The Difference between Stress & Burnout: how to Eliminate it

Burnout has been coming up a lot over the last two years. It's like every third or fourth person you speak to seems to be suffering some form of stress or burnout and not just because of this pandemic. It's been around long before this all happened. 

I want to share some stats from a recent Forbes article where studies show burnout is on the rise  over half (52%) of 1500 people surveyed in a 2021 Indeed study proved that it's up 9% from pre COVID times.

53% of millennials were already burnt out pre pandemic and they remain the most effected population with 59% experiencing it today. Let's keep in mind that millennials occupy 35% of the US workforce. However, Gen Zed is now neck and neck at 58% who reported burnout up from 47% since 2020.

This is a topic I'm all too familiar with as I experienced it firsthand for two years, until I finally succumbed to the fact that I was in burnout. By that time, I had serious digestive issues and a whole lot more, but this post isn't about my experience. It's here to help those who may be suffering in it today.

I often coach around this topic, and I've even created a dedicated program to navigate and conquer it. And the very first step that we work through is assessing and understanding what the differences are between stress and burnout. Prolonged stress will lead to burnout. So, if we can catch it in its earlier state there may be a better chance of keeping you out of a full-blown episode. 

Let's start with STRESS. This is a temporary state. That's the key here, temporary. So, when you're experiencing temporary symptoms of what I'm about to list off you can consider that you're in stress or stressful times:

overwhelm 

fatigue

Anxiousness / nervousness

 irritability 

rushed for time. 

You know, there's an end in sight, light at the end of the tunnel, you see it. 

You may be doing the grab and go eating or not eating enough in the day.

You may feel annoyed more often, but you still care about things and you're still hopeful.

A good example of this would be to think of a project at work, or maybe it's the hottest season for your department. The energy is dialed up and you have a ton to deliver. It's likely high pressure, but there's an underlying sense of relief. As you know, there is an end when things will cool down. It's manageable even though it may be somewhat disruptive to your energy, sleep, and mood but only for a period of time,

Now let’s look at BURNOUT. This is when you're experiencing prolonged (another keyword), prolonged stress, which eventually leads to some of these symptoms to watch out for:

feelings of being defeated 

mentally and physically exhausted day in and day out. This includes adrenal fatigue, something that I suffered from. And trust me, you will know when you have it. You simply don't physically recover from a few good nights rest or even vacation. It's an ongoing feeling of depletion in your energy and it just continues to get worse. 

you may experience the fight or flight feeling more often, that adrenaline rush than crash

you’re becoming very negative about things or maybe everything

 you are more reactive in your approach and response to things

you just can't see the light, an end to this feeling of being wiped out

 digestive issues, irritable bowel, or other signs

you tend to get frustrated with things more easily

you just don't seem to care about much or possibly anything

you may feel there is no hope or magic answer to get you back to feeling yourself

 So now being armed with understanding some of the key differences should help with determining what is going on for you and ultimately how to start addressing it. 

The second thing to work on then is to try and get clear on what is causing the stress or burnout. Understanding where it comes from is the best place to start figuring out what you need to begin to eliminate it. We are often vague. So, we’ll say, things like “work is stressing me out or I'm burnt out because of work” or maybe it's family situations. But the truth is those are vague statements. You must really dive deep and really start picking away at things to understand where that burnout is absolutely happening.

 Here are some common things known to cause burnout in the workplace as stated in a MAYOclinic.org article from 2021 :

lack of control in your role

unclear job expectations

dysfunctional workplace dynamics

extremes of activities- so think really monotonous work or absolutely chaotic

 lack of social support.

work life imbalance 

When we're experiencing these, they often lead to a few things that we actually don't catch ourselves doing but, that are really exacerbating burnout.

We may surround ourselves with others experiencing the same feelings and spending countless negative conversations about the discord or unhappiness rather than finding solutions out of it. I call this the “cancer”. When people start spreading and holding onto this negativity it does start spreading around the office.

Someone will have a bad day and then join the conversation and it continues to spread. So, we may try to drown it out or numb it with activities like drinking. Indulging in other things, maybe eating excessively or things that are bad for us indulging in other substances. We may also seclude ourselves from work activities or our own social scene. So, if you see this happening, that's a big sign. It usually means that you don't have bandwidth. That was what happened to me. You don't have bandwidth to really be there and be present.  

Sometimes we work longer hours just to not think about how we're truly feeling because sometimes it provides us with a false sense of productivity. We think well, I'm getting so much done. I may as well keep doing it and I don't feel bad. I feel productive. You might just rely on a little more coffee to get you through it.

When you start recognizing these symptoms, how do you begin to work through it?

We've assessed whether you're in “stress” for a limited time or falling into “burnout”, which is prolonged. You're figuring out where it started, where it's stemming from, what's causing it. The next step is how do you work through it? 

1) Find people who may have experienced it before and ask for help or tips that worked for them. Sometimes it's people who are in it right now, but they've already started to find a way to dig out of it. So, they might have great tips on what’s starting to work for them already. 

2) Depending on where it's stemming from, address it with the people involved and see if there is a solution to support changing the situation and be honest about what needs to happen for this to work for you. The only way to get out of it is to get honest about it.

And finally, number three. Don’t make rash decisions to move on completely until you have understood the true cause. Only then you'll be able to make a move change or whatever you need to and ensure that you won't fall back into the same situation of burnout.

If you can find the cause and fully address it, minimize it, eliminate it then you will be more prepared and resilient moving forward to not have it happen again. 

If you or anyone, you know, is experiencing burnout and not getting the support that you need CHECK OUT my FREE GUIDE on my website. It's called “Bust the Burnout”.  

Thanks again for connecting and know you don't have to work through it on your own!