“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” – Mark Twain

Often, office-goers struggle to start working every morning. Even working from home might seem like an extremely difficult task, much like a challenge. Many people are dealing with unclear job expectations. At times, work can feel monotonous, leading to feelings of disinterest and impatience.

Experiencing such stress is experiencing workplace burnout, meaning one is either physically or mentally exhausted by their work, which causes them to have a reduced sense of accomplishment along the way. People who are continually faced with high levels of stress are more likely to experience burnout.

A burnout may include:

• Exhaustion
• Cynicism
• Inefficiency

It is a response to interpersonal stressors on the mind of a worker.

The response includes:

• Loss of energy
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Withdrawal
• Low morale
• Reduced productivity
• Reduced personal accomplishment and more

People experiencing workplace burnout tend to develop a pessimistic approach towards their work and may find it strenuous to even get out of bed for work each morning. Frequent illness, escape fantasies, irritability, etc. are all signs of burnout.

One might show some of these symptoms, to which one must look for an appropriate way out, starting with understanding the stages of burnout.

To prevent oneself from experiencing workplace burnout, one can employ ways such as exercising, eating a healthy diet, practicing good sleeping habits, and asking for professional help. If professional help seems overwhelming, even checking in with friends and family might help reduce stress.

A Way Out…

“This is a moment of suffering. Suffering is part of life. May I be kind to myself in this moment. May I give myself the compassion I need.” – Kristen Neff

All that is required for you to start feeling better about yourself after stressful and discouraging workdays is for you to first feel compassionate towards yourself, since such a thing may have remained outside of your work schedule.

It is as easy to be compassionate towards oneself as it is to be so towards others. To feel compassion for others, you must acknowledge their suffering and feel their pain. Without empathy, there is no room made for compassion.

Self-compassion is often mistaken with feeling sorry for yourself. That’s not what it looks like. Self-compassion has more to do with acknowledging the fact that you are allowed to feel and go through all human emotions and to be understood as being normal for going through them, and that you deserve and need help through a difficult situation when it becomes too overwhelming. A good place to start exercising self-compassion in difficult times is by not suppressing your emotions and actively participating in keeping your mental state out of denial.

Acknowledging and accepting your suffering is crucial, to remind yourself that you are but a human being.

Offer to yourself the best, as you would to your loved ones during difficult times.

Taking such easy and manageable steps will help cope with stress better, increase motivation, enhance self-worth, and also reduce anxiety and stress. One can turn self-care sessions into a discipline, so one is reminded of how to progress on their desired track.

An important quality to incorporate is to express gratitude, which is likely to change one’s perspective towards work and the worth of everything that revolves around it. Along with valuing one’s accomplishments better, one must also make sure to appreciate others for their contribution or even personal growth.

“A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life.” – Christopher K. Germer

Our customized EAP solutions

At KelpHR, our experts can help you with solutions for the mental health and well-being of your employees through our Counselling and Employee Assistance Programs. For more on our customized and confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP) solutions that help provide mental health and wellness for organizations and their employees, do get in touch with us at info@kelphr.com, or call us on +91-95001-29652.

About KelpHR

KelpHR was incorporated in 2013 to provide the best HR solutions to organizations, and to improve workplace culture across the board. Over the last 8 years, we have serviced more than 500 clients in India and a few overseas, across various industries in the areas of POSH (prevention of sexual harassment at workplace), D, E & I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) and EAP. But the common objective of all of these services is to build safer, happier, inclusive and productive workplaces.

For any of our other services related to Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D, E&I), do get in touch with us at info@kelphr.com, call +91-95001-29652 and we’d be able to help you with customised offerings suited to your organisation.