Burnout is a recognized clinical condition with distinct stages and causes. Understanding it is the first step to recovering from it.
When someone is struggling with burnout, they often receive advice like 'just take a break' or 'you need to toughen up.' This reflects a profound misunderstanding of what burnout actually is.
Burnout is not tiredness that a holiday can fix. It is a state of chronic stress that has led to physical, emotional, and cognitive exhaustion — and it requires a considered, sustained approach to recover from.
**The three dimensions of burnout** (Maslach & Leiter):
1. **Exhaustion** — Feeling depleted of emotional and physical resources. Not just tired — fundamentally empty.
2. **Cynicism (Depersonalization)** — Emotional detachment from work, feeling disconnected and indifferent to things that once mattered.
3. **Reduced efficacy** — Feeling that nothing you do makes a difference, loss of confidence and competence.
**Who is most at risk?**
Burnout is not exclusive to overachievers. It's most common among people who:
- Have high personal investment in their work
- Operate in environments with chronic mismatch between demand and resources
- Have difficulty setting limits or saying no
- Feel a sense of duty or guilt around rest
**Recovery is a process, not an event.**
Effective recovery from burnout involves:
- Reducing load (sometimes this means structural changes to work)
- Addressing the cognitive patterns that maintain overcommitment
- Rebuilding physical health — sleep, movement, nutrition
- Processing underlying emotions — grief, anger, and the loss of identity that often accompanies burnout
- Rebuilding meaning and a relationship with work that is sustainable
