Burnout vs Languishing
Do you ever feel like every day is the same? Does caring for your work or home life take too much energy? Are you exhausted all the time? Burnout is a stage of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Many people experience some kind of burnout in their lives that can become hard to manage. So how can we help ourselves get through burnout? The first step is figuring out what your burnout is related to and differentiating it from languishing.
What is languishing and how is it different from burnout?
There has been a lot of monotony this year during the pandemic that caused people to feel like there is no end. Some have been working from home and haven't been able to separate their workspace from their home life. Others feel like they have extreme expectations placed on them by their boss, partners, or even themselves, with little reward in return.
To recognize burnout it’s important to know it differentiates from languishing. Burnout can cause feelings of anger and exhaustion that lead to thoughts of hopelessness. Whether it’s at work or at home, as stress levels go up, performance levels go down. While burnout is a form of job-related stress, languishing is feeling a lack of focus and low mental wellbeing without a diagnosable mental health condition. This term was created by a sociologist named Corey Keyes who noticed that a lot of people who weren’t depressed were still not thriving. Mental health is a spectrum between depression and flourishing where languishing falls in the middle. Flourishing refers to the other end of the spectrum where you are thriving mentally. Many people experiencing languishing have found themselves feeling a general sense of emptiness, lack of motivation, and trouble concentrating since the start of the pandemic.
How to cope with work-related burnout
There is a “three r approach” to burnout: recognize, reverse, and resilience. If we can recognize and help ourselves then we can find a way to move forward. Recognizing the factors that contribute to burnout is important. These factors fall into three categories: work, lifestyle, and personality.
Work: having little or no control over work, demanding expectations, stressful environment, monotonous work
Lifestyle: expectations from a lot of people, lack of sleep, lack of support system
Personality traits: perfectionism, pessimism, wanting control, type A personality
So how do we prevent this?
Recognize and address the issue: It’s important to talk to someone about feeling burnout whether it’s with a coworker, manager, or HR.
Ask for clarification of your job description or ask for new responsibilities: the monotonous routine of work can sometimes cause burnout. Try to change it up a little by asking for new responsibilities.
Take a break: It’s okay to slow down sometimes. Taking breaks is necessary for your mental health.
Seek professional support: Mental health support doesn't have to be long-term, but it is a great option for dealing with burnout. You get an opportunity to talk through your issue and objectively look at what's going on so you can get past the situation.
Create boundaries: Communication is key and any kind of communication is better than giving up. Sometimes it’s necessary to tell your manager that you can’t make 2 PM meetings because your kid needs to be picked up at a certain time. We’re all dealing with life transitions, especially because of the pandemic, and people are much more open to communication.
How to cope with languishing
To those who find themselves languishing, it’s important to name what you’re feeling and prioritize self-care. Most people don’t even notice the little changes in themselves when they’re languishing. Acknowledging what you’re feeling can be especially difficult when you feel like you aren’t dealing with a more serious issue, but the best way to keep moving forward is to not minimize your struggles. These feelings of stagnation and not functioning at full capacity won’t last forever. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help or talk to someone you feel comfortable with about what you’re feeling. Make sure you are focusing on small goals and accomplishments. Give yourself uninterrupted time to feel a sense of progress. Try to break the sense of monotony by changing your surroundings. Not being depressed doesn’t mean you’re not struggling, and acknowledging that is the first step.
If you are experiencing burnout or languishing, know you’re not alone in how you are feeling, and that you don’t have to fight your battles by yourself.
If you are seeking professional help, Trust Mental Health can match you with a professional therapist that can help you work through feelings of burnout and languishing. Our therapists come from a wide array of backgrounds and can speak many languages. Set up a free consultation with us to learn more.