7 signs of severe emotional devastation

Burnout syndrome was introduced into practice in the seventies of the last century to refer to emotional exhaustion resulting from prolonged work stress. It happens insidiously, and its symptoms are easily confused with other negative factors, such as a cold or a bad boss. It would seem that you should quickly understand or at least feel that you are on the verge of emotional burnout, but this does not always work out.

Emotional devastation

Here are 7 tell-tale signs that you're under severe psychological stress, and tips on how to fix it.

• 1. You have become too cynical

  Is there more sarcasm in your speech than before? Are you telling sarcastic jokes to your friends when they've always been kind to you? Think about what is happening in your life that caused such cynicism. If you increasingly act as the old constantly muttering lady and interfere with other people's lives, this often indicates that you are experiencing stress.

• 2. You want to run to the ends of the world

  Was there was a desire to send everything to hell and buy a one-way ticket to Bali? Do you dream of disappearing from the radar and escaping to another country? Psychologists say it can be a symptom of emotional devastation. Avoidance is a way to deal with stress when you are trying to distance yourself from or evade your work because you are using too much energy in a futile pursuit of quick success.

• 3. You make mistakes in simple things

  Have you been getting out of hand lately? Have you forgotten about your wedding anniversary, lost the thread of conversation at a business breakfast? This sudden lack of attention to detail is a warning sign of burnout. If you're constantly forgetting things and having trouble doing your daily chores, try to de-stress.

• 4. You feel tired all the time

  Are you spending a delightful sunny Sunday morning lounging in bed? This kind of inactivity is a classic sign of burnout, especially when the day you decide to sleep for the whole week doesn't relieve the accumulated fatigue. Emotional devastation is a clear sign of work stress.

• 5. You are always unhappy

  By the end of the day, are you ready to hit the wall? Do you think that you are surrounded by enemies and envious people? Perhaps that is the way it is. But usually these feelings mean that you are burnt out at work.

  American psychologists argue that an employee who, trying to make a career, brings himself to complete devastation, is often inclined to explain his condition by the intrigues of colleagues. Although in fact it is his excessive activity at work, caused by ambition that is to blame.

• 6. You doubt your abilities

  You have put in a lot of effort to be successful in your field, so why have you been tormented by doubts about your own competence lately? This feeling of dissatisfaction with oneself is a classic sign of burnout and can be experienced by anyone who has worked too hard to achieve their goals, whether they are a doctor or an athlete. Success in the profession is associated with constant stress, and your mind can not always cope with it.

• 7. You feel bad all the time

  Do headaches not let you go? Do you constantly feel nauseous? Are you out of breath all the time? If doctors cannot give you an accurate diagnosis, you should analyze your work schedule. This is exactly the kind of advice given by experts who study the relationship between complaints of poor health and burnout. Sometimes work stress can lead to serious health problems. “At a high degree of burnout, a rapid deterioration in well-being can follow, from a common cold to heart disease,” says one of the authors of a study on this problem.

Tips on how to fix these issues

If you notice at least one of the above symptoms in yourself, it's time to hold your horses and change something in your life.

This list will help inspire you:
• Leave some time to chat with friends, meeting with whom always cheers you up. Let this mean that you have to give up some work, but this is what everything was started for, right?
• Do something nice for yourself. Go to the spa or buy tickets to a popular show. No matter what it will be, the main thing is to enjoy the life for which you have worked so hard.
• Shorten your to-do list for the day. If you forget about some important things, most likely you have taken on more responsibilities than you can really handle.
• Discuss your worries at work with your boss. It may seem unwise to express your dissatisfaction with the state of affairs to someone who, in your opinion, is guilty of the current situation. However, if this conversation takes place in the framework of a constructive dialogue, and not a conflict, you may finally be able to get rid of the tension.
• Revise your professional guidelines to re-experience the taste for work. Burnout associated with devastation is often due to the fact that you are tired of doing the same routine work that you have to do every day.
• Try to find new challenges for yourself in your chosen field of activity. Join an organization that is related to the area of your profession where you would like to gain new experience.
• Take a vacation! Rest is not an escape from reality. Consider it a doctor's recommendation. Perhaps, to recover, you just need to lie on the beach for a week.