Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I am really struggling right now and considered ringing 111 for urgent mental health help... but I just don't know if it is going to do any good or just cause more stress. Does anyone have experiences of ringing 111? Was it useful? I am severely burnt out, exhausted and in desperate need of a break, but I have to still meet one deadline by next week (an interview and presentation which could possibly do some good in long term and which I spent a lot of energy on over past weeks..) and then there is work... I am physically also in a fragile state as well as mentally being completely out of it- just can't focus, have no energy or motivation at all and just so frustrated that I seem to almost hate things I normally love. I keep crying because I feel so desperate and can't see a way forward and I am so worried about the future and if I will ever cope with a PhD or a full time job... I just feel like such a failure and so lazy that I can't seem to get the energy together for this final push... but then the issue is that it never stops. And I just don't see myself coping with my job much longer either (i don't like it and it has been very intense).... Sorry. I am rambling on. So sorry for being such a mess.
I hope you are feeling a little less overwhelmed today.
When I am overwhelmed, which really does not take much these days, I find it helps if I just stop and ask myself which one thing is the most important? Our monotropic brains work best when focussing on one thing at a time. From your comments it seems that your upcoming interview may be the one thing you need to focus on right now.
Work is an unnecessary distraction and you need to take a few days off, on sick leave if necessary.
Any thoughts or worries about the future are also an unnecessary distraction. Try some mindfulness type practices to notice when your thoughts are drifting to worries about the future and try to gently bring them back to the current task.
If you can clear your mind of everything but the current task it should make focus a little easier to achieve. If you still can't focus try breaking it down into smaller manageable chunks. It's easier said than done I know, especially when as burnt out as you are.
Try not to beat yourself up about it. You have been through so much lately and you are certainly not a failure. No job is worth suffering major burn out for. The effects of a major burnout can take years to recover from and maybe some skills will never recover completely I speak from personal experience of my major burnout more than 20 years ago.
Take good care of yourself.
Thank you so much. This was very good advice and it really helped me. I survived my interview today. Sadly, I have had more work piled on for next days at my job so my plan of recuperating a bit by taking it easy the next days is not happening. I am still barely functioning and I desperately need a break. I am trying to make it happen but it's hard to sort anything out, let alone make decisions (which I find extremely difficult even at my best) when I am in such a burnt out state... I've had burnout before (though until recently I didn't realise that was what I experienced on so many occasions), quite badly too - I never recovered properly from the last burnout and was forced to jump back in at 5% battery which is how I ended up burntout even more severely now... it's terrifying... I feel broken and dysfunctional. I can't think. Usually I am always thinking but at times now I just feel catatonic and blank
I am sorry to hear that your work caused you such a bad burnout. I hope you feel recovered now and have managed to remove some of the factors that contributed to it from your life.
Ann :) said:I survived my interview today
Well done to you, Ann!