Several of my clients have had or still experience burnout. If you've ever experienced it, you'll know it's no fun at all. It can suck the life right out of you. And it has a way of sneaking up on you. It doesn't even matter whether you have a full-time job or whether you're retired. Burnout can happen to anyone when you are consumed by work and productivity.
Ask yourself: Are you having fun and enjoying life? Or is life a complete drag, and it's difficult putting one foot in front of the other?
The possibility exists that you could be experiencing depression, in which case you will want to see your physician and follow through on her or his advice.
However, if you find your own needs are coming in last all the time—and you're completely focused on achieving and getting things done, you might be looking at burnout. Oddly enough, when you stop and take time to refresh and rejuvenate, the work you were so worried about completing still gets done—and often, it's done better.
You don't expect your car to run on empty. Why should you? In her book Fried: Why You Burn Out and How to Revive, Joan Borysenko describes her own experience with burnout and says, "... when burnout takes over, values get shoved aside so that you can spend every minute working. Priorities shift from living a balanced life to chasing an unobtainable moving target." She adds that "what was once vital to you no longer matters as much. Work has swallowed your life whole." She offers ideas to deal with burnout—ways to set limits and to seek more of what you want.
If you deal with burnout and want to talk about it, please contact me for a complimentary strategy session.
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