Stress Awareness Month: Tips for When You’re Experiencing Burnout

April is Stress Awareness Month! This is a great time to acknowledge the impact that stress has on our mental health. One of the most concerning (and increasingly common) outcomes of experiencing prolonged stress is burnout. Burnout is characterized by a chronic lack of energy or exhaustion, perpetual feelings of negativism or cynicism, and resulting poor performance. This tends to happen when we become emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted from overexerting and experiencing prolonged stress. Burnout significantly affects many individuals, especially those who hold challenging jobs with long hours or arduous work. Many times, burnout can come unexpectedly or a person may become aware of it only after they are deeply entrenched in its symptoms. In this blog post, I will explore where burnout comes from, its warning signs, and offer some useful strategies for addressing and preventing it.

Where Does Burnout Come From?

Burnout does not occur overnight. Instead, it is usually the result of prolonged exposure to stress. People who work in environments that demand high performance and are emotionally taxing are particularly vulnerable. Workplace stress is a major contributor to burnout, such as high workloads, unrealistic expectations, lack of control over tasks, inadequate support, and an imbalance between work demands and monetary reward. Other situations, such as being a parent, can also lead to burnout. The emotional labor involved in childbearing can be just as, if not even more, exhausting over time. Students as well are at a high risk of burnout due to academic pressures, high expectations, intense workloads, and a lack of personal time.

Mental health can also exacerbate or lead to burnout. For example, people who struggle with perfectionism, workaholism, or lack of boundaries can see higher rates of burnout. People who hold themselves to unattainable standards or take on excessive responsibilities can often bring on experiences of chronic self-imposed pressure. This is why boundaries and proper work-life balance are crucial, as we’re not meant to be constantly productive and always working. “Work hard, play hard” is more than a catchy line, it’s a motto for sustainability. Rest is imperative in our lives and is one of the protective factors against burnout, as we’ll go into later in this blog.

Signs of Burnout

Burnout can manifest in different ways and affect anything from emotions, to cognitive functioning, to behaviors, to even your physical health. Emotionally, people experiencing burnout often feel drained, overwhelmed, and unable to cope with everyday tasks. It could be that an easy task like answering emails may now take them double the time to do. People also often experience a decrease in motivation, which can lead to cynicism and even resentment if built up for long enough. This reduction in productivity can also lead to emotional symptoms like increased irritability, frustration, and emotional outbursts as stress accumulates.

Cognitively, people can experience difficulties such as problems with concentration, increasingly “zoning out,” and trouble remembering things. All of this compounds to reduce overall effectiveness in work and in life. This oftentimes creates a vicious cycle where the decrease in productivity exacerbates chronic stress, as deadlines may get nearer or work begins to further pile on. This cycle can lead people experiencing burnout to feeling trapped in their condition, not knowing how to change it.

Burnout can also lead to physical complications as well, such as headaches, gastrointestinal issues, and a decreased immune system. Chronic, significant stress can sometimes lead people to get physically sick due to a weakening of their immune system! Plus, burnout can affect people’s sleep patterns. For example, people experiencing burnout can become restless, with some opting to stay up in order to prolong having to come into work. Others may sleep excessively as a form of escape from stress and fatigue.

Burnout also affects one’s social dynamics. People experiencing burnout may withdraw from social groups and isolate more. Some may even become apathetic, making it difficult to connect and build a relationship on common interests.

Recovery Strategies for Burnout

If you are recognizing signs of burnout in yourself or someone you know, it is important to be proactive in recovery as burnout becomes significantly more difficult to treat the more it progresses! Here are a few strategies you can use to mitigate burnout.

Validate How You Feel

While this may not solve the issue, it is important to validate and acknowledge that you feel burned out. Recognizing that you are experiencing something real that is shared amongst many individuals in society allows you to approach the situation without self-blame and criticization. Burnout is a real and valid response to chronic stress! Just as with all mental health challenges, it is difficult to move forward without first accepting where you are.

Figure Out Your Stressors

What’s really eating at you and causing you to burn out? Is it your work-life balance? Is it the kind of work you’re doing? It may be helpful to really pinpoint what may be at the root of your burnout. If you’re noticing the burnout is related to your employment, what facets of your job could you change that would result in a less stressful situation for you? Do you need more PTO? Do you want a shift in your day-to-day responsibilities? It’s important to have a grasp of what it is that is causing the burnout so that you can move on to problem solving.

Put Distance Between You and Your Stressors

This will look different depending on what your stressors are. Consider working within your power to create distance between you and what is causing you stress. For example, distance could mean asking your supervisor for a mental health day. If the stressors are related to raising children, perhaps ask your partner to take on increased responsibilities so that you can get a break. Consider balancing what’s feasible with what would provide you with the most relief. Sometimes, quitting a job may be the best answer if that’s feasible for you. For others, incorporating time to rest from work every day may be enough.

