Beforehand: this article is a mirror, not a diagnosis. Only a doctor can determine what is wrong with you. However, the period before a burnout does have recognizable patterns, and those who recognize them in time can often prevent it from reaching that point.
Seven signs
1. You wake up tired, even after a full night's sleep. The recovery that sleep is supposed to provide does not occur.
2. The weekend is too short. By Sunday evening, you don't feel recharged, at most a little less drained.
3. Tasks that used to be easy for you now take effort. You procrastinate, you forget things, you make sloppy mistakes that surprise even yourself.
4. Your fuse gets shorter. Colleagues, family, traffic: everything irritates you faster than you're used to.
5. You withdraw. You skip lunch, cancel social appointments, because everything feels like an extra obligation.
6. Your body participates: headaches, a tense neck, heart palpitations, or an upset stomach without a clear cause.
7. Cynicism creeps in. Work you once cared deeply about now leaves you cold or evokes aversion.
What can you do?
If you recognize multiple signs and they persist for weeks, take them seriously. Discuss it with your general practitioner, especially if you have physical complaints. And map out where you stand for yourself: our anonymous self-scan provides an initial indication in a few minutes. You complete it without an account, and the result goes to no one else.
Take the anonymous self-scan or view coaches for stress management.