This article originally appeared on Sunday scaries and was written by Andrea Cordova.
In today’s world where the workday is slowly creeping toward 24 hours and more and more people are working 2 or 3 jobs to stay afloat, it’s easy to get burnt out.
Burn out is severe, ongoing, exhaustion, and it can affect your mental and physical well-being.
But how do you separate burnout from just normal exhaustion, and what do you do to combat it?
Find three major signs of millennial burnout below, along with tips for getting back in the game.
1. Do you keep writing the same tasks on your to-do lists over and over?
If you’re putting things off for days or even months, you’re probably avoiding them because you just have too much going on.
What should you do? Prioritize.
Do the most important things first instead of putting them off by doing busywork, and cut the work you don’t need to be doing out entirely. By focusing on what’s actually important you’ll be able to pare down the things you’re doing out of obligation, giving you more energy to do a good job on the important things. And you might even find yourself with some time for yourself!
2. Do you feel exhausted all the time?
Do you find it hard to focus even after you’ve had four cups of coffee? Do you find yourself falling asleep after lunch or in the middle of the day?
If you’re always tired, your body is telling you that you need a break.
Take one.
Take a vacation or even a staycation. Do a digital detox, give yourself permission to fully leave the workspace — we know it’s hard, but taking a break now will actually make you more productive later. And you might even enjoy yourself!
Do you feel like your general mood has changed recently?
Are you snappy, easily annoyed, or always strung out and thinking about work?
Severe stress can change your mood and make it harder for you to find enjoyment in life. It can also make it harder for you to put things in perspective, causing you to freak out about things you would normally let slide.
If your mood has taken a turn for the worse, try making time to exercise.
Exercising is great for regulating hormones, and a good workout also gives you an outlet for all those pent up emotions.
Time spent stretching or working your body will snap you out of the workplace doldrums and poof that anxiety away.
Conclusion
Burnout might not be in the DSM, but it affects all of us at times. The important thing to do is to try to recognize when it’s happening, because the sooner you start trying to remedy the problem the less it’ll bite you in the ass.
This article is originally published at SundayScaries.
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