In January I wrote a blog “What is Burnout?” I thought it was time to tell you how I helped myself and how you can help yourself too. I am going to use the same symptoms outline as I used in the original, the headings and symptoms below are quoted from the pdf https://euc7zxtct58.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/16142505/Mental-Health-UK_The-Burnout-Report-2025.pdf Once again I will say that I can only talk about my experience and hope that this helps you.
Physical Symptoms
Feeling tired or exhausted most of the time
When I went to see the Doctor at the time of my breakdown and told him how exhausted I was he told me to exercise. He knew it was counterintuitive but promised me it would help ‘physical exercise creates energy’. I always say I slept for the first two weeks. However, in reality I did get up about lunch time and take the dogs for a short walk, back home onto the sofa with them tucked in behind my legs for an afternoon nap. I suppose really, I slept for about 19 hours each day – no exaggeration for the first two weeks. As I started to recover the length of time, I slept lessened and the length of time I walked increased.
Frequent insomnia and night disturbances.
This resolved itself when I had the breakdown as I slept – like I said above for about 19 hours a day. There are many ways to deal with this though before you become as ill as I did. Some of the things I do now are ensuring I have a nighttime routine; I go to bed and rise in and around the same time every day. I don’t drink caffeine anymore, if you do the recommendation would be no caffeine after lunch time. I only use my bed for sleep (I don’t have a TV in the room, I don’t scroll on my phone for hours in the bed, I don’t even read a book in bed anymore). I ensure my bedroom is dark, well ventilated, cool, the mattress and pillows are comfy, and support and I am using the correct tog of duvet for me and the season.
Frequent Headaches and Muscle or joint pain
I ensure I have adequate breaks from my desk. I exercise every day, that can be just a walk. I go to Qi Gong once a week. I also do a lot of stretching.
Gastrointestinal problems
As I reduced my stress levels and went off dairy products my IBS and acid reflux resolved themselves and I was able to come off the medication. That is not to say that everyone with IBS and acid reflux has a food intolerance, but it might be worth investigation. When we are stressed, our digestive system goes offline and this can cause the IBS. Therefore, reducing the stress in your life might be enough to resolve IBS>
High Blood Pressure
My blood pressure was only high when I was in work. I left that job, and my blood pressure has been within a normal healthy range. I am not suggesting you have to leave your job; I am suggesting that you look at the stresses in your life and find ways to deal with it. Caffeine can be a major contributor to high blood pressure reducing consumption up to lunch time or restricting how much caffeine you consume could help. Moreover, breathwork can contribute to lowering blood pressure and I ensure I do my breathing exercise when I wake up in the morning and when I go to bed, sometime multiple times during the day.
Emotional Symptoms
Feeling helpless, trapped and/or defeated.
I now understand that I am responsible for everything in my life and only I can change my life. I use different tools like EFT Tapping (emotional freedom technique) and journaling to help me resolve issues and give myself space to work through the issues.
Feeling detached and alone in the world
I now ensure that I put time with family and friends into the diary first. Sometimes our weather isn’t conducive to going out for lovely walks and so sometimes we walk round garden centres or shopping centres.
Feeling demotivated or having a cynical view on life
Understanding that I am responsible for everything in my life gives me the motivation to keep going. I also visualise myself in the future playing with my grandchildren, still being well enough to go on holidays, and spend quality time with family and friends. I also have two vision boards pinned on a curtain above my laptop. One with places I would like to visit, the other with things I would like to go have, do, and feel. These motivate me to keep going.
Lacking sense of satisfaction and achievement
I now understand these feeling come from within me and not from anything external. No amount of certificates or praise or recognition are going to make me feel good about myself. Only I can to that. I set myself daily, weekly and monthly goals. Some around walking, exercise, nutrition, others around work, more importantly around what I need to do to feel a sense of satisfaction and achievement. They can vary greatly depending on the time of year, how much energy I have, my mood. When I wake up feeling particularly demotivated – which is very rare for me now – I might lower my standards just for that day. For instance, I do my breathing exercises, meditate, pray and do gratitude work before I get out of bed, I then make the bed shower dress etc. One those very rare difficult days I lower the standard to just getting out of bed, washing, and throwing the duvet over the bed rather than making it. I have always managed that and when I do I feel so much better about myself because I have accomplished something I usually end up showering and making the bed properly.
