Burnout And The 5 Stages Of Its Progression

Symptoms of burnout does not show up in your body all of a sudden. Like any other conditions or diseases, its progression is also slow and consists of 5 stages.

Burnout, a commonly used term in the 21st century but what is it all about? There are couple of obvious factors that can cause burnout for instance, working constantly without a break, not taking enough lunch or tea breaks, working overnight without caring much for sleep or slowly becoming a workaholic. These actions can eventually cause you to feel exhausted and burnt out. But there are other less obvious things that also causes burnout and might affect some people more intensely for instance constant emotional, interpersonal and mental stressors along with a hectic work schedule. This can impact your mind and body and eventually result in cynicism, fatigue and reduced productivity.

Symptoms of burnout does not show up in your body all of a sudden. Like any other conditions or diseases, its progression is also slow and consists of 5 stages. The initial stages are not that obvious and you may be unable to understand what is going on with your body and mind. So, it is all the more important to be aware of the stages.

Stage 1 Of Burnout: The Honeymoon

The first stage is called the honeymoon. It comes with no obvious signs of burnout. Your energy level will be high and you will feel excited and passionate about the work or role that you have been assigned to do. You may even want volunteer to work extra hours.

Stage 2 Of Burnout: Onset of Stress

This is when the onset of burnout begins. You will start to notice that your job is taking more time than you expected it to. The feeling of stagnation will slowly set in. You will have good days and bad days. On you bad days, you may feel very stressful, tired, loss of energy and excitement.

Stage 3 Of Burnout: Chronic Stress

This is the stage when burnout becomes more chronic. Some of the main symptoms that you may be facing are increased level of frustration towards everything, always feeling stressed out, your performance and productivity may start to suffer, you may feel powerless and hopeless. The classes sign of chronic burnout is to start criticizing yourself by being too cynical, resentful towards others and apathetic.

Stage 4 Of Burnout: Burnout

This is the stage when you are completely burned out because of your job and other emotional stressors. Your main symptoms will be increased apathy, hopelessness, cynical and fatigue. This stage can feel crippling because you did not address the initial stages of burnout and kept pushing yourself more and more without realising what was happening. Instead of getting better, your symptoms got worse.

Stage 5 Of Burnout: Habitual Burnout

The last stage of burnout is when you get used to being burned out because of work and other issues of your life. This is termed as habitual burnout. The symptoms may be, mental and physical fatigue, sadness and depression.