How do you know if you are stressed and burnt out?

Find out what it really feels like to be stressed and burnt out and most importantly what you can do to recover and prevent it!

How do you know if you are stressed and burnt out?

I have to be honest with you, I probably spent years of my life in a stressed and burnt out state without even realising it. As an ambitious woman, high achiever and someone who thought striving for more was a badge of honour, this ultimately led me on a journey of self discovery and healing once I realised what I was doing to myself!

The good news is you can still be that ambitious, high achieving woman WITHOUT being stressed and burnt out at the same time.

In this blog post you can expect to learn:

How to identify the symptoms of burnout and stress

How to overcome the symptoms of high cortisol and stress

What the real cause of your stress and burnout is

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM STRESSED OR BURNT OUT?

The symptoms may present differently for everyone, but there are some COMMON FEATURES.

When your body is in a state of stress, it’s because it is being constantly triggered by something internal or external that causes it to be in a constant state of FIGHT or FLIGHT mode.

Let me clarify that, let’s imagine you see someone on the street with a knife, your brain is immediately going to recognise that as a threat before you even know about it. It’s job is to protect you on a subconscious level before you are consciously aware of the situation. Have you ever experienced that gut feeling when you know doing something is wrong, but you don’t know why? This is the reason.

Once a threat has been identified (bad news - in the 21st century, your brain doesn’t know the difference between a threat being a lion or your alarm clock!), a series of chemicals will be released in your body such as cortisol, commonly referred to as the stress hormone, and corticotrophin-releasing-hormones, which has been linked to inflammatory diseases.

These stress hormones will stay in your body, suppressing the functions of cells and organs until the stressor is gone and you are safe, then you need to recover from the effects of these hormones!

Stress can become a constant state you are not aware of until these hormones have been present long enough to damage the body, suppress the absorption of vital nutrients and ultimately make you feel tired and exhausted all the time.

Burnout could look like the prolonged effects of stress in a working environment where you are being constantly triggered by demands, bosses, workers, deadlines until the damage in your body starts to present physical symptoms such as feeling physically drained, forgetting words, taking longer to think, process information and do tasks.

FYI, no amount of coffee or believing you can be a super high-achieving woman is going to stop this process, believe me I tried!

So if you are anything like I was and pushing yourself just that little bit more even though you already feel stressed and tense, you are most likely suffering from stress or on the verge of burning out. This is a sign to rest coming from your body!

According to this report, 49% of us do NOT know how to identify when we are stressed and 91% of us reportedly experience extreme pressure or stress in the last year!

STEP ONE - become aware!

The TOP 3 SYMPTOMS of STRESS and BURNOUT:

Feeling constantly tired and no amount of sleep is bring you back to that previous energetic state.

Feeling overwhelmed like you will never get your task list done.

“Procrastinating” because you don’t have the energy to do the task, your brain needs around 20% of the energy you are consuming a day. Just because you are not working out, doesn’t mean you are not using it! No energy = No brain power.

If you are not sure if you are actually stressed, here is a quick quiz to give you some idea, but it is always recommended to seek advice from a medical professional.

HOW CAN I OVERCOME STRESS and BURNOUT?

This is a journey that will look different for everyone, but I will share with you the top 4 things that I have found over the last few years to be most effective.

First and foremost, get yourself into a more manageable state before doing the real work, which we will talk about later. If possible, reduce your work schedule or take an extended holiday. You cannot even start to recover if you are in the same environment and working like before. That is like saying “I’m going on a diet” and eating the same unhealthy meals as before and not changing anything.

TIP #1

Your body needs to rest. Sleep should be your top priority, no matter how long you need to sleep for, do it. This is when the body repairs itself, processes all the information from the day, week, month… until it has finished. The more external and internal information you give it to process the longer this will continue for. FYI that includes TV, Instagram even if it is mindless scrolling…

Okay, so that is a hint to TIP #2

Remove ANY unnecessary information you are giving your brain to process, learn, scroll, whatever…You are not in control of what your brain decides it is going to remember or what it decides is important information. There is a filter and 95% of external stimuli is processed by the subconscious. Ever wondered why you remembered something random you saw on TV or a person in the supermarket told you?

For me, this looked like: No social media, no reading, no TV, no social interaction (or very very selective), reduced studying or courses I was doing. I just did the things that were 100% necessary.

TIP #3

Something that worked for me was to cut out caffeine completely (for a while). Caffeine has been linked to increased anxiety, negative self talk and other factors that can spike cortisol levels and other stress hormones. This helped me on so many levels as I had less internal talk to process, less feelings of anxiousness and just overall more energy. Was it hard at first? Yes! The first week was a bit tough and I needed to sleep a lot more, but I didn’t really crave it because once I learnt how it was not serving me, I didn’t want it. Once I had recovered, I introduced just one cup a day an hour and a half after waking up and after eating breakfast. This has been proven to stop the cortisol spike and decrease the anxiety, as opposed to if you have a coffee first thing on an empty stomach.

TIP #4

Finally, go out in nature more! If you live in a big city like me, this can be challenging. The noise, chatter and pollution all cause stress without our awareness. Research has shown that a 20 walk in nature can reduce cortisol. Do you have 20 minutes a day to give to yourself? You can do it. Instead of writing that last email that could be done tomorrow or checking social media. Go for a walk. I really notice the difference when I do this and go to the beach every day.

Okay the moment of truth...

THE REAL CAUSE OF YOUR STRESS AND BURNOUT

No it is not working too much. It is not even pushing yourself that extra mile to prove your high achiever status.

It is the underlying CAUSE of WHY you are doing those things. Introducing…

YOUR LIMITED BELIEFS and PROGRAMMING in your brain.

There is no escape from what we learnt as a child or adult either actively or passively. Everything you were taught as a child at school, at home, by conversations you heard strangers having that you didn't even know your brain was listening to (yup). Remember that 95% of information I mentioned earlier that your subconscious decides to process? THIS is the real problem.

If you want to identify the REAL reason you are stressed, overwhelmed and burnt out, you need to do the DEEP WORK, the INNER WORK and reprogram your brain to work FOR YOU.

This is a hard process and it will take time, but I promise you IT IS WORTH IT and you deserve to live your best life.

Have I done it? Yes. I’m I still doing it? Yes. Because I now know the value this can have and the impact it can have on our lives. It is also something that is going to be continuous throughout your life because there is no such thing as perfect, done or complete. You will change. Your business will change. Your job will change. Once you accept this and stop searching for perfection and done, half the battle will be over.

Coaches have coaches, therapists have therapists and sometimes both, why not? We all support each other in bringing growth to our lives and those of others. Just venting whatever is on your mind to a coach is 100% a better idea than letting it affect your relationships and work life.

I will leave you with 3 empowering coaching questions I ask my clients to get to the root of their stress and burnout. You can journal on these (hint: this is another way of reducing stress!).

#1 What limiting beliefs or thoughts are you telling yourself? Write them down as and when they come to you, so you can identify your negative thought patterns.

#2 What happened that made you feel stressed or anxious? This will help you identify external triggers that are causing those stress responses.

#3 What is ONE thing you can change this week to experience more calm and peace in your life? Do this for yourself and see what happens.

Follow me on Instagram or Facebook @imkatherineskelly for more tips and coaching on reducing stress and overwhelm so you can become your future self and create the dream life you really want!

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