Burnout effects are hitting young people extremely hard. We live in a society that promotes things like “hustle-culture” and the constant need to be productive. When taking a break or time for yourself, you start to worry about everything you are not doing and could be accomplishing. You look online and see all of your past classmates or new coworkers posting about all of their accomplishments. Social media is part of the stress that causes burnout. Research shows that social media can have a hand in promoting job burnout in people. It feels like you can never escape the pressures of working harder and harder – work-life balance seems unattainable at this point!
Do you relate to these ideas or worries? Are you a young person who wants to learn how to cope with and lessen burnout in your life? If so, keep reading!
What is Burnout and Burnout Effects?
The 5 Stages of Burnout
There are 5 known stages of burnout. According to and based on research, the stages are:
1. Honeymoon Phase
Have you ever entered a relationship with someone and felt like you were in a bit of a “love bubble?” People usually call this the honeymoon stage of a relationship – a time when you have excitement for the relationship and everything seems almost “perfect.” The same can happen in a new job.
When starting a new job, everything may seem good at first – the co-workers are friendly, the boss is pretty accommodating, and the work appears manageable. The more you stick around; your rose-colored glasses become more transparent. You may start noticing things you dislike about the job, work stacking up, or under-appreciation beginning to form. These things may have been there all along, but you didn’t due to all of your new excitement.
2. Stress Onset
The honeymoon phase feeling is disappearing in this stage and is now replaced with tons of stress. You start feeling more and more over-worked and unhappy. Due to the influx of work, you may not be sleeping. Lack of sleep starts affecting you at work by making you feel listless. It becomes hard to focus, and you may begin to forget things more and more. The burnout effects are slowly creeping in!
3. Chronic stress
In this stage, your stress starts consuming you more and more. You feel like things are getting harder to manage and stay afloat with. This stage of burnout effects can really begin to affect your physical and mental health negatively. Your emotions may feel more EXTREME. You are not just tired; you’re exhausted. You are not just annoyed about the work; you are angry!
Your life outside of work can begin to take a toll. You have no energy to socialize like once before because you feel drained. It’s a catch-22: Your state of being starts affects your work negatively, and your work negatively affects your state of being. All of this feels horrible!
Lack of appreciation or respect at work can make you feel not good enough or unworthy. You wonder if all this work is worth it?
4. Burnout
In this stage, the burnout effects truly infiltrates your life and becomes severe. The weight of all the work stressors feels like they’re crushing you. You may start feeling hopeless, horrible about yourself, void of self-esteem, and unmotivated to even get out of bed.
People start becoming used to burnout and may feel like they are stuck in this vicious cycle.
5. Habitual Burnout
This stage is the fifth stage of burnout – it focuses on the long-term effects of burnout that follow you each day. Burnout becomes your state of being and your “new “normal.“In this stage, the harm of burnout becomes more apparent, and the person may need to look for support to help them.
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Negative Burnout Effects for Young People’s Mental Health
Burnout Effects vs. Depression vs. Anxiety
As mentioned before, people who feel the burnout effects start feeling really down about themselves and life. Burnout causes stress that can become chronic and ever-present in someone’s days. The overload of work causes intense pressure – the person is either stressing about getting the work done or stressing that they couldn’t complete their tasks.
When they are running behind on work, the worker feels terrible about themselves. They feel inadequate and like they are not good enough to work their job. Also, the lack of appreciation from their bosses or co-workers can cause them to feel like their hard work and efforts are seemingly pointless. The burnout effects make life harder and harder!
Research shows that burnout, depression, and anxiety are separate but “share common characteristics, and they probably develop in tandem.”
Depression Symptoms:
- Feeling sad, lonely, helpless, and hopeless
- Feeling empty and unfulfilled
- Having bad sleeping habits – you find that you sleep too much or not enough
- Weight loss or weight gain – you appetite is being affected
- Not enjoying you passions or interests anymore
- Irritability and agitation
- Struggles with concentrating, remembering, or decision making
- Feelings of fatigue
- Experiences of guilt or worthlessness
- Thoughts surrounding suicide or death
Anxiety Symptoms:
- Constant and excessive worry
- Worrying is apparent in more days than not
- Worries have been consistent for the past 6 months
- It is hard for you to control your worrying
- Physical symptoms such as restlessness, tiredness, irritability, muscle tension, trouble concentrating, or trouble sleeping
- The worries are negatively impacting multiple parts of your life: like at school, work, in your social life, etc.
Burnout Symptoms:
- Feelings of under-appreciation fill your mind
- Lack of or no motivation
- Listlessness
- Finding it hard to focus and pay attention
- Dealing with constant stress and worries surrounding work and life
- No work-life balance
- Limited socialization
- Hopelessness and indifference in life
- Lack of sleep and feelings of exhaustion
- Irritability, anger, and frustration especially when at work
Young People and Burnout
People can experience burnout for many different reasons throughout their young adulthood. People in their early twenties face pressure graduating college, trying to find a job, and keeping up with their social/dating life.
