Knowing how to overcome burnout is important to your professional life. And the job from home burnout is a unique monster type.
Overspreading yourself at work can lead to symptoms of burnout, but it’s even more difficult to get away when working from home.
When your office is only a few steps away, it is easy for your life to bleed into your career, making your work comprehensive and right and overwhelming.
Work from home professionals must pay special attention to protect their well-being and save them from work-centric beings.
If you are experiencing professional burnout, know you are not alone. In fact, the study reported that 52% of respondents experienced burnout, with high reports aimed at remote employees.
Luckily there are ways to get away with these statistics.
Today we explore ways to overcome burnout when working from home with warning signs, risk assessments and steps to achieve a healthier professional life.
Signs of burnout in the workplace
Knowing warning signs of burnout is important and gives you the opportunity to deal with symptoms before reaching the crash point.
The physical symptoms of workplace burnout include:
- Persistent headache
- Lower productivity
- Chronic fatigue
- Frequent illnesses
- Abdominal pain and GI problems
- Lack of appetite
- Lack of sleep
- Substance use
Mental symptoms can become even more ominous, as shown below:
- Feeling poor
- Lack of motivation
- Increased irony
- A permanent desire to stop
- Emotional fatigue
- Loneliness, isolation, feeling of isolation
- Procrastination
- Powerless
You probably won’t experience all of these symptoms. However, some symptoms of burnout can turn into worrying health concerns.
The risk of work-related stress
Chronic stress is extremely harmful to your body and mental health.
According to the World Health Organization, chronic stress can exacerbate existing medical conditions such as anxiety and depression.
Beyond that, it can have a long-term impact on your physical health:
- Chronic Pain: Chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulders, neck and head
- Respiratory health: Asthma attack, hyperventilation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Heart Health: Risk of heart disease, hypertension, stroke, heart attack
- Endocrine system: Metabolic disorders such as obesity, diabetes, chronic fatigue, and immune disorders
- Nervous system: Constant battle or flight modes cause physical reactions throughout the body
- Gastrointestinal system: Intestinal disease, acid reflux, heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, stomach pain, gas, nausea, vomiting
- Reproductive health: Irregular menstrual cycle, loss of sexual desire, difficulty in pregnancy, worsening premenstrual symptoms, and more serious symptoms of menopause
How to overcome burnout when working from home
Recognizing symptoms is one thing, but dealing with burnout in the workplace is a completely different beast.
Thankfully, there are simple tools to show you how to overcome burnout. Use this post as a checklist to identify which tools are most beneficial to your well-being.
Take care of your mental health
Mental health is a huge part of the puzzle when it comes to workplace burnout. It is also the place where most physical symptoms occur.
Above all, make sure you take steps to take care of your brain.
1. Recognize stressors
You need to understand them before you tackle stressors.
If you feel stressed throughout the day, try recording it in a notebook. When you can identify a stressor, it is suddenly detached from you.
This will help you avoid future stressors and burnout.
2. Stay calm throughout the day of work
We all get overwhelmed occasionally.
Control your stress levels by prioritizing self-care and being calm.
- Quick Walk
- Call a friend
- Deep breathing
- Time with pets
- Hot bath
- And anything else brings peace to you
3. Seek the help of an expert
Participating in therapy is one of your best tools for the overwhelming. Psychologists provide mental health support and tools to reduce stress in your daily life.
Above all, a good therapist will hold some of that stress for you and remind you that you are not alone.
Improve work-life balance
Work-life balance is the true balance of working from home.
Separating your professional life from your personal life is said to be easier than doing it when you’re always away from your laptop.
Having a clear separation from work can help you lower your stress levels and help you use your personal time better and focus on stress-relieving activities and things that bring joy.
4. Reduce workload
If you don’t have a personal life, it may be time to reduce your workload.
Take on fewer projects, learn to say no, and consider reducing working hours. This extra time will help you rest, recharge and recover your control.
5. Set business hours
Setting boundaries when working from home is extremely important. Keep solid business hours and let your colleagues know when and where it is appropriate to contact you due to work issues.
6. Delete app notifications
If you receive notifications on your mobile phone every day, it can be difficult to resist checking out that latest slack message.
Remove business emails and notifications for programs that may tempt you to work outside of business hours.
Choose a healthy coping mechanism
We all deal with it in a variety of ways. However, unhealthy coping mechanisms can actually lead you to higher levels of stress.
A healthy coping mechanism nourishes your body and mind, helping you live a more balanced lifestyle.
7. Create a dopamine menu
If scrolling through the device is your main stress relief, we highly recommend creating a dopamine menu!
These crafty menus are physically reminders of all the joyful actions, from quick bursts to full-day adventures.
8. Treat body movements like rewards
Choose your favorite physical activity and treat it like a reward rather than an obligation.
Yin Yoga is a great option and is perfect for meditation and mindfulness.
9. Limiting substance use
Many people turn to alcohol and marijuana at moments of great stress. However, excessive announcements can exacerbate unhelpful health concerns in the long run.
Instead, focus on healthy coping mechanisms for true joy.
10. A healthy diet is prioritized
We were all there – trying to hand over a granola bar as lunch on your busy work day.
But making sure you have nutritious meal times is an important part of fueling your mind and body.
11. Set up a sleep plan
If you are lack of sleep, stress symptoms can get much worse. Set up a sleep regimen you follow every night for a better, more restful sleep.
Create an action plan
Motivation can be extremely difficult when experiencing workplace burnout.
Manageable action plans can be applied to pressure and provide small steps to reach your ultimate goal.
12. Take it slowly
There is a lot of information about how to overcome burnout, but trying to do everything at once can’t help you.
Try making some small changes and start. Build from there and create big changes.
13. Follow the schedule
It’s hard to find motivation when you’re experiencing burnout, especially when you’re associated with depression.
Daily routines make each action a habit and make it easier to achieve.
If you need visual aids, write a daily checklist of manageable tasks each morning. There are no tasks that are too small to write down.
Lean on your community
External support is an important part of overcoming burnout and leaning on friends, family, colleagues and other trustworthy confidants.
14. Tell others
Burnout can be very isolated. Furthermore, when working from home, she is separated from the eyes and ears of her colleagues.
It’s always a good idea to tell people you trust about these feelings. Beyond the support they can provide you, it can just feel good to remove it from your breasts.
15. Check out the benefits of the company
Many businesses provide resources to help their employees experience burnout. Check out the options in terms of free counseling, professional support, stressful leave and more.
Please take a break
There is this broad idea that when you are struggling, you just need to “push”. This hustle culture is not only toxic, but it only prolongs the symptoms of burnout.
Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to hit a pause.
16. Take a vacation
A little relaxation can bring wonders to your health.
Take a vacation and take root in your heart. Something is always soothing in nature.
17. Take the sabbatical
There is no shame in requiring longer breaks. If that is possible in your professional situation, consider taking sabbatical and give you the opportunity to heal your overwhelmingness.
Practice self-compassion
When we feel overwhelmed, it’s easy to get down to ourselves. Don’t forget to treat yourself with the understanding that you validate stress, rather than fighting it.
18. Recognize that healing is not linear
Every day is different. Stress goes back and forth. However, each step you heal is a step towards a happier and more fulfilling life.
Think about your position
After all, you may need to consider your professional role. Ask yourself:
- “Is this my job?”
- “Is this workplace toxic?”
- “Is it possible to reduce stress at work in this position?”
19. I will take on another role
You may need to take on a different role to lower your stress levels.
Think about which roles are most compatible with your work style. This is the task you really enjoy, and what part of your career do you want to leave behind?
20. I choose to leave
Sometimes, burnout recovery means moving away from your position completely.
This decision should not be made in a hurry. But if your workplace is detrimental to your well-being, it may be time to seek new, low stress opportunities.
Summary: How to overcome burnout when working from home
Professional burnout is no joke, and it carries a series of mental and physical symptoms that do not encourage a fulfilling lifestyle.
It’s easy to lose your joy with hustles. Take care of yourself and remember to prioritize your happiness over your professional goals.
Your future self will thank you!