What to do when work becomes torture? Physical, emotional and mental torture. In fact, more often than not, we’re unaware that we’re suffering from burnout. We even pretend not to notice. And yet, the most important thing is to accept this state of burnout and take care of ourselves. So, what can we do?

1 – That weight on the heart, a sign of burn out

When you suffer burnout at work, one of the first signs is that weight on your chest, on your heart.

We’re working, but it’s getting heavy, physically heavy.

Yet we persist in working. We become machines, without even realizing it.

We do what we do all the time, without allowing ourselves to ask the right questions.

Why do I have this weight on my heart? Why does everything become physically difficult?

Because if we ask ourselves these questions, we know very well what the answers will be. Answers we don’t want to hear.

2 – The time comes when we feel guilty

And then comes the moment when we feel that everything inside us is screaming at us to slow down, because we feel bad.

We feel bad physically, mentally, emotionally.

So, there’s only one solution that comes to mind: slow down.

But slowing down at work means slowing others down, weighing them down and worrying them.

That’s why we feel so guilty.

What’s more, since childhood we’ve been taught to please others, not to create waves. In other words, to think of others before ourselves: this burn-out becomes a great source of guilt for us.

3 – We refuse to complain about our burn out

We’re not well. Really not well. Work is torture, and yet we keep going.

But people around us are starting to notice, maybe even talking about burn-out.

The thing is, on the one hand, it’s a relief. That’s it, others are taking our suffering into account, and we’ll be able to rest.

But, on the other hand, we see ourselves as a weak, complaining person, and that’s painful to admit and to live with.

So we tend to minimize and even pretend that everything is fine.

4 – We’re desperate to find a miracle solution to get better

Okay, we’re going through a burnout, but we’re going to get back on our feet. We’ll show everyone.

And, we start looking everywhere for miracle solutions and products, without realizing that we’re hurting ourselves even more.

After all, when we’re suffering from physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, we need to rest.

No more, no less.

Because there’s no quick fix, just rest.

And until we accept that, we can’t get better.

5 – You don’t want to do anything during a burn out

When we finally take a little time for ourselves to recover from a burn out, we tell ourselves we’re going to take advantage of it to do things we love.

The problem is that, more often than not, we really don’t want to do anything.

In fact, we don’t feel like distracting ourselves. Why don’t we? Because up there, in our minds, things are churning and looping.

We’re already thinking about our return: what are we going to do from now on?

All we can think about is work. The work that’s piling up while we wait for our return.

Find out more about happiness at work

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover Surpassing yourself: 6 steps towards ultimate success!
Discover ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴇxʜᴀᴜꜱᴛɪᴏɴ: 3 ᴛɪᴘꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴄᴏᴘɪɴɢ

In addition, I recommend this inspiring book on the subject:

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
This book delves into the basic science of burnout and offers useful tips and strategies for coping with and recovering from stress.
I was feeling exhausted when I first read this book and have implemented some simple lifestyle changes to deal with stress on a daily basis. These are things I wanted to do more of anyway, but had been putting off until I was ready to commit..
Thanks to it, I felt ready to commit.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself.