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If there were ever a buzzword to escape 2020 and climb on over to 2021, it would burnout. The pandemic has caused people of all different walks, ages, and professions—especially healthcare to experience extreme levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. There is no doubt that the majority of us never expected anything like the COVID-19 pandemic to become a reality – at least not in our lifetimes. So, what do we do with this new, ever-present burnout that we are dealing with on a near-daily basis? Burnout typically refers to how we feel towards our jobs and our careers, but has it taken on a whole new meaning now that most of us are working from home? And those who aren’t now having to worry about what they may be bringing home from their job.

 

This is what we are going to be discussing in today’s episode. We are going to cover what burnout is, its signs, and how it is becoming an all-encompassing state of being. We are also going to touch on tough love and how we can fight this COVID-19 burnout with a healthy dose of it. So, settle in and buckle up as we get ready to tackle these two, unfortunately, very relevant topics.

What is burnout?

 

Believe it or not, the term burnout is relatively modern. It was coined in a book from 1974 titled Burnout: The High Cost Of High Achievement, authored by Herbert Freudenberg. He applied the term to a professional setting describing burnout as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one's devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.”  Essentially, burnout is a reaction to prolonged or chronic job stress that is characterized by three main dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of reduced professional ability.

 

Again, we see this as a term that is used in a professional setting. However, it is very clear that burnout is now something that presents itself in nearly every aspect of our lives. This is likely because we are, in some ways, in survival mode. We are living day to day and putting in the work to complete the tasks that will keep things going. We have lost sight of our long-term goals and desires because we have absolutely no idea as to what is going to happen and what we can expect.

 

Though burnout typically refers to our jobs or career, it is easy to see how this state of being could easily translate into other areas of our lives. The first dimension of burnout, exhaustion – do I even have to explain this one? We are all so clearly exhausted, which is to be expected from the constant and ever-present stress. Don’t forget, we are all going through something that has no definitive end and has impacted our lives immeasurably. It is nearly impossible to feel energized during the current state of everything.