Are you having a burnout?

Burnt Out is actually the extreme form of work stress one can suffer....and is common cause of unhappiness at work place. Could be due to the present working environment eg multitasking, a new boss or team member, unclear or changing job targets, increasing higher targets.
All these can lead to burnout....which in turn lead to depression that may show up as suffering from physical, mental and emotional symptoms. Physical symptoms...as in frequeant illness like headaches, migraines, gastric pains, cold, diarrhoea and heart palpitations. And even raise a person's blood pressure that may lead to heart attack or strokes. For common emotional and mental symptoms may include the feelings of sadness, helplessness, emptiness or even a sense of losing control of the situation. There are warning signs of a crisis of suffering a burnout....getting sick more frequently, feeling sad, smoking or drinking more than usual, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, fatigue, sexual disfunctions, easily irritable, loss of confidence, becoming cynical, feeling of self-doubt, lack of motivation and new ideas.
There is a write-up in the newspaper about this subject...and it said that we should not look at burnout as a personal weakness or failure....but as a collective responsibility of the individual, the company ( meaning the management ) and the society. Lastly it is not really anybody's fault becoz people have different stress thresholds....some can juggle 2 or 3 stressful situations at the same time while others may not even cope with one. Even happy event like getting marry can put lots of stress on some ( getting cold feet at the last minute - remember the recent case in the US where the girl ran off and pretend to be kidnapped ), moving house, the death of a loved one or a change of job even due to a promotion. The perfectionists and the people with high expectations are more prone to burnout so are the same to the Mr Nice Guy types...And yes! the working mothers...they are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than men becoz their bearing a greater load both at home and at work. Teachers and those in the service industries who have to please both boss and clients (can be customers, students, parents ) are most likely to face stressful situations and suffer from burnout. Some companies are aware of this and are actively helping their employee to cope or deal with stress management while others will only learn the unfortunate way after something terrible like a suicide occurs.
People having this problem....and they also help themselves by first knowing that you have a burnout or close to having one then can start trying to tackle it which is the first step towards beating it. A vacation...some time away from the frency to realise that there is more to life than work. Talking about the problem with friends and family....remember this "a problem shared is a problem halved". Or the worst situation...people should also be realistic about their abilities and talk to their boss if they feel that they are being made to shoulder too much. In doing that, they are doing the company and themselves a favour. Balancing work and life helps....spending time with family, taking holidays, doing physical exercise and having hobbies are ways to combat burnout.....If when all else fails, then "quit" ( maybe easier said than done for most ) - people may be better off moving into another line of work altogether. Ask yourself this, "Is your job really worth giving your life for?", Then you will find your solution to the above.