Loss of interest and enjoyment
Nowadays I plan plenty of things into the year ahead that I can look forward to with family and friends. I also have different projects on the go – knitting or crocheting. I love reading and might have four books on the go at any one time. I notice if any of these interests start to wain and ask myself why.
Persistent feelings of dread, worry and anxiety
Many counsellors will advice you to write down your worries, to do a brain dump before going to bed etc. However, I use a different system, and I don’t honestly know if someone suggested it or I invented it. I draw a line down the middle of a page and I give myself five minutes to write all the things that I dread, worry or am anxious about in the outer column, then I review them. On the inner part of the page, I ask myself “what else could be try?” “How do I want to feel?” If I am really stuck, I ask “what is the opposite of this?”. When I am done, I rip off the outer column and dispose of it, usually by ripping it up with energy and then binning it.
This method breaks the looping thoughts and stops me from going down a doom filled hole.
Behavioural Symptoms
Procrastination and taking longer to complete things
I now know that procrastination is the bodies way of telling us that we do not feel safe doing whatever it is we are trying to do. Therefore, I really examine the activity and ask myself why it doesn’t feel safe. How can I make it feel safe? Do I need to do it? Can I delegate it? Or can I get help with completing the task?
Difficulty concentrating
I am so much better at this because I have improved my nutrition. I was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD in 2023, and I learnt a lot about the foods and supplements that could help. Can I always concentrate – no, I am not perfect, I am a messy human learning and growing every day.
Becoming isolated and withdrawn from people
Like I said above I put time with my family and friends in my diary first. Having trained in these modalities and understanding more about mental health I now know the science behind why connection is so important to us as human beings.
Reliant on food, drugs or alcohol to cope
Oh this is a biggy for me. I gave up smoking in 2007 after my mother died from a smoking related disease. I came off alcohol in June 2020. I had always had a problem with alcohol, drank too much too often. The Covid lockdowns meant there was no work the next day for me as I lost my business overnight. Thankfully I noticed it was becoming a problem and after reading Clare Poole’s “Sober Diaries” I stopped drinking. Food is still an issue for me. As I am curing the cancer myself, I now follow Dr William Li’s “Eat to Beat Disease” method coupled with “The Glucose Goddess(‘s) Glucose Method”. I am getting better and do not eat anywhere near the same amount of sugar or chocolate as I used to be, but I am still a work in progress where food is concerned.
Irritable and short tempered, likely to have outbursts and take frustrations out on others
Rarely but it can still happen, I am only human. When it happens, I apologise to the person I have been ill tempered with. Then I examine what led to the outburst, how could I have handled it differently. If I catch it early enough, I use EFT tapping. When anything triggers me, I practice Ho’oponopono. Ho’oponopono is the art of forgiveness, connecting with the inner child to understand why I was triggered and saying four simple statements “I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.” Forgiveness is not for the other person but for me.
Increased tardiness, being late for work and/or higher absenteeism
I am rarely late; I am usually early. Even with cancer I am rarely ill (tired, yes, very) but not ill. Because I am not ill, I am very rarely absent from my work.
Do I do these things every day?
Yes, a lot of them I do. Why? Well, you eat every day don’t you. If you are religious, you probably pray every day and go to church once a week. You probably exercise everyday too. Why would you not look after your emotional wellbeing.
As I said above before I get out of bed each day, I practice meditation, breathing techniques, visualisation, gratitude and prayer. I also do these last thing at night when I am going to bed. I journal almost every day. I tap when I need to
Whether you are experiencing burnout, or in recovery I hope you will find this article useful, helpful and give you hope that if I can do it you can too. You can I know you can, I believe in you.
You can read more about why people get burnt out here