Burning out?

You work hard and smart, but never feel appreciated…

You are smart and hardworking, and you have high standards. Others praise you as a high-achiever, and that spurs you on even more. But you don’t ever feel that you are quite enough – not smart enough, not working hard enough, not achieving enough. You are a candidate for burnout. 

 

Burnout is increasingly common. It can lead to problems with how you feel about your life and where it is going. Your relationship may be impacted and your performance at work or in your studies may be sub-optimal. You can suffer mentally and physically.

 

Common symptoms of burnout are:

• Unexplainable tears

• Loss of energy and enthusiasm

• Loss of motivation and meaning

• Feeling disconnect and disengaged with what one values

• Feeling stress and anxious about your area of expertise

• Losing your sense of control

• Patience is replaced with irritation, gratefulness with resentment

• Experiencing headaches and carrying tensions in your body

• Changes in appetite and sleep. 

 

Some people with burnout can fear that if they slow down, they will lose all that they have worked so hard to achieve. Others wake up one day, freeze in their tracks, and can’t seem to pick themselves up again.

 

A combination of cognitive, behavioural and mindfulness strategies can help. There is hope and there is help. You can get back to achieving again, this time without the burnout. Ask Dr Lim