Wondering if you are slipping into a burnout? – Your body will tell you. Here are the 7 phases you will go through if you don’t act now.
Burnout is basically the result of going against who you are for too long. Being the ball in your life instead of the player. The symptoms are not your body and mind colluding against you, it’s them saying:
❌ “Stop and listen, you have been ignoring us for too long, this is an intervention.”
Start listening and the symptoms will reverse. Keep going down the wrong path and they will get worse.
Why am I sharing this? – So, you can act in phase one or two, instead of ticking off all 7 like me.
❌ The cause: Not listening and knowing who you are, so others (boss, colleague, bad partner,…) will fill this in for you.
✅ The cure: Listening and finding out who you are, so you take control over your own life.
The phases (note that they all add up to each other):
1. Cranky, tired, lack of focus and more stressed or emotional than usual
2. Pressure on your chest, harder time breathing steady, sleeping a lot or not at all due to heavy nightmares
3. Getting the feeling that you are having a heart attack
4. Eyesight decreases, skin rashes, ringing ears, muscles aches, crying at random moments,…
5. Racing random irrational thoughts at 200km/h, non-stop, they start first thing when you wake up
6. Having small panic attacks that give this warm glow in your ears and back of your head like you just noticed you forgot your wallet in the store
7. Full out panic attacks where you think you are going completely mental combined with irrational fears
Phase 1 & 2 are the hardest to pinpoint. Are you just tired and stressed from too much work or is there more going on? Whatever the case, start the soul searching work in that phase no matter what.
If you recognize yourself being in a phase. Take comfort that you are not alone. You are not going crazy and if you start listening, your body and mind will reward you. ❤️