Mindfully Recharged with Mariana Thomas

Recognizing The Signs of Burnout

July 01, 2021 Mariana Thomas Season 3 Episode 29
Mindfully Recharged with Mariana Thomas
Recognizing The Signs of Burnout
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode, I talked about how to recognize the signs of burnout. I have experienced it so much in my life that I felt like I should share the common signs you should watch out for to know if you are actually in a state of burnout. These are often ignored by many, but it's important to be aware so that it can help you to be more mindful and find ways to prevent burnout from happening. I have discussed 6 of the usual signs I have encountered, and if you are experiencing these things too, know that I am here to help.

Don't forget to download your FREE GUIDE to Mindful and Energetic Living here, and subscribe to this podcast!

See you in Episode 30!

———
Buzzsprout podcast link: http://mindfullyrecharged.marianathomas.com/

Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/mindfully-recharged-with-mariana-thomas/id1540285007

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3b1IfgnP3uCpEFOPHzlACN?si=lhViiwSbRVC7BE7CxpbPxw

Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfully-Recharged-with-Mariana-Thomas/dp/B08JJQZ792/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mindfully+recharged&qid=1605818730&sr=8-1

Visit my Website and subscribe to my mailing list!
 https://www.marianathomas.com/

7 Days of Healthy Habits Workbook
https://www.marianathomas.com/courses
 
Follow me on Instagram!

https://instagram.com/the_real_mariana_thomas?r=nametag




Support the show

Keep in touch! Connect with me through the following links, whichever is best for you:

Website
Subscribe
Instagram
Facebook
Support

Mariana  0:00  

Welcome back friends, another great short and sweet episode for you. This is your host, Mariana Thomas. Welcome. Welcome to the Mindfully Recharged podcast. In today's episode, let's talk about how to recognize the signs of burnout. This is a great topic and a topic close to my heart. So stay tuned and keep listening.


Intro Speaker  0:33  

Welcome to Mindfully Recharged with Mariana Thomas. In this podcast, Mariana brings you mindful conversations and people that will develop and recharge you from the inside out so that you can increase productivity in your personal and professional life. This is Mindfully Recharged. 


Mariana  0:54  

Welcome back, friends. In today's episode, I'm going to talk to you about recognizing the signs of burnout. The inspiration for this episode comes from me, your host, Mariana Thomas, from the Mindfully Recharged podcast, the one that you are listening to right now. Yes, burnout, so close to my heart. You know, when I was in my corporate America job for 12 years, that's what happened to me, I burnt out down to the ground. And I may not recognize the signs until it was a little too late. So today's episode is about recognizing those signs. Okay, recognizing those signs. That is so important. I believe that this is my calling now - to help those out there in the world, especially if you have a nine to five job, or even if you are an entrepreneur working really, really hard, because you want to accomplish your goals, you want to get to the top. And that is okay, that's good. You want to be number one in whatever you do. And that was me, I was there pushing for the goal. And I got the goal. But when I got there, I was so exhausted, I was so tired. That I didn’t have the energy to even grab the goal that I had just worked so hard for. And it wasn’t until those signs started to show up in my life, and it was a  little too late to be in a position where I could take a bit of a step back and recognize those who say, “Okay, I can continue to do this more mindfully". Well, for me, I got to the point where I just needed to step out completely, to mindfully recharge myself again, and recognize that what I was doing was not the way I wanted to live my life. And I can tell you now that I feel like I have a Ph.D. in burnout. I have a Ph.D. in how to recognize the signs and what to do, not only because I had this experience. I'm living this, you know, day by day, but also, I have been in the health and wellness world and that's what I have been doing as work. And I've been in the market basically since I was 16 years old, I work with health and wellness, I gave health and wellness. And my personal growth journey has equipped me to recognize the signs and help people not get burnt out and put themselves first before they get there. 


4:47

So the first sign that I want you to look for in burnout is when you start reducing performance and productivity. You know, and it's not that it becomes less important to you, it’s just that you don't have the energy to do it. You may have the desire within you, and you still want to be number one, you still want to run and you still want to win. But you just don't have the energy. And when we start reducing performance and productivity, it’s because our creative juices are not as aligned anymore. They are not lining up, they are not coming to us anymore because you are so tired that you didn’t realize that you were. It just started showing up in your numbers maybe, or it started showing up in how many people are telling you “Oh, you're so good. What happened to you? What happened last month, that you didn’t perform as well as the month before?” But you're still trying, and you're still winning. But in that win, there is pain, there is burnout inside. And you keep asking yourself, “Can I do this next month? Can I do this in three months? Can I do this in nine months?” But no one knows that you're asking yourself that question. But it is showing up in your productivity. That's the first sign.


