How to Recover From Job Burnout

Feeling burnt out at work is draining and, unfortunately, all too common. Unlike everyday work stress, which tends to ease with time and rest, work burnout is more pervasive, leaving you feeling exhausted, detached and less effective at work. Often arising from prolonged workplace pressure, burnout isn’t a personal failing - it’s a valid response to sustained stress. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to put up with feeling this way. As we’ll explore in this article, with the right steps and support, you can recover from job burnout, rebuild your energy and get back to feeling more like yourself.

Signs of Job Burnout

How do you know whether you’re experiencing regular work stress that will pass, or something more persistent like work burnout?

There are several signs of job burnout to look out for, ranging from physical symptoms to emotional and behavioural changes. Recognising these signs of burnout can help you understand what you’re experiencing and identify when it may be time to make some changes or take a step back. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common signs of job burnout.

Physical Signs

• Persistent exhaustion: A deep sense of fatigue that doesn’t ease with rest, making your workdays feel difficult and leaving you with little energy to enjoy your evenings and weekends.

• Sleep disruption: You might wake during the night feeling stressed or find it difficult to switch off as your mind races through work tasks and worries. Annoyingly, poor sleep can then leave you feeling even more fatigued during the working day, leading to something of a vicious cycle.

• Getting sick more often: Prolonged stress can affect the body in several ways including a more vulnerable immune system, and you may find yourself feeling rundown or getting sick more frequently during busy periods at work.

Emotional Signs

• Detachment: You might feel increasingly disengaged from your work, team or workplace, with less emotional investment than you used to have. This might look like dropping your output, or taking more days off to try and cope with how you’re feeling.

• Cynicism: You might feel increasingly negative about projects, situations or managers, finding yourself complaining more often without feeling motivated to make changes.

• Irritability: Maybe you have a shorter fuse than usual, becoming frustrated or irritated with colleagues over things that previously wouldn’t have bothered you.

• Monday dread: While everyone experiences the Sunday scaries from time to time, persistently dreading the start of a new working week can be a sign that something about work isn’t feeling sustainable.

• Feeling flat: You’ve lost the sense of satisfaction or enjoyment you once got from tasks that previously felt rewarding, leaving work feeling flat or meaningless.

If any of these signs of burnout sound familiar, take our ‘Am I Burnt Out?’ quiz to get a better sense of where you stand.

How to Recover From Job Burnout

The good news is that recovery from job burnout is possible, and feeling this way now isn’t a life sentence. With the right support and some practical changes, you can begin to rebuild your energy and wellbeing. Let’s explore some practical ways to start the process of job burnout recovery.

Address the Source

The first step is to identify what’s driving your burnout. Is it your workload, the role itself, the environment, or a combination of things? Once you have a clearer idea of what’s contributing to how you’re feeling, consider what can realistically change and what may be outside your control. We find this can help you focus your energy on practical changes that may make work feel more manageable.

Prioritise Real Rest

When you’re burnt out, prioritising genuine rest is immensely important for giving yourself space to recover. This means more than simply getting extra sleep - and unfortunately also means taking time away from screens to make time for activities that allow you to properly switch off, rather than filling your downtime with passive scrolling. Cliched as it may sound, walking, reading, yoga or journaling can all be ways to slow down, reset and reconnect with yourself.

Rebuild Boundaries

When you’re experiencing burnout, it can be difficult to protect your time and energy, particularly if you’ve become used to taking on extra work or responding to emails outside your usual hours. Where possible, practise saying no to additional demands when your workload is already full, and give yourself permission to properly switch off at the end of the working day. Creating a clearer boundary between work and personal time can give you more space to rest and recover.

Reconnect With Support

Burnout can leave you feeling so overwhelmed and drained that you don’t have much energy left for socialising, which can make it tempting to withdraw from the people around you. But staying connected with friends, family and trusted colleagues can help you feel less isolated as you recover. Make an effort to prioritise the relationships that matter to you, and where you feel comfortable, be open about what you’re experiencing and the support you might need.

Consider Therapy for Burnout

Therapy for burnout is another option to consider if you’re finding it difficult to recover on your own. A counsellor can work with you to understand and unpack the factors contributing to burnout, identify where healthier boundaries may be needed, and explore the guilt or self-blame that can often become tangled up with the experience. With this support, you can begin to better understand what you need to recover and develop strategies to protect your wellbeing at work.

Find Support Near You

Recovering from job burnout is genuinely possible, and you don’t have to navigate it alone. Everyone’s experience is different; while recovery may take weeks for some people, it can take longer for others. What matters is giving yourself the time, support and space you need to move towards feeling more like yourself again. 

If burnout is affecting your wellbeing or making it difficult to manage day-to-day life, speaking with a counsellor can be a helpful next step. Life Supports can connect you with a counsellor suited to your unique circumstances, helping you find support that feels right.

We’re available 7 days a week - Mon–Fri 8am–8pm and Sat–Sun 9am–5:30pm. No GP referral is required, and you can tailor your sessions to how you like them, whether that’s face-to-face, online or over the phone. To make a booking, call us today on 1300 735 030 or make a confidential enquiry here.