Emotional burnout refers to a negative psychological condition characterized by the inability to perform daily tasks and being severely distressed as a result. If you are struggling with workplace stress for a prolonged period, you could be at risk of burnout.
Feeling exhausted
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Usually, our tiredness would disappear after a good night's sleep. Having emotional burnout can make it feel like no amount of relaxation, sleep, or food can relieve your tiredness. Your constant state of exhaustion would eventually result in poor performance at work.
Neglecting self-care
Emotional burnout may affect eating and sleeping patterns. Have you been losing appetite and having trouble sleeping lately? In some severe cases, the person may feel so worn out that they stop exercising, bathing, and grooming. Some people may resort to drinking or smoking excessively to relieve their stress.
Having trouble concentrating
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Studies have shown that burnout can negatively affect your cognitive ability, resulting in difficulty concentrating, retaining information, or making decisions. If you start to find it hard to focus on your work or thinking about a specific question, you are probably experiencing emotional burnout.
Having problems with interpersonal relationships
Burnout causes you to become more temperamental, which can lead to having conflicts with others even at the slightest provocation. Meanwhile, you may also lose interest in communicating with your friends and family members. Although you are physically present, you don’t feel fully engaged with others.
Lack of motivation
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Burnout might be draining your energy and result in a loss of excitement for your work, relationship(s), and other daily activities. There is no motivation to perform the assigned tasks; thus, you may be likely to procrastinate on them or even not complete them on time.
Suffer from negative emotions
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Although we all experience negative emotions sometimes, it is crucial to identify when these become abnormal to you. If you are losing interest in things that you used to enjoy and finding it hard to feel happy, then you may be burned out emotionally. If the situation prolongs, you may feel that everything you do is meaningless and there is no hope in life.
It is important to prevent emotional burnouts at the early stage. If you are showing some of these signs above, maybe it is time to take some rest and recharge yourself!
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