A few weeks ago I was having one of those days where I realized I was feeling completely drained. It was near the end of a long week (but not quite the end yet) and I was just feeling wiped out. It wasn’t that anything huge had happened, but I was just feeling completely exhausted and wiped out. What I realized was that I was working all week, non-stop. Even though I enjoyed a great deal of the work, it was still the constant state of being “on” and productive that had me feeling this exhaustion.

It is especially prevalent in a profession where we care for other people and focus on their needs constantly. This intense focus on caring for another can often leave you totally immersed in what they need, and you may end up forgetting to check in with your own needs.

This was the case for me. I had crammed my schedule full, without much time to take a mental break, move my body or even sit down and eat without rushing. I was working from the moment my daughter and husband left, to the second they got back and sometimes even later. Each day I would go straight from caring for my clients all day to caring and focusing on my family. By the end of the week, I was drained, grumpy and felt like I was a bit useless as a caregiver on every front.

This type of exhaustion is referred to as Emotional Exhaustion. It is a sense of fatigue, both physical and emotional, that can hit you when you are chronically stressed, or even just overworked. It is a feeling of being depleted and drained, even if you haven’t been particularly active. Being emotionally exhausted can make it difficult to focus, show compassion or be interested in the things around you. It can make you feel completely and totally drained, as if the simplest task would use all of the energy you have left.

Feeling this way once in a while can be frustrating and a bit alarming. You might think you are getting ill, need more sleep or haven’t eaten enough good foods. When you feel this way day after day, you start to think it is more serious. You might consider that you have a serious illness or, if you correlate it to your work, that you are in the wrong job and wrong field. It can start to make it harder to keep your relationships healthy, as you don’t have the energy to maintain them. You may notice your work starting to slip, or your attitude about it changing.  If left unattended, this type of draining stress can lead you to burn out.

Before this becomes part of your daily routine, try these 5 things to prevent emotional exhaustion. If you are already feeling drained each day, these can help you to start to rebuild you energy and passion, reducing your risk of burn out.

5 Ways to Stop Feeling Drained from Work

• Take a break from work
  • When you are feeling drained, it is often because you aren’t taking the breaks you need for your body and brain to function at their optimal levels. Taking a break helps you to clear your head and shift your focus, which will help you have more attention again once you need to return to the task. Moving your body will help to circulate your blood and breath, which will help energize you and reduce that feeling of being drained. Plus, breaks help you to step away from the task or activities that are causing you to be drained, so you don’t feel like they are all you have in your day.
• Fuel Your Needs
  • It is all too common in the mornings to rush out of the house or head to your office without taking time to nourish your body (and mind). As the day goes on, you might find you have little time to actually stop and eat, due to schedule demands, so you push through the day on a combination of grab-n-go, snack foods, coffee and sugar. As an educated adults, you know this isn’t the best way, but you are strapped for time and already stressed out, so it’s just not the first thing you think of when planning your day. Then you get stuck in a cycle of feeling more stressed and tired, due to the lack of nutrition, and so you don;t have the energy to make better food or food choices.
  • When your body and mind are fueled with more nourishing foods, it helps you to feel better, think clearer and be more energetic and productive all day. Instead of preparing elaborate meals, try keeping fresh fruit and vegetables on hand, along with easy grab-n-go snacks like nuts, yogurt or healthier granola bars. It’s not about perfection, just about nourishing more.
• Keep track of your energy
  • It might not be the tasks you have each day or workload that is leaving you feeling drained. It might be your energy levels and the work you are doing. Everyone functions differently, so you have different energy levels than you co-workers and clients. You might find that you have more energy for certain tasks at specific times during the day, and that you feel less drained when your energy matches these tasks.
  • For example, I can write and do paperwork in the late evenings, right before bed. It doesn’t leave me drained at all and I often find I do my best work at this time. I do not, however, have the energy to clean my house at this time. If I do, I end up really grumpy and drained, versus when I clean up right after work ends and I work efficiently. Once I realized this, I figured out how to make shifts that worked with my energy, so I wouldn’t feel depleted every night. When you work with your energy levels, instead of just the time you feel like you should do something, it can help you to be more efficient and feel better throughout the day. Even small shifts help.
• Make time for yourself
  • If you don’t have time to take care of yourself and recharge, you won;t be able to keep taking care of other people. This is a surefire ways to start feeling compassion fatigue and, eventually, burn out. Taking time for yourself, either a small amount each day or a bigger amount a few times a week, can make a huge difference to reduce stress and mental fatigue. This is referred to as Self-Care and encompasses anything that helps you to check in with yourself, take a break and recharge.  It is commonly thought of as yoga or meditation, but can also be reading a book, taking a bath, going for a run, or anything else that helps you to connect to how you are doing and feeling, so you can better care for others.
• Have a transition between work and home
  • There are many days when work is hectic and you spend the day taking care of and thinking of others non-stop. And there are often just as many days when this doesn’t change once you get home. You might continue to think and care about your patients, spending your evenings and weekends researching what to do to make them improve. You might have a family at home that needs you to care for them and have your you attention. This non-stop, 24/7 care giving can be beautiful and wonderful, but can also be very exhausting. To help, have some kind of transition between work and home that gives you a few moments to drop out of one and into the other, with a little space in between the two for yourself. This could be listening to your favorite book in the car on the way home, a yoga class, a meditation practice or hike, or anything that you have time for and that gives you a clear separation.

If you are feeling drained after work, but really used to love your setting or career, it may be due to Emotional Exhaustion, leading to Compassion Fatigue and Burn Out. Try these 5 things, one or all, to help you reduce the feelings of mental fatigue that can come with caring for others. If you need a little more support, join the SLP Toolbox and get free meditations and journals to help you get started.

To dive into it even further, schedule a free consultation to discuss how we can work together to help you reduce your stress, anxiety and burn out, while bringing you back into balance as a kick-butt SLP.

Much Love,