BURN OUT?

For your health’s sake take the 10 point test.  Answer YES or NO to the following questions:

1) Have you reached the stage where you can no longer distinguish between what is a problem and what is a catastrophe?

2) Have you found you are almost unable to stop working – even minor tasks have become critically important?

3) Have you become more intolerant or even aggressive lately?

4) Have you become more resentful?

5) Have you become more cynical or even depressed?

6) Are you taking these attitudes home with you every day and your family is experiencing this negative spillover each day from you?

7) Has your level of perfectionism increased to an obsessive state?

8) Are your close relationships deteriorating?

9) Are you sleeping less than usual?

10) Are you becoming addicted to something?

If you scored a YES on 7 or more of these questions you need to reevaluate your current situation. Whatever you are bringing upon yourself is not good.

There is no question that we are living in a super stressful world. Financial stress, political turmoil, health issues, family issues, relationship issues combined with the fact we are now virtually on a 24-hour call basis because of our ever present cellphones and computers.

We seem to be working harder without seeing much result.

“Gray headed” divorces are increasing rapidly and younger people seem to have very temporary relationships.

Society as we know it seems to be disintegrating and our stresses are just piling up.

Even if one catches a cold, we can’t seem to shake it off because our immune levels are so low from our constant fight against stress.

So the question is, what can we do about it?

The first step is to clearly understand the fact that that our environment has changed radically from even ten years ago.

Once we have internalized that our environment has changed, we can then address how we plan to cope in what is new to many of us.

In a way it’s like moving from the UK to the US.  The rules of the road and just about everything is different so we have to adapt to our new environment.

In the world of today we may have to devise a complete set of brand new rules to assist us to cope better in what is basically a new way of life.  If you are suffering from burnout, some things that have been found to be helpful are:

Take a break from your environment. If you can, take a vacation.  Go away somewhere where you can get in touch with your old self.  A few days away is an absolute minimum.  If you are able to make the break for a longer period of time, that is even better.   

From now on get involved in daily strenuous physical exercise.  Work up a good sweat.  Get the required amount of sleep your body needs.  It’s a good time to talk to your health practitioner.  You may be deficient in something.  Have your diet checked out to determine whether the food you are consuming is what you really need.

Develop a non–business related hobby or interest, allocate a fixed amount of time to this interest and do it regularly. You need this to take your mind off other issues.

Consider a device-free time, such as shortly before dinner, or just thereafter.

Plan for a quiet period every day, preferably before you go to bed

If this does not help you, take a hard look at your job.  Can it be restructured or is it time to change?