Achieving the things you desire brings much fulfillment. They may be related to work, relationships or family life.

However, getting to your destination requires tons of work, hardship, and challenges. As determined as you are, you’ll do what it takes just to be there, deliberately forgetting that your body needs its rest too.

Without realizing it, the signs of burnout are staring right in your face. You feel tired, grumpy, you might even feel that another entity, other than you, has taken over your body.

There’s nothing wrong with working painstakingly as long as you’re not neglecting your health. Pushing your body beyond its limit gives you unwanted consequences. If you keep ignoring the signs your body is giving you, one day, you may just found out you’re severely depressed, sick or even mentally ill.

It’s crucially important to listen to your body for signs saying it’s no longer working right before it’s too late.

11 Signs You Are Burned Out And Need To Rest Immediately

Here are the 11 warning signs that say you’re heading to burn out according to psychologist Christina G. Hibbert:

1. You lack the motivation to do your daily routine.

This is one of the first signs that show up if you are experiencing a burn out. You start lacking the motivation to do regular things from your daily schedule like exercising, washing your teeth, cooking your healthy dinner, and even going to the store to buy necessary things for your home.

2. You feel exhausted.

You feel unable to pick yourself up to do the tasks you normally do every day, though it only requires little of your energy. When lack of energy and lack of motivation go hand in hand, it’s a sure sign that you’re fatigued and exhausted. This is your body’s way of telling you that you need to slow down and change your pace to maintain your health and happiness. It is exaggerating for a reason, because you keep ignoring its needs.

3. You feel sad.

While having bad days are normal, feeling down most of the time is not. Prolonged feelings of sadness, depression or despair are detrimental to your health and might lead to severe case of depression. Feeling sad for no reason is a clear manifestation of burnout. It’s how your emotional self is trying to tell you that you need to take a rest. Listen to it.

4. Your self-esteem is low.

Beating yourself up for failing to keep up with the tasks at hand or even for small not important things is a sign that you might need to take a rest. This is how your mental aspect is trying to tell you that you are drained. It literally highlights all your errors to get your attention and make you realize that you need to take a rest. Listen to yourself and give it a break.

5. Things overwhelm you.

This is one of the clearest signs of burnout. No matter if there is a lot going on in your life or small things overwhelm you, it’s time to rest. When you catch yourself thinking that you no longer can handle your life or that you wish life would just slow down, that’s a sure sign that you need to slow down because burnout is taking hold of you.

6. Your perception has become more negative.

When you notice that you’re starting to view the world through a negative lens or generally seeing the negative things happening in the world, it’s a quickfire sign that you’re about to burn out. Being negative is a sign that your emotional self is drained. This happens when we forget how to play. Take a little break and fill your heart.

7. You make more mistakes than normal.

When you are physically and mentally tired it’s normal to make more mistakes than usual. That’s why you should take this sign seriously and give yourself some time to recharge. Take a break. Breathe. Find time to rest and fill yourself up with energy.

8. You rush through your work.

You don’t have energy so you start rushing through the things you could normally handle. Rushing through your work will do more harm than good. Sure, you have big goals and a life purpose to fulfill. But, when you rush everything to get these things done, it not only burns out your energy but your creativity and relationships as well.

9. You complain a lot more.

You’re constantly expressing negative thoughts and complaining about almost everything. This shows that you’re not happy with your current situation or life and you are literally screaming for help. The reason you constantly complain is because your subconsciousness is trying to make others see your situation and tell you that you are feeling burned out. If you can’t listen to all the other signs, you might listen to people close to you.

10. Your brain shuts down.

Overworking yourself could result in preventing your brain from recharging properly. You’re running on empty, your thinking gets sluggish and less sharp, you feel light-headed, irritable, hungry, and even short-tempered. All of these symptoms tell that you are spending more energy than you should.

11. You want to be alone.

When you feel burned out, you lack interest in spending time with others or participating in social gatherings. All because you want to conserve your energy by spending time alone than hanging out with friends. Taking a one or two-week break from the things or situations that burned you out is a must.

How Social Media May Contribute to Burn Out:

Since many people are staying and working at home because of the current pandemic crisis, you probably resort to watching videos and photos, and browsing posts in social media, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, to relax. For many, it’s an excellent way of combating isolation. However, being a social media fan could possibly affect your mind and body.

1. Over engaging.

Surely, social media is a fantastic way to connect and share your comments, insights, and opinions about different subject matters. However, over engaging may result in burnout, like commenting on every post, sharing everything your friends or family members post, and replying to messages, among other things.

2. Missing Eating.

While social media browsing relaxes you, staying on it for more than an hour or two can be disastrous to your health. You might forget or delay to eat on time, and resort to eating easy to grab foods and drinks instead of a healthy diet.

3. Lack of Sleep.

One major contribution of social media in making a person feel so exhausted the next day is being drained in social media all night. This will result in sleeping deprivation, which is not good for your health.

Don’t Ignore These Signs!

Having most of these symptoms is something you should take seriously. However, it is never too late to pick yourself up from burning out. Set aside time to take care of yourself and change whatever needs to change.

Take charge of yourself and your life. Even though it’s counter intuitive, you will be more productive if you take a little break, fill yourself up with energy, and then get back with a clear head, rather than pushing your pedal to the max.

A rested version of you will do much more in much less time than a burned out version. And even more, a burned out version might result in cases of severe depression.

Take care of yourself. That should matter the most to you.

Source: Conscious Reminder > https://www.bustle.com/ by Raven Ishak;