9 warning signs you’re heading for burnout (and what you can do about it)

Whether you're a busy working mum, city worker, office worker or self employed you can turn away from it.

With 2 young kids, a business to run virtually on my own and COVID striking my normal access to clients was depleted, practically zero.

Not to mention, at that time, my wife had been diagnosed with Cancer, so we had all of that treatment to look forward to also.

I didn’t really know what to do at that point - I could have panicked and worked every hour I possibly could (difficult with the kids home) BUT it would have caused arguments with my wife and anger and frustration for all of us

I could have gone into my own downward spiral, got any job i could have got just to keep the money rolling in.

I could have completely ruined all that I had worked for over the past 5 years

But that would have just made my wife's life and recovery more difficult and I would have been resenting her and the kids (and probably felt guilty for doing that too)

So I relied on my training - I focussed on what I could do to keep me sane, keep me clear headed, and being the best that I could be for them.

That led to me creating an online version of my business which is going from strength to strength - delivering what i’ve learnt in that time and what I am continuing to learn through working with my clients, self-reflection and training.

However, there were still mistakes I was making and only now am I coming to correct them (even though i’ve known about them for years now) Being constantly tired, not just tired, but absolutely exhausted a lot of the time - only able to function with buckets of caffeine.

• NEEDING a coffee first thing in the morning - literally roll out of bed, toilet, teeth, kettle on and then relying on caffeine (or other supplements) all day to keep me going. Constant caffeine reliance creates highs and lows throughout the day which affect how you react, think and behave. Being reliant on any supplement to get through the day is not optimal for performance.
  

• Emotions all over the place, mostly irritable, angry and frustrated - I’m still suffering these but working on it - i’m not perfect. When I wasn't paying attention to myself I'd be going to work with resentment, feeling like I should have been getting more, feeling angry that my skills and expertise weren't getting me recognised for promotion which led to more frustration, anger and irritability making me less likely to get the thing that I wanted.
  

• Blaming other people and things for your lack of results.

When I was in the Army I blamed my legs (injuries meant I couldn't attend promotion courses) for my lack of promotion, when I joined the "civvy" world and got a job I blamed my co-workers for being lazy and lacking drive, when I became self-employed I blamed my wife, kids, even the dog. It wasn't until I started looking in the mirror for my results that I realised that I was the one responsible and it was up to me to change, to learn, to reflect and grow.

• Constant muscle aches and pains, minor colds and flu-like symptoms all through the year - this is a sign that your immune system is compromised from the excessive stress and lack of recovery that you give it. It's horrible to feel run-down practically every-day, you'll feel not good enough, bring your low-mood into meetings and environments when you need a positive outlook. When I was stressed out I'd always have extra muscle aches, and the more muscle aches I had the more stressed I was.
  

• When you do take time off of work (even just evenings and weekends) you’re often thinking about or continuing with work even though you’re not in the office or paid for it - this means your brain never gets a break from doing work, slowing down recovery and creating extra stress. When you're at home your mind should be at home, not back at work. And when you're at work your mind should be on work. Have separation between the two and be present. Working from home does make this more of a challenge, as does constant access to work emails
  

• You’re lacking energy, focus and you’re detached from other people either at home or at work. Now, if you’ve got a partner and kids this is a sure-fire way to be an arsehole to the ones who matter to you most. When you’ve got trouble at home then that will spill over into work time. A nasty double edged sword of pressure coming from 2 fairly major directions in your life. this is particularly important to me - family and family time are high up on my priority list, i don't want work to take over my life, and i also don't want what's going on at work to affect how I am at home. Having rules about what you do at home is vital, having working and non-working hours is possible and realistic. Just because everyone else does it doesn't mean you have to aswell. Is the only reason you're doing it because everyone else is? Your performance may actually increase when you separate the two, have that break from work and go in the next day refreshed.
  

• You’re BUSY all the time - there is no let up, constantly got one more thing to do, then the next thing crops up, then the next thing. A never-ending cycle of STUFF. Of course you’re busy if you’re successful right? How many really successful people do you know? What do they do on a daily basis? I bet they aren’t BUSY in the same way that most people consider being busy.
  

• You feel like you’re less successful than you used to be - 3 or 4 years ago, things were going great, climbing the promotional ladder, earning more money, making more sales, great social life. Now though, COVID aside, your social life sucks, you don’t want to be around people, and you kind of hate everyone. Even though your money is ok you’re disappointed with your results. Having been in the workplace, achieving success quite easily to begin with, then with it stalling was hugely frustrating, I was angry with the world, tired, pissed off and attempted to cure it all with drinking heavily on the weekends, not looking after myself, staring at the TV at night and blaming everyone else for it.

I didn't realise I was burnt out at the time, but looking back I had all the signs. However, it all came from not looking after myself properly, not having the right amount or right kind of rest, mentally approaching things from the wrong perspective. When you make yourself, rather than anyone or anything else, a priority in your life, that's when things will get easier.

Look at what things in your life are serving you and what things are not. It could be a bumpy road, it might negatively effect some relationships, it might positively effect relationships - you'll have to cross that bridge when you come to it. One thing looking after your own physical and mental health will do though - it will make you HAPPIER. and when you're happier you'll get more of the things in life that you want and fewer of the things that you don't want. There will still be problems, but you'll navigate them with greater ease.

Book a call and find out if we can work together to enhance your health, happiness and healing. https://calendly.com/retrainpain/30min