Knowing how to overcome burnout is crucial to your professional life – and work from home burnout is its own breed of monster.
Over-exerting yourself in any workplace can lead to burnout symptoms, but when you work from home, they’re even more difficult to escape.
When your office is just a few steps away, it’s easy for your life to bleed into your career, making work all-encompassing and rightly overwhelming.
Work from home professionals must take special care to protect their well-being, saving them from a work-centered existence.
If you’re experiencing professional burnout, know that you’re not alone. This Indeed study reports that 52% of respondents are experiencing burnout, with higher reports for remote employees.
Luckily, there are ways to escape these statistics.
Today, we’re going to explore how to overcome burnout when you work from home, with warning signs, risk assessment, and steps to achieve a healthier professional life.
Signs of Workplace Burnout
Knowing the warning signs of burnout is important, giving you the chance to address the symptoms before you reach a crash point.
Physical symptoms of workplace burnout can look like:
- Persistent headaches
- Lower productivity
- Chronic fatigue
- Frequent illness
- Stomachaches and GI issues
- Lack of appetite
- Poor sleep
- Substance use
Mental symptoms can be even more sinister, appearing as:
- Poor mood
- Lack of motivation
- Increased cynicism
- A persistent desire to quit
- Emotional exhaustion
- Loneliness, isolation, feeling detached
- Procrastination
- Helplessness
You likely won’t experience all of these symptoms, with signs of stress manifesting differently in everyone. But a few symptoms of burnout can morph into worrying health concerns.
The Dangers of Work-Related Stress
Chronic stress is seriously harmful to your body and mental health.
According to the World Health Organization, chronic stress can worsen an existing medical condition like anxiety or depression.
Beyond that, it can have long-term repercussions on your physical health:
- Chronic pain: Chronic musculoskeletal pain in the shoulders, neck, and head
- Respiratory health: Asthma attacks, hyperventilation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Heart health: Risk of heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and heart attacks
- Endocrine system: Metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetes, chronic fatigue, and immune disorders
- Nervous system: Constant fight or flight mode triggers physical reactions all over the body
- Gastrointestinal system: Gut diseases, acid reflux, heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, stomach pain, gas, nausea, and vomiting
- Reproductive health: Irregular menstrual cycles, loss of sexual desire, difficulty conceiving, worsened premenstrual symptoms, and more severe symptoms of menopause
How to Overcome Burnout When You Work From Home
Recognizing the symptoms is one thing, but dealing with workplace burnout is a whole other beast.
Thankfully, there are simple tools that will show you how to overcome burnout. Use this post as a checklist, identifying which tools will be most beneficial to your well-being.
Care for Your Mental Health
Mental health is a huge piece of the puzzle when it comes to workplace burnout. It’s also where most physical symptoms stem from.
Above all else, ensure you’re taking measures to care for your brain.
1. Recognize your Stressors
Before you can tackle your stressors, you need to understand them.
When you feel your stress triggered throughout your day, try recording it in a notebook. When you can pinpoint a stressor, it is suddenly detached from yourself.
This can help you avoid stressors and burnout in the future.
2. Find Calm Throughout Your Work Day
We all feel overwhelmed once in a while.
Manage your stress levels by prioritizing self-care and finding calm through:
- A quick walk
- Phoning a friend
- Deep breaths
- Time with a pet
- A hot bath
- And whatever else brings you peace
3. Seek Professional Help
Attending therapy is one of your best tools against overwhelm. Psychologists help provide mental health support and give you tools to reduce stress in your day-to-day life.
Best of all, a good therapist will hold some of that stress for you, reminding you that you’re not alone.
Improve Your Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is a true balancing act when you work from home.
Separating your professional life from your personal life is easier said than done when you’re just steps away from your laptop at all times.
Having a clear separation from work can reduce your stress levels, helping you better use your personal time to focus on stress-relieving activities and anything else that brings you joy.
4. Reduce Your Workload
If you’re lacking a personal life, it may be time to reduce your workload.
Consider taking on fewer projects, learning to say no, and reducing your work hours. This extra time can help you rest, recharge, and regain control.
5. Set Firm Business Hours
It’s so important to set boundaries when you work from home. Hold firm business hours, letting colleagues know when and where it’s appropriate to reach you for work matters.
