What are the signs of burn out?

4 Apr

I have written a blog about the signs that you are burnt out (and what to do about it).

We hear the words ‘burn out’ a lot. It is a bit of a buzz phrase at the moment. However, it is also a stealthy beast, and can disguise itself as many other things. It has overlaps with stress, anxiety and trauma, but you don’t need to feel stressed, anxious or traumatised to be burnt out. It often comes on slowly, often over years, and often over a time where on paper you have everything you have ever dreamed of. You have the career, the house, the car, the busy social life. Everything seems to be going well. However, a 2021 report by LawCare[1] suggested that legal professionals had a ‘high risk of burn out’, and I am sure that this the case in many other professions too. The fact that it is often disguised by a successful outer life is why it can be so hard to identify, and, importantly, so hard to accept.

I have popped below a summary of what I have found to be the key signs that you may be burnt out:

- Constantly feeling tired. We all feel tired from time to time, but if you are waking up every day even after a good rest feeling drained and really just looking forward to the time that you can crawl back into bed, this can be a sign that something is wrong.

- Unable to focus. Burn out is linked to an overactive sympathetic nervous system (see here: (https://www.esse-therapy.co.uk/blog/why-mindful-breathing-helps-reduce-stress), and chronic stress. This can have the impact of reducing the blood flow to your pre-frontal cortex, and focusing your body’s attention on the areas of your body key for survival, as your body is quite literally prepared to flee at any moment.

- Feeling overwhelmed. Linked to the above is that tasks which once felt completely manageable become overwhelming, and it becomes hard to plan and see the wood for the trees. This can be a vicious cycle

- Withdrawing from social interaction. Personally, this is a big one. It can start by not feeling engaged in social interactions that you are having, feeling like you are out of the loop or disinterested in what is being said. However, as burn out progresses, you may find yourself avoiding calls, texts and meet ups. If you are usually a social person, ask yourself when you last spoke to a specific close friend in any real detail, and see what your response it.

- Sleep disturbances, muscle tension and digestive issues. When you are under constant pressure, the hormone balance in your body can fall out of balance. This can causes lots of different physical symptoms, and that in itself can become a vicious cycle.

- Lack of motivation and enjoyment. This is both in respect of work, and also hobbies and leisure activities that you once enjoyed. They may feel like too much of an effort, of something that simply doesn’t interest you any more.

Take a moment to sit with yourself, and reflect on whether any of the above indicators ring true to you, and for how long you have felt that way. Writing it down may help you process your thoughts. Burn out symptoms can come and go, so it may be that it fluctuates. It can often be the case that we are the last people to notice that we are struggling, as we are so used to simply carrying on regardless and putting our own needs to the bottom of the pile, so it is worth speaking to a trusted friend or partner, to get their view on whether you are experiencing burn out too.

If you are concerned that you may be experiencing burn out, then there are loads of things you can do to move towards change. Check out my other blogs, which give a number of tools to help you recalibrate your nervous system, or get in touch, and lets get you to start feeling like you again.

[1] https://www.lawcare.org.uk/media/14vhquzz/lawcare-lifeinthelaw-v6-final.pdf