Sometimes we feel too exhausted to do the simplest of the tasks. Sometimes this feeling of laziness is too prolonged to ignore. Is it just laziness or are you burnt out? There is often the confusion between if someone is burnt out or just too lazy. There are often some clear signs we tend to overlook in this case.
There is a lot of overlap between laziness and burnout, which can make it difficult to differentiate between the two. Burnout is defined as a “negative state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive stress and inability to cope with it” to educate ourselves better understand the nature of Burnout especially when we are at risk. Here are a few tell-tale signs that what you are expecting right now isn’t laziness but burnout.
1. Feeling disconnected from everything
Are you going through emotions every day as if on autopilot? Is there a persistent feeling of being detached from yourself? If you are suffering from burnout one of the things you might be experiencing but don’t quite realise is “depersonalization”. People experiencing depersonalization, most commonly those suffering from trauma report feeling a strange sort of emotional numbness or emptiness as if they are watching life from outside of themselves. They don’t feel like themselves anymore and don’t feel engaged by anything. They constantly struggle with the overwhelming sense of helplessness and inability to take back control of their lives.
2. You used to be motivated
Laziness Is a character trait and character traits tend to remain stable over time. A lazy person doesn’t ever feel like exerting effort or applying themselves to things. But if you used to be self-motivated and have the high achieving often excelling in certain areas, and have only recently become exhausted, apathetic, and unmotivated, then it’s more likely that you are suffering from Burnout and not laziness as most people would think
3. You used to be passionate
The difference between someone who is Burnout and someone lazy is that the former used to have things that they were passionate about, but may now be struggling to find interest or enjoyment in anymore. Whether it’s a talent, a sport, or just your academic, or professional performance in general, Burnout can make it hard for you to do the things you used to love or felt passionate about. You might even come out to hate or resent it because of how much you overworked yourself and pushed yourself to the brink because of it.
4. You have become moody and irritable
Do you suddenly find yourself Snappy and easily irritated? Do you often feel emotionally out of control nowadays and don’t know why? Moodiness and irritability are common, but often overlooked signs of burnout. So if you start to have trouble controlling your emotions, especially when it never used to be a problem for you, this might be the reason why. Lazy people, on the other hand, are a strong contrast to this because they are often very less laid-back, placid, and unaffected by things.
5. You neglect self-care
One of the most distressing warning signs is that someone may be emotionally and physically burnt out if you start neglecting your self-care and social withdrawal from others. There are concerning changes in your eating and sleeping pattern. You stop making an effort to groom yourself to look good and tend to spend most of your time doing nothing because you are easily exhausted by even the simplest of tasks. The difference between being burnt out and laziness is starkly in the fact that you weren’t always this way.
6. These changes happened gradually
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, something you should know about burnout is that it developed in stages. So all of the points mentioned before; losing interest and motivation, especially in the things you used to love, feeling detached from yourself and disconnected from everything around you, socially withdrawn, and neglecting yourself care won’t just happen overnight. Studies show that there are five major stages of Burnout in that including degrees of severity
- The honeymoon phase
- The Onset of stress
- Chronic Stress
- Burnout
- Habitual Burnout
Many people begin to experience symptoms as early as the 2nd phase where this is still a moderate amount of stress but optimism interest motivation and performance we already started declining and by the time you reach the fifth and final stage Burnout has already become so embedded in your life that the persistent mental and physical fatigue become more intense and harder to treat making you more vulnerable to developing depression and anxiety spotting the signs of Burnout early makes it all the easier for you to get help and recover from it.
That’s why it is important to raise awareness about burnout instead of simply dismissing it as laziness like most people tend to do. So if you are anyone or maybe know anyone suffering from mental or emotional burnout, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a mental health care professional today and talk to them about it.
Health minister Mandaviya stresses on vaccination, surveillance amid latest surge
