A few weeks ago I noticed something was going on with my body. I was experiencing some physical signs I didn’t take too seriously. I was aware neither Thumper or I had been getting enough sleep. We hadn’t been eating all that well. We do eat healthy – but seem to skip meals when we get caught up with work.
I wrote the article Are You a Workaholic Too. Little did I know at the time that I was approaching a burnout myself.
Looking back, I remember writing a comment on Mike King’s blog. It was on the article 6 Steps To Pull Yourself Out Of A Slump. I gave Mike a lengthy comment because I found it a very good article that many can relate to. I felt on top of this topic at the time.
Once you recognize the symptoms, you must use common sense. Don’t ignore the obvious, or you may find yourself physically sick sooner or later.
I feel there are two things that lead to a burnout:
- Physical fatigue – e.g. extending your work hours and not getting enough sleep.
- Emotional fatigue – e.g. carrying around an emotional weight load and not dealing with it.
Eventually, the physical fatigue will walk hand in hand with the emotional fatigue and lead to a burnout.
Ultimate signs that you are about to Crash and Burn
This is what happened to me yesterday. The thing is, I had actually noticed the changes that had been leading up to my exhaustion early on, but didn’t do much about it.
- Not getting the right amount of sleep and thinking I could catch up on it over the weekend. This developed into insomnia during the week. I posted in a short summary about our life being pretty hectic lately in Going The Extra Mile In Business.
- Concentration was off. I got to the point where the simplest of tasks had to be corrected.
- Stress in the neck and shoulders,
- Loss of appetite,
- Pressure in the chest,
- Body aching,
- Cold to hot flashes.
These all hit me at once yesterday. I pushed myself to finish up work and went straight to bed. Where I couldn’t get comfortable enough to sleep at first.
I slept for about four hours. The nap really didn’t help much. What actually relieved some of the stress in my neck and shoulders was a couple of breathing/stretching exercises that Thumper insisted we do together.
The thing that gets to me is that I know what I should be doing to prevent such an exhausting burnout from happening – yet I didn’t. You might say I was in denial.
Just like me, I believe some of you may feel like you are pushing yourself more then anyone else. We have the misconception that we are invincible under any conditions or circumstances.
There is no doubt in my mind that sleep deprivation was the core of my fatigue. From the lack of sleep, the other problems flourished.
I wrote this article few months back: Have A Headache? Try This. Some of the symptoms I experienced are mentioned there. So it isn’t as though I don’t know how to prevent this. I just got caught up with everything new and hectic going on.
I would also like to recommend this article on the Balanced Existence blog, Health Is Not an Intellectual Debate. I really like what Stephen Cox says here,
…balanced existence is just a finger pointing the way. If you never get past the finger you’ll surely never reach the moon.
After that awkward day, I took it easy for the rest of the week and just forgot about work. I just read my favorite blogs and wrote when I felt like it. Happily, I was able to recuperate before Christmas. I’m feeling great again and on top of the game now.
What I wanted to share with you in this post is that no matter how much you think you know yourself, you are not immune to every circumstance, and there are limits to how much you can do. I noticed this only when it was almost too late – and I’m happy that I only needed a few days to step my game up again.
When you experience fatigue, exhaustion, or any of the other symptoms I mentioned – what do you do to deal with them?
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