Can you tell whether you are burned out or stressed out?
There is an awareness of the tern burnout, but it’s also become a trendy buzzword. Eww.
Since people are so in to diagnosing ourselves based on information from social media, let’s help you distinguish between being burned out or stressed out.
Stress vs. Burnout
As a reminder, a quick definition of burnout is chronic stress over long periods of time from the emotional and physical strains of work.
There are two keywords that make burnout different from just being stressed out: chronic and emotional.
When you are stressed out, the primary damage is physical. You’re experiencing exhaustion and you also know that the stress is temporary.
When you are burned out, the primary damage is emotional. You’re also experiencing exhaustion, but that long-term exhaustion and stress has led to emotional consequences. You’re resentful, combative, or experiencing an emptiness.
Why Is This A Big Deal?
First of all, stress is toxic. Even when it’s for short periods of time.
One of the consequences of burnout becoming a hot topic of conversation is that it’s often misdiagnosed or misused. Many people think that because they are experiencing a temporary bout of stress and exhaustion – they’re sooooooo burned out.
If your stress and exhaustion can be relieved by a weekend away at the beach – you aren’t really burned out.
I want to make this distinction so that you are treating what ails you correctly. Thinking you are burned out causes stress on its own. So many people don’t know how to recover from it and figuring out the right recovery method is frustrating and… stressful.
Even if your stress is temporary, don’t ignore or dismiss it.
Burnout Often Starts By Being Stressed Out
A temporary stressor could turn into a long-term one. It happens all of the time. In fact, it’s why so many people aren’t aware of their burnout until it hits a deep, dark hole that is hard to climb out of.
A difficult project at work at work that was supposed to be over within a few weeks, has now turned into a several month ordeal.
An annoying contractor gets hired as a full-time employee.
That pay raise that was supposed to come through by the end of the month? Well, it’s been 30 days and you still haven’t seen that uptick in your paycheck.
I used to say that “if you are lucky, you will be able to identify the stressor that sent you over the edge in to burnout.” I don’t say that anymore because we tend to ignore significant stressful events and brush them off thinking we won’t allow it to have a major impact, or we just ignore it altogether.
Burnout is still the result of multiple stressors, it’s just that we can sometimes identify something that added more gas to the fire.
If you notice these particular moments – the extended project, more work travel than usual, the addition or subtraction of important team members – note them. Awareness is one of the keys to avoiding or managing your burnout. When you are aware, you can take action and change the course your stress may take.
Let’s take the extended project example. Instead of plowing ahead with the project, stop yourself and consider how you could manage the project differently. You still have an opportunity to be proactive rather than reactive:
- You can consider the impact this unexpected work will have on your schedule and make adjustments.
- You can ask to be reassigned.
- If you are the business owner, you can hire additional resources, find another business to collaborate with, or even send the client to another business that can handle the additional work.
So, Are You Burned Out Or Stressed Out?
Some questions to ask yourself:
- Is my situation and stress temporary?
- Am I experiencing emotional fallout from my stress?
- Am I cynical about my work?
If you answered that you have been experiencing chronic stress, that you are experiencing some emotional fallout like emptiness and cynicism – it’s likely that you’re burned out.
If you answered that the stress is temporary, you’re just tired but not emotionally drained, and you don’t have a bad attitude toward your job – it’s likely that you’re stressed out.
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