6 Signs You’re Burnt Out, Not Lazy

There’s actually a lot of overlap between laziness and burnout that can make it difficult to differentiate between the two. Burnout is defined as “a negative state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive stress and an inability to cope with it.” To educate ourselves and better understand the nature of burnout, especially when we ourselves are at risk, here are a few tell-tale signs that what you’re experiencing right now isn’t actually laziness, but burnout.

Have you ever wonder about the differences between burnout and depression? Watch this video:

DISCLAIMER This video is for educational purposes and is based on personal opinions. This video is not a substitute for professional advice, but for general guidance. Please do not take this feedback as an attack on your character. This video was meant to be a self-improvement guide for those of you who have been feeling a little stuck. We advise you to always listen to your intuition and always do what is right for you.

Writer: Chloe Avenasa
Script Editor: Rida Batool
Script Manager: Kelly Soong
VO:: Amanda Silvera
Animator: Jonelz Leo ()
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

References:

Korunka, C., Tement, S., Zdrehus, C., & Borza, A. (2010). Burnout: Definition, recognition and prevention approaches. Family & Community Health: The Journal of Health Promotion & Maintenance, 43(3), 311-318.
American Psychological Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 5th Edition. APA Publishing; Washington, DC.
Leiter, M. P., Bakker, A. B., & Maslach, C. (Eds.). (2014). Burnout at work: A psychological perspective. Psychology Press.
Greenglass, E., Fiksenbaum, L., & Burke, R. J. (1996). Components of social support, buffering effects and burnout: Implications for psychological functioning. Anxiety, stress, and coping, 9(3), 185-197.
Cropanzano, R., Rupp, D. E., & Byrne, Z. S. (2003). The relationship of emotional exhaustion to work attitudes, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Applied psychology, 88(1), 160.

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Keep Stress From Ruining Your Health And Happiness

Stress is a part of everyone’s life, but staying stressed out does not have to be. There are always going to be things in your life that you have no control over, but you do have control over your reaction to those things. Being overly stressed not only harms you mentally, it also harms you physically.

One way to reduce your high levels of stress is to read a book. When you read, your mind wanders into a fantasy land, where you are not troubled by the different pressures that will cause you tension. Purchase a mystery or science fiction novel to help how you feel.

Getting plenty of quality sleep will counteract the stress of what ever your daily life brings. It sounds simple enough, but most people fail to get enough basic sleep let alone quality sleep and that is the way your body recovers from your hard day at work, keeping after the children or the million other ways you spend your waking time!

Write down what is bothering you. Writing it down and seeing it on paper, will help to provide some perspective on what it is that is causing you stress. Divide your paper in half and on one side, list the stressors you can change and on the other side, list those that you can not change. Try to let go of the things you can’t change and try to fix the ones that you can change.

A good tip that can help you get your stress down is to start making sure you have enough time to get to places. There’s nothing more stressful than arriving late to work or to an important meeting. Making sure you get to places early or on time can help you keep your stress down.

Ahhh…. Who doesn’t love a hot bath? Soaking in a bath is a great stress reliever. But, we don’t always have time for a hot bath. If you don’t have time for a bath, wash your face or even your hands with some hot water and imagine you are soaking your stresses away.

When it comes to dealing with stress consider meditation. This can be a great way to not only relax your body but also clear your mind of everything that might be causing you stress. Consider buying audio tapes or books to assist you with different ways of meditation.

You should never feel as though your stress is a victimless crime. It is sure to be affecting those people nearest and dearest to you. Even if it doesn’t cause your children to be scared of you or your coworkers to avoid you, there is always one other victim – you.

One great way to deal with stress is to be sure that you are not projecting your stress upon somebody else and taking them down with you. This is important because you need to deal with your own stress yourself and not assert blame on anybody if they are not responsible.

If you live near a pool, an important thing to do for stress control is to swim. Swim a few laps in the cool waters to get your mind off of your troubles and reduce stress. This is also a great form of exercise, which will indirectly help your stress level.

Try to replace the unhealthy habits in your life with more positive and productive ones. Instead of using food to comfort yourself when stressed, exercise the negative energy out. Replacing unhealthy coping techniques with healthier ones, will help your body stay strong, so it is better capable of dealing with the stress of day to day life.

In order to handle large amounts of stress make sure you are adequately rested. Dealing with extreme stress on little or no sleep is very difficult and borderline insane. Those who are poorly rested tend to make bad decisions which can cause more stress, and tend to be more easily irritated.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Learn to appreciate what things are worth stressing out over and what things are better to let go. There are so many things that you can’t control. If you have no control over what is going to happen, or the outcome, then there is no point in stressing out about it.

When you feel like you are not reaching the goals that you set out to hit, go to church. This will help you to learn to appreciate where you are so that you can reduce the mental pressure that you put on yourself. Sometimes, it is important to appreciate the little things in life.

Try to be as humble as possible when you are around the people that you love and your co-workers. The more arrogant you are, the more you will have to live up to the expectations that you create. This will lead to additional stress, which should be avoided in the first place.

Try giving whatever is bothering you a number on a scale from one to ten, where one is a minor bump and ten is the end of the world. You’ll probably find that most of your daily problems are no more than a five. In other words, they’re not worth getting upset about.

Listening to music can be a simple, effective stress-reducing technique. It has been proven that listening to music can decrease your stress levels. However, it must be music that’s soothing to your ears. Pick the type of music that you love because not everyone likes the same types of music. Additionally, soothing music can help your breathing and also relaxes your mind.

If you suffer from chronic stress, one solution might be to look at reducing your caffeine intake. While caffeine can help with productivity, it can also make people jittery and irritable and cause sleep disorders. If you have a lot of caffeine throughout the day, try gradually reducing it to just one or two cups in the morning.

As you can see, there are many positive ways you can deal with your stress. Stress is unavoidable, and you will always have to deal with it, but the better you cope with it, the healthier you will be. Follow these tips, and you will find yourself better able to deal with your stresses.