7:00

The second one is when you become anxious. So anxiety, for me, because I've worked in a performance environment, the department or the region that I was running, has to perform. So the first of the month - I was anxious. And the last day of the month - I was even more anxious. So inside it was like, from the top to the bottom and in between. And sometimes you don't recognize that you are when you're thinking “Oh, I'm just concerned and just worried about this thing and that thing.”, but inside it is what's happening, slowly it’s cooking on the inside until one day is going to truly show up and scare the heck out of you. It’s going to be like *poof*. That is exactly what I'm gonna do. I’m so passionate about this topic. I can talk about it forever. I know what it feels like. Just to cook yourself into burnout, slowly. Anxiety is the second sign on my list. 


8:36

Detachment. Detachment is the third. When you start feeling like “I don't know if I want to go in today. I don't know if it is so important.” Even though you know it is inside of you, you still had the desire but you start to detach from it. You're still performing, you're still doing the thing, you're on autopilot almost but you start to detach. You know, when you start becoming numb in a relationship? So imagine that this is your husband or your boyfriend and they did something to you that wasn't too nice that day and you just kind of become a little quiet and you don't want to talk to them. That's the relationship with burnout. You detach. You detach from it. And the third one is the feeling of listless. Yeah, I had all these things to do on my list. But which one did I attack first? Which one was going to be taken care of first? There's so much to do, so many things to accomplish. Which one did you get to do? Maybe none, maybe none because the list is too long, that it becomes listless for you.


10:32  

The next one is your low mood. You know, it's almost like that mood where you are always in the mood? You know, when you were a nice person, you were very happy and everyone will come to you? And your good attitude, your mood starts to change. You kind of become a little defensive, you always have that wall right there, or your gloves in your hands, because you ready to punch someone (in a good way, not really, or literally). But you just got a heads up, right? And the low mood can go in different directions, the mood when you don't have the energy or the mood where you're just so tired and exhausted, that you're in a bad mood. I was there, I can tell you, they can go either way, the low mood when you don't want to do anything because you're too tired or too exhausted that you don't want to even do anything on the weekend. When your friends call, like, “Hey, you want to do this?”, I'm like, “Can we go another day or another week? I’m too busy.” You're always busy. You're always in a different mood, but fun. 


12:13

And the next one is difficulty concentrating. When you are burned out, you are overwhelmed. And overwhelm means that a lot is going on in your mind. And in your thinking, you're thinking about a lot of things. So you can’t really concentrate and produce as much as you used to because you're too busy concentrating or trying to concentrate on something. So productivity starts to go down. And that, my friends, is not a good thing. Because productivity is not just about numbers. Productivity is about the things that you got to do for yourself as well. How productive was I with my personal routine? Maybe I wasn't because I was not in the mood. Which is another point, right, to do the things that I needed to do. 


13:29

And the next point is creativity. Your creativity is kind of lacking, you know, you've done so much to keep going and to keep pleasing that you don't have your creative juices anymore to create more than what you used to. So your creativity is lacking when you are in this state of burnout. So start recognizing that.


14:15

And the last one is fatigue. Oh, was I there. Yes. Because your adrenals are being compromised because you are too tired. So fatigue is one of the signals of burnout. Are you feeling fatigued at the end of the day? And not only that, my friends, I was feeling fatigued in the morning. I was maybe a little, just getting to energize in the morning, and getting ready to go with my day. But inside, I was like, “Maybe I need to sleep enough.” Because I have worked so many hours. And I was going to be so late because I had to do the things I needed to do. Until I got home, I did not sleep enough hours so I was fatigued in the morning. And guess what? It didn’t matter because I needed to accomplish something even when I was in a state of burnout. Those are your signs of burnout according to me. This is the list that I came up with because when I was there at that stage, I didn’t know. I was just feeling different things, but I didn't really know what was happening. It was so devastating. 


16:08

So let me repeat those to you real quick:


  • Productivity reduces and your performance reduces, that's one. 
  • You become more anxious. 
  • You detach, your feelings are listless, there are no feelings.
  • Your mood changes, it can go either way. It can go low, it can go defensive. 
  • You can’t really concentrate. 
  • Your creativity suffers and you become very, very fatigued. 


Those are the signs of burnout. So when you start feeling this way or any of these signs appear in your life, whether you are maybe working a nine to five or you have your own business, or you work for yourself, or you are a stay-at-home-mom, it doesn’t matter what state you are, what your situation is. If you feel any of these things, please, I'm begging you to pay attention. I'm begging you to pay attention. Because one of these things is a sign of burnout or something is up. Okay? This is not a not-so-fun episode but it's a nice episode that I have to share with you because I have a Ph.D. in burnout. And I have to share with you my experience and what I have learned and how I can help. How I can help those that are in the way of getting there, or already there. So I hope that this added value to you. And so please share this episode with your friends, with your families, and watch out for symptoms that may be burnout. Have a beautiful day, friends, and mindfully recharge your life. See you in the next episode. 


Closing 18:54

Thank you for listening, everyone. And don't forget to go to the show notes and click to download your free Mindful and Energetic Living Guide. Also, don't forget to share this podcast with your friends, families, and everyone out there. I want to get this out there to everyone. So, thank you for your support, and I'll see you next week.