Are you stuck in a Burnout Cycle?
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Burnout is a common issue that many people face in their personal and professional lives, and, well, it’s what I do! It know that burnout can leave you feeling exhausted, unmotivated, and unfulfilled, but perhaps some of the most common questions I get are about if you’re ever actually able to recover form burnout.
Inevitable, I answer by talking about a burnout cycle.
So, what is a burnout cycle? A burnout cycle refers to a repeating pattern of burnout that I often see in high-achievers. What does this cycle look like? Typically in high-achievers, I see a cycle of burning out, breaking down, and then bouncing back and, for most high-achievers who are caught in a burnout cycle, this cycle recurs on some sort of predictable basis—perhaps every quarter or every 6 months.
So, the first thing I recommend people ask themselves is this: do you see that your burnout recurs in any sort of predictable, cyclical basis? How often does it recur? This tells us how urgently we need to act and how imminently that burnout might recur in your life again.
Next, I have a lot of people who ask if burnout if this burnout cycle is normal or if it’s a problem. Here’s the thing. Yes, being burned out is a problem. Chronic stress has some pretty massive impacts on our bodies and if you’ve been going through a pattern of burnout for a while, your body is probably begging for a reprieve. If it normal, though? Yes. I see this pattern happen a lot with high-achievers in particular because our lifestyles are conducive to creating burnout. Our mindsets are conducive to creating burnout. For some high-achievers, if they’re not aware of this likelihood, burnout is inevitable.
So, you might be asking then, can you ever get out of a burnout cycle? The good news is that yes absolute can! It won’t necessarily be easy, but it’s possible. Getting out of a burnout cycle requires getting exceptionally self-aware, self-compassionate, and ultimately incredibly honest with yourself about what mindsets, habits, and behaviors you’re engaging in that might be contributing to burnout in your life. A great exercise is to do a burnout inventory—essentially creating a list of the sources of burnout in your life. It’s only through this awareness that we can make changes and once we do, the burnout cycle can be broken!
So, that’s it!
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