Is Experiencing a Burnout Good or Bad?

A fast-paced world and burnouts go hand in hand. I’m sure most or all of us have experienced many types of burnout over the years -- knowingly or unknowingly. So what exactly is burnout? How do we reach a burnout point? What are the types of burnout? How do I personally get out of it and are there any benefits to be found in that situation? Let's examine the information. What is a Burnout? In simplest terms, getting burned out means getting exhausted or feeling exhausted in doing the bare minimum. Burnout consists of huge phases of exhaustion. One may feel 'screwed up' throughout the process of doing anything or everything; The mind doesn’t want to work at all. 'Activities' like just sitting on a chair and staring outside the window for hours might feel better than doing any other activity. Or you may just want to lie down all day. And in the end, one has no idea what to do to feel better. There can be a hundred things going around in one's head at any point in time and you have almost zero clarity and control over your thoughts. Burnouts may differ from person to person as well, like no motivation to carry out anything throughout the day, piled up stress, peak exhaustion, etc. Burnout is mainly caused or occurs after a phase of working and stressing yourself out more than you should or you should’ve. People doing a job may get something known as 'career burnout’ due to the workload. Content creators may get ‘content fatigue’ or ‘creative blocks’ due to excessive thinking and creating content. What are the Types of Burnout? There are majorly 3 types of burnout. 1. Overload Burnout Overload burnout occurs when you relentlessly work to get somewhere or achieve something, be it for fame or anything else. Here you are just working hard day in and day out and/or loading yourself with a lot of responsibilities, and in the process burn out your mind and body. One might even put his health and personal life at risk in pursuit of getting somewhere. 2. Under Challenge Burnout Just as a lot of work puts you in burnout, a lack of excitement in the work or lack of challenging work can also put you in a burnout phase. If you’re not stimulated enough or if you haven't worked hard enough, even then you may find yourself easily drifting into an unhealthy state. It may be that you’re not satisfied with your job or the company etc. in these scenarios people go into under-challenge burnout. 3. Neglect Burnout This usually takes place when you are working hard enough but nobody is appreciating your work or is not considerate about your work or the part you play. One feels zero engagement with the work or environment in which they are, that is when you land into neglect burnout. My Suggestions for How to Beat the Burnout I believe that burnout has a lot to do with the environment that you’ve created or ended up in. I deal with burnout by shifting or changing the whole frame of reference. For example: Going on a short trip, changing what I focus on for a period of time, and just making sure I’m not doing any of the things which put me into the state of burnout in the first place. A complete change of frame of mind for a period of time also helps you get back to work and be more effective. Another way is to sleep a lot, yes it helps a lot. So, is Burnout Good or Bad? Burnout can be seen as you hitting your ceiling or reaching your max potential for that moment. So after reaching this point, the next time your 'ceiling' may be at another height, and so on. So in my perspective, you are breaking your barriers and pushing your limits little by little every time with burnout. And with each passing burnout, one may start to figure out the individual processes unique to their brain, or how to deal with your brain when it’s completely not working. I believe burnout is a great way to measure your personal growth without any unnecessary external comparison.