A corona burnout: how do you recognize it?

A corona-burnout: Because of the corona virus you have had to deal with a lot of changes from one moment to the next. You work from home, your daily routine is no longer the same and suddenly you are not so sure whether you will keep your job.

Do you experience more stress since the corona crisis? Are you very tired lately and do you often feel listless? Then watch out for a corona burnout. The changes, job insecurity and increased work pressure can exhaust you mentally.

Fatigue due to changes

At the beginning of the pandemic, you were perhaps secretly happy with the changes. You were allowed to work from home, you didn’t have to stand in traffic jams for hours and you could organise your time yourself. Finally a calmer life.

At least, that’s what you thought! Without you noticing it, the sudden changes demanded a lot of you. Especially because you did not choose these changes yourself, but they were imposed on you by others.

You need mental resilience to adapt. Some people are more adaptable than others and adapting to change takes a lot of energy. Despite the fact that your life is less hectic now that you can work from home, you can suffer more from fatigue.

Increased workload due to corona crises

The pressure of work may also be higher than before the crisis. Because of the infections, employees have dropped out, but the work has to continue. That may mean that you are expected to do something extra. And because you are afraid of losing your job, you accept.

Even if the work pressure is actually too high for you. You are now on dangerous ground. You experience more pressure and stress and you don’t dare to tell your employer how you are really doing. The longer you stay on your toes, the greater the risk of burnout.

Financial uncertainty causes stress

We live in times of uncertainty. You do not know exactly how long we will have to live with this virus. Will there be a second wave? A second lockdown? And on top of that, you still have the fear of losing your job or you may already be out of work.

This financial uncertainty can cause a great deal of stress. When you are stressed, your brain consumes more energy than normal. You exhaust the stress associated with long-term insecurity. Moreover, this stress affects your sleep. You are tired and then you cannot get to sleep well and you sleep less deeply. You get burned out more and more.

Loneliness is the culprit

Another factor that comes into play and that you don’t immediately think about is loneliness. If you are single and live alone, chances are that you are much more alone than before. You have less or no contact with your colleagues, family and friends. Before, you used to have a chat during the coffee break and now you spend literally the whole day alone.

In itself it’s not a bad thing to be alone a lot if you have social contact in other ways, for example through video calls. But if you don’t meet your social needs, you can fall into loneliness. And loneliness can lead to burnout complaints.

The disadvantages of working from home

Working from home undoubtedly brings many advantages. You save travelling time, traffic jams and therefore money. But unfortunately there are also disadvantages. For example, the separation between work and private life has suddenly been largely abolished.

Home has become your workplace. You start working overtime faster, work at crazy times or continue to work when you don’t really feel that fit. You take less breaks or even completely forget to take a break. And even when your work is finished or you have a day off, you may feel that you are still at work.

It doesn’t seem so bad to skip a break every now and then or to work until the late hours, but it can become a habit. And that can leave you with serious stress or burnout complaints.

What’s more, you’ve been sitting more since you started working from home. You no longer cycle to work and you no longer have a walk in your break. You sit at your desk all day long. Sitting inside all day and having little exercise also makes you tired. You need exercise to concentrate and to reduce stress.

Tips to prevent corona burnout

We have listed a number of tips for you:

Live per day

We simply do not know what the world will be like in a few months’ time or what the financial situation will be like then. What you do know is that you personally have no control over it. Unfortunately, you cannot change the situation.

No matter how much you worry or worry about it, it won’t help. The trick, therefore, is to deal with these uncertainties as well as possible. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Be happy and satisfied with everything you have. If you lose your job in a few months, you can worry about it. As long as that doesn’t happen and you can still provide for your basic needs, you have no reason to panic.

Indicate your limits

It is important that you remain honest with yourself and know your limits. If the workload is too high and you have more assignments than you can handle, report this to your manager. This is not a sign of weakness, but rather of strength. You are more useful to your manager if you are honest than if you are burnt out and can no longer do anything for six months.

Provide sufficient rest

Especially now that your life seems to be calmer, it is important to actually provide sufficient rest. Try to keep your work separate from your private life and close yourself off from work after working hours. Make a good schedule for yourself and plan moments of rest.

Get plenty of exercise

Especially now that you work from home and sit at your desk all day, it is even more important to ensure that you get enough exercise. Can you run through the park in the morning? Do your shopping by bike instead of car? Or walk around your neighbourhood during your break? Look for opportunities to get enough exercise. You’ll see that more exercise does you good.

Training and coaching

Milltain provides training and coaching for private individuals and organisations. Our team consists of 35 coaches and trainers who have now helped thousands of people struggling with stress and burnouts.

Milltain for private individuals:

Are you stuck in life because of stress or a burnout? We developed an effective online program that is fully focused on the complete recovery from a burnout. More than 2000 people have successfully completed this training!

Movement and nature play prominent roles in this training. Recovery is a process that contains peaks and troughs, and that’s something we know all about. Our highly experienced coaches provide you with active support.

Learn more: Stress and burnout coaching