Romantic relationships take work, and there are stressors that couples can face together. If you are in a relationship and you don’t feel securely connected to this person, you may fear that cheating will take place or trust will be broken. Arguing a lot or communicating poorly can cause a lot of stress in couples. Also, ideas of the future, plans for what is to come, and other people’s projected opinions can cause couples to feel burnout
How to Overcome Burnout for Young People
How to Reduce Burnout as College Students
1. Work Smarter
If you feel burnout from your schoolwork, try to create healthy work/study habits. These habits can help you feel more organized and prepared for homework and test you have. Some suggestions can be:
- Keeping a calendar of all the due dates you have coming up
- Buying a planner and organizer to be more prepared and pay attention to details
- Setting time aside to study each day. By studying a little each day, it can prevent from the need to cram before a test
- Finding what study/work method works for you: if you are someone who visually learns, try watching videos to prepare or draw out diagrams. If you are more of an auditory learner, try listening to the audiobooks of your textbooks or assigned reading
2. Ask for Help
Don’t be afraid to go to your teacher or professor for help. There is no shame in asking for guidance, clarification, or even an extension. If you feel uncomfortable going to them in person, try emailing them or speaking to them after school. If you are a college student, try to go to your professor’s office hours and schedule an appointment to see them.
Tutoring is also a valuable option for you if you need more help. Tutors are people who took the class already and have the knowledge to share with you any tips and tricks they may have. Signing up for tutoring helps you ask questions to someone you may feel more comfortable speaking to rather than a teacher or professor.
3. Lean on Other Students
All the other students in your class are probably experiencing similar or the same stress you are when it comes to school. Try to lean on each other for support and go to each other when you need help. Organizing study groups is a great way to socialize and get your work done and learn.
4. Talk to a Counselor
If you feel like the stress of school is getting to you, try to speak to a counselor at school or on campus. There should be a guidance counselor there to help you with any problems you may have with school at school. Also, many colleges have mental health professionals on campus that can help you feel about specific issues if you are on a college campus.
5. Realize That You Are Worth More Than Your Grades
You need to realize that you are worth more than a grade on a test or paper. Your mental health is more important than your schoolwork, even if that is hard to believe. Students get so consumed with their work and feel like it means everything in their life. You are worth so much more than a grade on a paper – it doesn’t define you!
How to Cope with Burnout as Young Professionals
1. Realize That You are More Than Your Job
It can be challenging to find a job, especially since the pandemic. The stress of finding a job can be challenging to deal with. You may go through multiple rounds of interviews and feel stressed out from these experiences; only you did not receive the job. Logging on to websites, writing cover letter after cover letter, applying for jobs, getting ghosted, or being rejected is hurtful and stressful. Remember to keep your head up and know that your hard work in getting a job matters. Even if no one else can see how hard you’re working, you deserve to be proud of your efforts. You are more than your job description or title!
2. Follow Your Own Time-Line
Your life is going at its own pace and path. Remember that you are special, and no one else can be you. If you see people around you getting married or having kids, don’t worry! If you want these things, it will happen in its own time for you. You can live your life any way you want! Even if you don’t want kids, I want to be single and travel the world; that is okay! Do what makes you feel happy and fulfilled!
How to Reduce Burnout for Young Couples
Communication Skills
One of the most significant issues we face in life and relationships is communication issues. Think of how many times you were watching a movie, and the entire problem of the episode is centered around a miscommunication or misunderstanding.
As a couple, try your best to work on good communication skills. Some ways to do so are, to be honest with each other and validate each other’s feelings. Allow yourself to listen to your partner’s concerns and let them know that you hear what they are saying and appreciate them opening up to you.
If the situation starts getting heavy and you both start getting heated, it is okay to take some time apart to think about things and recharge. We can say many things that we possibly don’t even mean in the heat of the moment.
Try Couples Counseling
If a problem is consistently causing you and your partner stress, counseling might be able to help you! Going to a therapist can help you and your partner have your needs met, have your voice heard, and have the opinion of a third party on your situation. A therapist can help you communicate better and find ways to strengthen your relationship. In couples counseling, you can deal with some of the stressors you may be facing.
General Burnout Coping Tips
- Do activities that help you de-stress
- Mindfulness practices: meditation, mindful walks, mindful eating
- Yoga and stretching
- Use Essential oils to relax
- Practice self-care
- Spend time in nature or with animals
- Make an effort to maintain work-life balance
- Don’t look at your work emails over the weekend
- Take time to engage in something you like doing after work like a hobby or watching your favorite show
- Prioritize seeing your loved ones, going out, date nights, etc.
- Don’t be afraid to say no and stop people-pleasing at work: i.e. “I’m sorry, but I can’t take on that extra task right now in my schedule..”
- Take care of your body
- Make sure you are sleeping enough, filling your body with nutritious food, drinking plenty of water
- Build self-esteem
- If you don’t feel appreciated at work, remind yourself how proud you are of all your efforts! Motivate yourself and remind yourself how important and worthy you are
- Practice positive affirmations: i.e. I am worthy, I am strong…
- Lean on support
- Look to people who make you feel happy and lift your spirits! You deserve to be reminded of how great you are by the people who care about and know you the best!
- Consider Therapy
A therapist can help you manage your stress better and live a happier/healthier life. Therapy can give you the tools to handle work-stress better, implement mindfulness techniques, build self-esteem, improve your relationships, and foster more hope about life!