Burn out

[Everglow.]

How do you know when you're reaching burn out & how do you deal with that?

For context:

I have been working a new job since April. When I joined it was a team of three.
One colleague left unexpectedly without any notice.
My manager then left (she'd announced she was leaving a year ago).
I'm now the only person on the team. I take on a case load, do home visits, and it's intense work. I'm taking on the entire case load.
We have stopped most new enquiries, but some work needs to be coming in to keep us running.
I've been alone for 2 months and my to-do list is growing and growing and there seems to be no end in sight. It's a hard area to recruit for because it's so specialist so any attempt to find a new manager has failed so far.

So yeah How do I prevent myself from going crazy? I am starting to feel the pressure a bit and just need some coping mechanisms really!

[Ennui.]

When I still had my job I thought I was feeling burned out when there were more days that you dread going to work than not. I mean, nobody WANTS to work, but when you're spending the night before really dreading going in the next day. But, my mental health was also starting to tank around the same time so that probably had a lot to do with it too.

I think it's important to reward yourself after work, or at least after a long work week is over. It doesn't have to be anything extreme, but treating yourself to a nice dinner or even just taking a bubble bath can calm our nerves a little. Try and find little ways to treat yourself. Do you enjoy playing a certain video game, or even just sitting down with a cup of your favorite beverage and reading a book? Do kind things for yourself like that. It also gives yourself something to look forward to on a tough day. I could say "work sucks, but at least I can come home and watch this series on Netflix."]

I don't know if that's helpful at all, but I hope it is!

[Ambedo.]

Burnout can be so challenging to deal with! Even if you really enjoy what you're doing, burnout can make you start to dread it instead.

One thing that I've always found helpful is creating the best version of work/life balance that I can. There have definitely been times that it's easier said than done, though! If you're finding that creating a true balance is challenging at the moment, focus on small things that you can look forward to. It could be something as simple as watching a favorite show or movie in the evening, grabbing coffee or dinner with friends at least once a week, or shutting off your phone completely for an hour and engaging in self-care. If you do have time in your schedule for a greater balance, try dedicating some of that time to allow yourself to decompress and do the things that you enjoy doing and the rest of the time to engaging in social acticities with friends, family, your partner, etc.

I hope that made some kind of sense! It really is a trial and error thing until it starts to feel right, but you'll definitely get there!

[WhisperingSilence]

I've also burnt out, burn-outs suck big time, I find trying to factor in days off/time to myself helps (though thats often like alot easier said than done). is there a way to ask others you work with (like from a different department) to help out, to like maybe share some of the work load even if its just basic things like filing something somewhere etc.
getting early nights can help though again thats easier said than done.

[Dawn.]

Hi there,
I'm sorry to hear that you have burn out.
I also suffered from burn out, big time. It definitely wasn't a nice feeling and my mental and physical health was affected. It took me a while to be able to recover from it and even now, I still experience burn out. I became so frustrated with myself for allowing myself to still work at a toxic environment and not say anything. I have gradually learned that I had to do things for myself and not for anyone else.
Have you spoken to your manager about how you are feeling?
When you are at work, you can always try taking 5 minute breaks every 30 minutes or so to be able to give yourself time to recover from the workload.
We can't be expected to continuously work until it breaks us.
I hope this helped and if you need anything, feel free to message me.