst of a burnout we often feel exhausted both mentally and physically. This puts us in a space of feeling low about ourselves, and as I mentioned earlier, a sense of failure in either one area or many areas of our lives.

But a burnout should be seen as our body and mind’s way of indicating to us that we need to stop. It’s hard, but keeping a positive perspective while going through what feels like a massive fall into a deep pit, will allow you to get out much quicker.

Experiencing Burnout? Here’s What You Need to Do

Everyone goes through this at some point in their life and usually involves experiencing chronic stress, exhaustion, lack of motivation, frustration, health problems and decreased satisfaction. However, going through this can help you re-evaluate your choices, see more clearly how you intend to live your life moving forward and teach you how to avoid any similar situations in the future.

This is primarily how successful people choose to look at difficult times in their lives and here are the best things you can do when burnout occurs.

Be Serious About Relaxing and Taking it Easy

We hear it everywhere these days with mindfulness being the vogue word at the moment, but carving out time to relax is important for our mental and physical health. Often we overlook this by thinking we don’t have time. Meditation is for people who have time to meditate, but not me. Well, it’s time to stop the excuses. Everyone has time – and not just to meditate but to take that walk or run that bath – anything that puts us in that state of relaxation.

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is paramount for our optimum functioning throughout the day. Stress is a big factor in our inability to get enough sleep but not getting enough is what can cause more stress. This can be a vicious circle but admitting, acknowledging and prioritising sleep is key to overcoming burnout and helping you deal with it much better.

Learn to Say No

Successful people learn to say no. When they feel the burnout looming they start to eliminate potential stressful situations before they happen. Many of us are afraid to say no especially at work but you’ll be way more useful to people when you’re coping than when you’re falling into the pit. It’s about putting yourself first in the short term in order to create a better you in the long-term.

Unplug Yourself

Disconnecting is a great way of eliminating the degree of burnout you experience. Make sure you spend time unplugging from your phone, emails or any gadgets that are bombarding you and not allowing you to switch off. It’s all too easy to carry on checking messages even after we’ve left work with phones always at our fingertips. But be more mindful of unplugging yourself as protection from further stress. Aim for peace of mind.

Re-evaluate Your Priorities

Usually when we’ve got to a point of burnout, it’s because we’ve neglected our priorities. Think or remind yourself about what’s important to you. Have you been neglecting your home life? Your relationships? Yourself? Successful people know that their happiness is just as important and shouldn’t be sacrificed. Getting that re-balance back in our lives is getting you more on the fast-track to a more content and happy outlook.

Be Attuned To How You Feel

In order to prevent burnout from happening again, it’s important to learn to recognise the feelings you’re getting in the lead up. Successful people are aware of the signs and try to steer themselves away before it gets too far. If you’re feeling stressed, negative, tired and demotivated then don’t ignore these feelings. Instead identify them and recognise that they need to be dealt with.

Is it Other People or is it You?

Successful people take responsibility for their circumstances. We often blame others when we reach a stage of burnout but we need to take responsibility for how we react to situations or realise we’re putting this pressure on ourselves rather than other people doing it. This isn’t to spend time blaming yourself and beating yourself up, but rather see it as empowering and knowing you have more control than you imagine.

Make Time for Exercise

Exercise is probably one of the best things you can do in the midst of a complete burnout. Despite being mentally and physically exhausted, exercise can combat this and release those endorphins that lower stress. Whether it’s going for a walk, going swimming or pounding the pavements, getting your body moving will help give you that much-needed clarity and headspace.

Re-evaluate Your Attitude

Mindset and attitude is key to how successful people deal with burnout. We can easily get caught up in the spiral of negative thoughts that just make us feel worse. While going through a burnout isn’t pleasant, making sure your mindset and perspective is one of ‘what can I learn from this?’ and ‘I will get over this and make the necessary changes’ is important to recovering more quickly and moving forward in a positive way.

Featured photo credit: Sam Churchill via flickr.com

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