The 8 Kinds of Burnout, Which Are Draining You?  

Did you know that your physical body is the last place dis-ease and the effects of overwhelm and burnout show up?

 By the time you feel exhausted or foggy or show other physical symptoms, you’ve already depleted yourself. The dis-ease has rooted itself into your physical body or your mental mind, and it takes much longer to recover and return to a state of harmony.

Consider the word disease — not just as physical symptom or a diagnosis but as a state of un-ease within you.

Dis- means “apart.” Disease is to be apart from ease, apart from harmony.

When you are more aware of the dis-ease you experience it:

• Mentally in the form of racing mind, confusion, worry, doubt, or negative self-talk
• Energetically in your nervous system as frustration or feeling flooded
• Emotionally in feelings of depression, anxiety, frustration, anger, resentment

As you become more aware. you become empowered to make changes sooner, before becoming completely depleted or physically sick.

Recall a time you hit your wall, got sick, or crumbled under the pressure.

Weren’t there signs that may have been subtle, but upon reflection, you can see how your whole system or parts of your system were overtaxed? We tend to associate burnout with our physical body or mental state because those are the areas we’ve been taught to focus on.

There are at least eight kinds of burnout, only one of which is physical. These other kinds often show up before the signs of exhaustion and disease appear in your body.

In the decade that I spent researching burnout & overwhelm and the epidemic of busyness, I found that:

When you can articulate what kind of burnout you are experiencing, versus just saying you are burned-out, exhausted, or overwhelmed, you are more empowered to see the root, and get what you need before you get sick.

Read about the different kinds of burnout below, and consider which you may be experiencing now, noting that you have likely experienced many. And then take a pause to consider how you can change what I call ‘the slide into burnout.’ (see glyph below, from my Overwhelmed and Over It book.

The 8 Kinds of Burnout

1. Mental: My mind cannot process any more; it’s fried.
2. Emotional: These heavy or anxious emotions are exhausting me.
3. Compassion: I cannot hold any more loving space for anyone else; I’m tapped.
4. Relational: I’ve been overgiving to others, my organization, or my community/family, and I am over it.
5. Survival: I’m exhausted from trying to make ends meet and stay afloat.
6. Superwoman: The weight of taking on so much is too much; I can’t hold it all anymore.
7. Passion: I love what I do, but I’ve given too much and pushed too hard.
8. Physical: My body is revolting; I have depleted my life force.

First, take a pause here so we can increase your self-awareness of how these types of burnout show up for you. This will help you be more empowered to see and feel the signs or symptoms before you get to the point of physical burnout.

Then, try the harmonizing practice below. To identify which kind of burnout you may currently be experiencing and what you need to reverse the slide into burnout.

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Self-Awareness Reflection:
What Are Your Burnout Signals?

1. Which kinds of burnout have I experienced?
2. What are the signs or symptoms that I am experiencing these kinds of burnout? When these occur, use the harmonizing practice below to keep you from sliding into burnout.

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Harmonizing Practice:
Reverse Your Current Burnout Slide

Ask yourself: What do I need to receive to reverse the slide into physical burnout?
Then give yourself this space or support to yourself, no matter what.

 

Note: These inquiries can be found in Overwhelmed and Over It, section 2, Liberate Your Lifeforce.

Go Deeper. Explore.
Get the Overwhelmed and Over It Book. 
The path out of the burnout matrix.
Into a sustainable way to live, lead and succeed.