9 signs you are suffering from corporate burnout & what to do about it

Often feeling stressed or overwhelmed in your workplace? Maybe you are suffering from corporate burnout. Recognizing and admitting you’ve reached burnout is the first step to recovery but what are the symptoms of corporate fatigue?

Consider the below list of 9 common signs of corporate burnout and aware if you are ticking some of these boxes and feel that “something just isn’t right” , it’s time to implement some significant changes to bring back a healthy work/life balance.

1. Inability to make good decisions and just not coping. Ordinary everyday tasks seem too challenging and the ability to cope with even small decisions feels impossible and overwhelming.
2. Overwhelmed by deadlines and workload. Feeling panicky and swamped by endless impossible targets and requirements of your role. Feeling paralysed and afraid all the time.
3. Breakdown of personal and working relationships. Feeling consistently stressed and anxious will have an impact on how you interact with loved ones. Overreactions and an inability to resolve minor to significant challenges can become the norm and therefore the support network you had which could potentially be your saviour, starts to crumble.
4. Using coffee, alcohol or other addictions to calm down and dull your pain. Understandably, you wish to numb the pain of all the pressure you are under and find yourself reaching for stimulants like coffee to get you through the demanding tasks of your day. When you come home from work, you tend to use alcohol to calm the body down. Or maybe you are using  tranquillizers such as antidepressants, sleeping tablets and other mood enhancing drugs.
5. Hard to get to sleep and/or stay asleep. The mind is on overdrive and you can feel stress and nerves in the body even when trying to wind down for the day. Sleep doesn’t come easy,  you are exhausted yet wide-awake and can’t stop thinking about your work load or work interactions.
6. Little to no healthy work-life balance. Consumed by thoughts of work trying to keep up and working in the time when you should be enjoying leisure time. Your downtime is full of tiredness and resentment and there is no mental or physical energy left to experience the rich tapestry of life and your loved ones. Work, in some form or another, has managed to creep into most area’s your life.
7. Feeling trapped and believe there is no way out. Can’tsee the wood from the trees? Your belief system is not working for you and you are struggling to see a way out of this.  You are wondering is it possible to return to the time  when you had a healthier attitude.
8. Constantly comparing yourself to others. Experiencing increasing limiting beliefs including self-doubts particularly in regards to your work capabilities. Seeing yourself as “Not good enough” or “Less than” “a failure” and “Not worthy”
9. Depression and anxiety. Increase in feelings of “something just not being right”, feeling flat, hopeless, lacking motivation unless surged but stimulants. Having days of feeling low and can;t get out of bed.

You are not alone when it comes to corporate burnout. This is an increasingly common problem for men and women in the corporate arena.

Increasing drive from the “big bosses” and peer pressure to push harder to get the sales and “seal another deal”, or meet another deadline along with unrealistic demands is leading to employee dissatisfaction and corporate burnout, which can potentially lead to adrenal/chronic fatigue along with depression and high anxiety.

Your body is in a permanent fight or flight response (yes, even when in bed and not at work) which means the nervous system is not able to shut down. Adrenalin and cortisol (chemicals released when under stress and pressure) continue to be released which has a major impact on the chemistry of the body. You are NOT being chased by a saber-toothed tiger though your primitive body thinks so!

Adrenal fatigue and chronic fatigue are sadly inevitable as the physical body and your mental health can’t cope for extended periods of time being pushed too far without relief and a change to lifestyle habits including nutrition and stress management.

If you are feeling totally trapped, exhausted all the time, have lost your confidence, are constantly comparing yourself to your work colleagues and dread going to work now is the time to seek help and look honestly at what effects being in burnout mode is having on you.

Be reassured and remember the first step to recovering from corporate burnout is to seek help and receive guidance to restore a healthy work-life balance.

One of the most critical points of positive change is to take action, to make the appointment. This in itself can offer some much needed relief and to know you are not alone. Making the decision to get help is crucial and often the turning point.

With burnout and adrenal fatigue your decision-making capabilities are severely impaired so having a sounding board and someone experienced to start gently yet powerfully looking at what is going on, both in the workplace and at home is essential for restoring the healthy work-life balance.

In my Sydney-based practice I have worked with many women who find themselves in this scary and overwhelming situation. My experience in supporting people to release their emotional and physical trauma’s small or large are implemented on the first session, offering immediate relief and a new perspective on moving forward with new tools for addressing stress and overwhelm.

I gently yet powerfully take you back to the root cause of issues you may have and use tools such as EFT (commonly called tapping) and Matrix Re-imprinting, along with sound healing, to help clear negative emotions and start to realease stress from the body.

A crucial step in my sessions with clients is to support them to restore self-loving practices including respecting your body, mind and soul.

Acknowledging where you are at and how you can begin to manage the work stress and take care of yourself, setting healthy boundaries with yourself and your employer, and seeking some support or coaching are all important steps to take to recover from corporate burnout.

With self-appreciation comes much healthier daily habits including healthy work and life boundaries and a much greater ability to thrive and really enjoy life once again.

What else can you do when you realise you are at corporate burnout stage?

• Acknowledge and first accept where you are.
• Share what is happening with a close friend/family member or begin to see a therapist. Get it off your chest!
• Book in for a FREE 15 min phone consultation to see how I may be able to help you release the overwhelm, trauma and fear.
• Join the online tapping tribe – learn more here.
• Add a good quality Magnesium supplement. Magnesium is a mineral that rapidly calms the nervous system down; it supports a feeling of calm and ease in the body and mind. Learn more from Dr Carolyn Dean.
• Reduce Sugar (see video)
• Reduce caffeine (see the sugar video and apply to coffee instead)
• Short meditations
• Get away to somewhere quiet and contemplate your options.
• Remember you are not alone.
• Learn to become present with the now. Have a read of Eckhart Tolle’s book “The power of NOW”
• Try the EFT Tap along video for “Corporate Burnout” below.

If you are suffering from corporate burnout and would like to talk to me about how I can help take advantage of my FREE 15 min phone consultation.