6. Delete App Notifications
When you’re getting notifications on your phone all day, every day, it can be hard to resist checking that latest Slack message.
Delete notifications for business emails and any other programs that could tempt you to work in your off-hours.
Choose Healthy Coping Mechanisms
We all cope in different ways. However, unhealthy coping mechanisms can actually lead you to higher levels of stress.
Healthy coping mechanisms will nourish your body and mind, helping you live a more balanced lifestyle.
7. Make a Dopamine Menu
If scrolling on devices is your main stress relief, I highly recommend making a dopamine menu!
These crafty menus are a physical reminder of every action that brings you joy, from quick bursts to full-day adventures.
8. Treat Physical Movement Like a Reward
Choose physical activities that you love, treating them like rewards rather than obligations.
Yin yoga is an excellent choice, perfect for meditation and mindfulness while engaging in gentle stretching to reduce your office chair stiffness.
9. Limit Substance Use
Many turn to alcohol or marijuana in moments of great stress. But overindulgence can lead to worsening health concerns that won’t help you long-term.
Instead, focus on healthy coping mechanisms for genuine joy.
10. Prioritize a Healthy Diet
We’ve all been there – trying to pass off a granola bar as lunch during your busy work day.
But making sure you’re making time for nutrient-dense meals is an important part of fueling your mind and body.
11. Set a Sleep Regimen
Stress symptoms are so much worse when we lack sleep. Set a sleep regimen that you follow every night for a better, more restful sleep.
Make an Action Plan
When you’re experiencing workplace burnout, motivation can be extremely difficult.
A manageable action plan can take the pressure of, giving you small steps to accomplish your end goal.
12. Take it Slow
There’s a lot of information on how to overcome burnout out there, but trying to do everything at once isn’t going to help you.
Try making a couple of small changes to start, building from there to create big change.
13. Follow a Schedule
Motivation is hard to find when you’re experiencing burnout, particularly when coupled with depression.
A daily routine makes each action a habit and easier to accomplish.
If you’d like a visual aid, write out a daily checklist of manageable tasks each morning; no task is too small to write down.
Lean on Your Community
External support is an important part of overcoming burnout, leaning on friends, family, co-workers, and any other trusted confidants.
14. Tell Others
Burnout can be extremely isolating, even more so when you’re working from home, away from the eyes and ears of colleagues.
It’s always a good idea to tell people you trust about these feelings. Beyond any support they can offer you, it can just feel good to get it off your chest.
15. Check Company Benefits
Many companies offer resources to help employees experiencing burnout. Check your options in terms of free counseling, professional support, stress leave, and more.
Take a Break
There’s this pervasive idea that when you’re struggling, you just need to “push through.” This hustle culture is not only toxic but will also only prolong your burnout symptoms.
Sometimes, the best thing you can do for yourself is to hit pause.
16. Take a Vacation
A little relaxation can do wonders for your health.
Take a vacation to help ground your mind. Something in nature is always healing.
17. Take a Sabbatical
There’s no shame in needing a longer break. If it’s possible in your professional situation, consider taking a sabbatical and give yourself a chance to heal your overwhelm.
Practice Self-Compassion
When we’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s easy to get down on ourselves. Remember to treat yourself with understanding, validating your stress rather than fighting it.
18. Recognize Healing is Not Linear
Each day is different. Stress will come and go. But each step you take in healing is a step towards a happier, more fulfilled life.
Consider Your Position
When it comes down to it, you may need to consider your professional role. Ask yourself:
- “Is this the job for me?”
- “Is this workplace toxic?”
- “Is it possible to reduce my workplace stress in this position?”
19. Take on a Different Role
It’s possible that you need to take on a different role to lower your stress levels.
Consider which roles offer are most compatible with your work style, which tasks you genuinely enjoy, and which parts of your career you’d rather leave behind.
20. Choose to Leave
Sometimes, burnout recovery means leaving your position altogether.
This decision shouldn’t be made hastily. If your workplace is harmful to your well-being, however, it may be time to seek new, low-stress opportunities.
Recap: How to Overcome Burnout When You Work From Home
Professional burnout is no joke, coming with a string of mental and physical symptoms that are not conducive to a fulfilled lifestyle.
It’s easy to lose your joy in the hustle. Remember to take care of yourself and prioritize your well-being over your professional goals.
Your future self will thank you!