Whether you feel it at work or in everyday life, stress is an interesting and complicated phenomenon. On one hand, some types of stress are beneficial. Short-term stress, even if it’s difficult and challenging, can often make you stronger. But long-term or very acute stress is often damaging to the mind, spirit, and even the body—especially if it leads to burnout.
Positive Stress
The positive form of stress is often called “eustress.” It’s a healthy, rewarding type of stress that can motivate you and push you to perform better. While you might feel nervous or have a heightened sense of alertness before a challenging task, such as starting a new job, preparing for a wedding, or meeting an ambitious personal goal, eustress leaves you feeling energized, excited, and ready to tackle new challenges.
At work, it’s good to feel rewarding stress. It’s a natural response to the demands and challenges that come with job responsibilities, deadlines, and interactions with coworkers or clients. Managing projects and multiple tasks can create pressure, especially when you need to meet certain expectations or juggle competing priorities. This kind of eustress can be motivating, helping you stay focused and productive. It’s part of the learning process and can help you grow professionally.
Unhealthy Stress
While some types of stress are normal and can be beneficial by keeping you engaged and productive, chronic or overwhelming stress can become problematic. Healthy stress is short-term, manageable, and often leads to growth, learning, or increased productivity. In contrast, unhealthy stress is persistent, overwhelming, and leads to physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion.
If stress becomes a constant companion and starts affecting your mental health, performance, or well-being, you should explore ways to manage or reduce it, such as practicing mindfulness, seeking support, or addressing specific stressors in the workplace.
When Stress Becomes Burnout
Sometimes, unhealthy stress can last so long and be so overpowering that it leads to burnout. Burnout is more severe, chronic, and can have significant long-term consequences on mental health, job performance, and well-being. It can produce the desire to quit your job or career, and can manifest in physical symptoms of anxiety, depression, heart disease, headaches, and chronic fatigue.
Normal workplace-related stress and workplace burnout can feel similar at times, but there are important distinctions between the two. Here are three key signs to differentiate everyday work stress from dangerous burnout:
1. Temporary Fatigue vs. Chronic Exhaustion
Normal stress: It’s natural to feel tired or drained after a busy day, especially when facing deadlines or high-pressure situations. However, this type of fatigue is usually temporary and can be relieved by rest, weekends off, or vacations.
Burnout: Emotional exhaustion, on the other hand, goes deeper. It’s a chronic sense of feeling emotionally depleted, where even time off doesn’t seem to recharge you. You may wake up already feeling tired, and the idea of facing work feels overwhelmingly burdensome. This persistent exhaustion becomes harder to recover from, leading to feelings of hopelessness or detachment.
Burnout can weaken the immune system, making you more susceptible to colds, flu, and other illnesses. The body’s ability to fight infections may diminish due to chronic stress.
2. Short-Term Mistakes vs. Long-Term Decreased Performance
Normal Stress: During high-stress periods, performance might fluctuate slightly. You might struggle with focus or productivity for a few days or weeks, but you eventually regain your effectiveness when the stressors are resolved or managed.
Burnout: Burnout leads to a sustained drop in performance. You may struggle to concentrate, feel like you’re no longer capable of achieving even routine tasks, and experience a significant decrease in motivation. This isn’t just a short-term slump; it’s a long-term erosion of your ability to function at your normal level. Over time, this can contribute to a sense of incompetence or low self-worth.
3. Occasional Frustration vs. Deep Cynicism and Detachment
Normal stress: It’s common to have moments of frustration or irritation with colleagues, bosses, or certain tasks, especially when the workload is high. However, this frustration typically subsides once the stressful period passes, and you can return to a more positive outlook.
Burnout: Cynicism is a hallmark of burnout. This manifests as a growing sense of negativity toward your job, coworkers, or even clients. You may become increasingly detached, feeling indifferent or alienated from your work. In extreme cases, this can result in a disconnection from any sense of achievement or purpose, making it hard to engage with your responsibilities in a meaningful way.
Burnout may not be recognized at the time. It often goes unnoticed until it reaches an advanced stage. People experiencing burnout may not realize how deeply they are affected until they feel completely overwhelmed, at which point standard coping strategies may not be effective.
While stress is a part of any job and can be managed, burnout is a chronic condition that leads to emotional exhaustion, negativity, a significant reduction in job performance, and even illness. If these symptoms persist and don’t improve with rest or time away from work, it may be time to seek professional help or make substantial changes to your work environment to prevent further decline.