Another way of looking at this is setting boundaries. Set healthy boundaries between you and your stressors. For example, it can be helpful to set a mental boundary that helps you leave work at work. You can tie this boundary to a behavior; for example, my cue to stop thinking about work is when I take my shoes off at home. If you work from home, it can be helpful to find other ways to set and enforce boundaries. For instance, your boundary may be that you don’t work in your bedroom. This helps your brain delineate between what is and is not a space for work. It may also be helpful to set boundaries in relationships. For example, you might want to turn off your phone at night as you wind down for bed and communicate that you will reply to messages in the morning.

Practice Self-Care

It is especially crucial when experiencing burnout to prioritize proper self-care. This includes ensuring that you receive adequate rest, eating nutritious meals, and engaging in movement. It can be easy to let your health and self-care practices fall to the wayside when experiencing burnout. However, this can exacerbate symptoms and lead to additional challenges that keep you stuck. When in doubt, make sure your basic needs are met!

Another part of self-care is engaging in coping skills for self-regulation when you’re feeling the symptoms of burnout. There are many stress management skills to choose from, such as box breathing, yoga, or journaling. You may even use skills from different therapy modalities, such as Calm, Safe Space from EMDR. Practicing mindfulness meditation can also be helpful to alleviate symptoms of burnout. Here are a few methods below:

Body scan meditation: Lie on your back with your legs extended and arms at your sides, palms facing up. Focus your attention slowly and deliberately on each part of your body, in order, from toe to head or head to toe. Be aware of any sensations, emotions or thoughts associated with each part of your body.
Sitting meditation: Sit comfortably with your back straight, feet flat on the floor and hands in your lap. Breathing through your nose, focus on your breath moving in and out of your body. If physical sensations or thoughts interrupt your meditation, note the experience and then return your focus to your breath.
Walking meditation: Find a quiet place 10 to 20 feet in length, and begin to walk slowly. Focus on the experience of walking, being aware of the sensations of standing and the subtle movements that keep your balance. When you reach the end of your path, turn and continue walking, maintaining awareness of your sensations.

Ask for Help

You don’t have to go through burnout alone. Asking your social supports–friends, family, partner–for extra emotional support or assistance during this time can be greatly restorative! You can ask your loved ones to help you take some responsibilities off your plate. If your job is burning you out, consider reaching out to your supervisor to ask for increased support for your role. You may even ask if there’s any leniency in deadlines or if you’re able to take some time off. If burnout is becoming an overwhelming issue, there is nothing wrong with seeking professional help from a mental health provider.

Your “No” is Sacred

Similarly to the discussion around boundaries earlier, learn to say “no” and understand that your “no” is sacred! A part of burnout may be contributed to overexerting. This could be in work, in relationships, or with life responsibilities. A key to avoid burnout in the future is to know your limit for what you can handle, and practice getting comfortable with saying “no” to something that may cause you to overexert yourself. We all have our unique capacities as human beings, and we have to honor that. As much as we would like to please everyone around us or be productivity machines, it is important to realize that we can only do so much – and that’s okay!

Honoring your capacity may look like saying no to working overtime, setting limits on work hours, prioritizing your needs above other people’s wants, and limiting digital connectivity. For example, if you’re exhausted and your friend asks you to join them for dinner, it is okay to honor your capacity and politely decline until you feel energized enough to do it.

Have Compassion for Yourself

While these suggestions are individual lifestyle changes that you can implement, the truth is that burnout is a systemic, collective issue. Many jobs are stressful and may not provide employees with proper work-life balance conducive to healthy mental and emotional functioning. This may be especially true when you work in difficult industries such as policing, the public sector, mental healthcare, or within social welfare. When your work requires you to be exposed to difficult phenomena regularly, it can be quite common to burn out. While the above suggestions can help, an effective strategy to mitigate burnout requires systems and organizations to also implement sustainable policies that promote healthy well-being for employees. The same can be said for difficult positions like being a parent. It can be very challenging to raise a child, and burnout is quite common if you have to juggle parental responsibilities with other life obligations.

Have compassion for yourself if you are healing from burnout. It is a common phenomenon that affects many people; it is not a flaw within yourself!

You Can Do This!

Burnout can be overwhelming and difficult to go through, yet there are steps you can take to heal from it and protect yourself in the future. The worst thing you can do is do nothing, as burnout symptoms become more serious and difficult to remedy the more the condition progresses. By understanding the origins, warning signs, and recovery strategies for burnout, it is possible and doable to cultivate a healthier relationship with stress! This Stress Awareness Month, take time to assess your current well-being and see if any of the suggestions mentioned can help you decrease your stress levels.

And remember, if you or someone you know is severely struggling with burnout, there is always professional support available to help you navigate the journey toward recovery and balance.

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Calvin HuiApril 12, 2025