Dealing with Burnout: A Massachusetts Anxiety Counselor gives a Self-Assessment for How to Stop Burning Yourself Out
Burnout on its own is hard enough to get through. Cycles of burnout are even more demoralizing. What can you do to stop burning yourself out?
I’m Bronwyn, a Massachusetts counselor for anxiety based in Madison, WI. I’ve been interviewed about how to beat burnout at work. I’ve talked previously about two simple daily reflection questions as your first step in burnout treatment. I’ve also discussed what causes burnout, how to prevent burnout, and steps in burnout recovery.
What I’ll be covering today is a plan for ongoing burnout assessment. Once you get this set up, it’s easier to notice your burnout signs and move toward recovery faster.
How do I stop burning myself out?
There are three steps in creating your self-assessment to deal with burnout:
Determine your early warning signs and distress signals
Articulate what you want to feel instead of burnout
Plan out when and how often you will do a self-assessment
The good news is, once you have steps 1-3 complete, all you have to do is keep implementing step three ongoing. The idea is that over time, you won’t need to spend as much time assessing or recovering. The goal is that this process will help you listen to yourself better. And listening to yourself helps you stop burnout.
Dealing with Burnout Step #1: Determine your early warning signs of burnout
Knowing what your own warning signs of burnout are starts with learning the general signs of burnout. Burnout can show up in many ways, and everyone has their own signs. Some common symptoms of burnout include irritation, helplessness, pessimism, and emptiness. You might find yourself eating more sweets, dreading going to work or flaking out on your friends.
What do you experience when you’re burned out?
What are your early warning signs?
Take a minute to reflect and write them down. If you want more examples of what you might experience during burnout to help with your list of your own distress signals, I’ve written previously in more detail about the signs of burnout.
Why keep a list of your signs of burnout? For your ongoing burnout self assessment, you want to know what you’re looking for. The goal is to catch your burnout signs earlier rather than later. Let’s say that one of your early warning signs is that you start watching tv instead of spending time with friends. Right now you might not notice things are headed south until you’ve canceled plans for months. Once you know this is one of your early burnout signs, you can keep an eye out for it. The next time you cancel seeing your friends, you’ll be more likely to note it as a potential burnout warning sign and take action to support yourself.
Dealing with Burnout Step #2: Articulate what you want to feel instead
Once you’ve gotten a list of the ways you don’t want to feel (your burnout feelings), it’s time to put together a list of the ways you do want to feel. Sometimes we might not feel a lot of burnout symptoms, but we may be lacking in the joy we want to feel. That can also be a sign that we are on the edge of burnout.
What are you not getting enough of when you’re burned out?
It might be enthusiasm, excitement, purpose, or balance. What do you want to feel instead of helpless and irritated? If you’d like more ideas in fleshing this out, you can read more about the opposite of burnout here.
Now you have a list of your early warning signs of burnout and the ways that you want to feel instead of burned out. Congratulations! You’re half-way to finishing your burnout self assessment. The next step is figuring out how often to get a finger on the pulse of how close to burnout you are.
Dealing with Burnout Step #3: Plan when and how you will do your burnout self assessment
You’ve got a lot of choice around when and how you do your self assessment for burnout. The frequency of checking in with yourself can range anywhere from once a day to once every six months. You know yourself best, and you can tweak it as you go along.
I recommend the frequency of your check-ins match the intensity of your burnout. If you have been struggling with burnout for a long time, consider check ins every day or week. If you’ve done some work on burnout recovery, try for something closer to twice a year.
How do you want to conduct your self assessment?
I recommend linking it to an existing task. That way you’re not trying to create the wheel on a habit. Some people like to put a post it note on the bathroom mirror. They can run through their burnout signs and the ways they want to feel every morning or night while they’re brushing their teeth. Other people like to find it helpful to talk it over with a friend on a weekly walk.
If you are already meeting with a life coach, therapist, or spiritual director, you can bring your burnout assessment into your sessions. If you aren’t already meeting for 1:1 support and have EAP benefits from your job, you can schedule an appointment with a life coach or therapist periodically to sit down and check in with yourself.
Whatever you choose, know that it won’t be perfect and that you can always change it as needed.
Dealing with Burnout Next Steps: Make a burnout recovery plan
If your burnout assessment is giving off alarm bells, then it’s time to employ your burnout recovery plan. I go through the three steps of burnout recovery here. Check out that post to put together your own burnout recovery plan. It will include finding a way to process your emotions, accessing areas of support, and doing activities that restore yourself.
Although it’s not possible to never feel irritated again, it is possible to stop burning yourself out. Be patient with yourself and give yourself lots of kudos for addressing it!
About the Author
I’m an anxiety counselor who loves to support women in dealing with burnout.
Owner and founder of Bronwyn Shiffer Psychotherapy, I’m based in Madison, WI. I offer online therapy in Boston and throughout Massachusetts, virtual therapy in Washington, DC, and telehealth therapy in Wisconsin.
In addition to anxiety counseling, I also offer depression therapy and counseling for Highly Sensitive people.