Exhausted Mothers And The Burnout Syndrome

We always want to have everything under control and just when we think we’ve finally done it, we get exhausted. Combining work, family, our love life, family life and friends is an increasingly complex problem. Our lives get busier and busier as the years go by. More and more responsibilities are piling up and we want to carry them all. This is where the burnout syndrome comes from.

Often it is fathers and mothers who suffer from this syndrome. After all, parenthood can demand a lot from us and require us to put our own interests aside. If this is you, now is the time to act. If we neglect ourselves, paradoxical as it may seem, we will become exhausted. We will run out of strength and eventually neglect our children as well.

Exhausted mothers with burnout syndrome

People with this syndrome experience intense, damaging stress as a result of their failed attempts to reconcile their family and social lives. It mainly affects mothers as they are the ones who traditionally take care of the children. Fortunately, fathers have a more active role these days. The disadvantage of this is that they are also affected by stress.

The burnout syndrome that exhausted mothers develop is essentially very acute or chronic stress. It is accompanied by the feeling that everything is becoming too much for them. They feel that everything is going wrong and that they are out of control.

The strange thing is that experiencing stress keeps us alive. It is the result of the release of adrenaline or cortisol, hormones that have helped us survive or flee from predators in the past. However, it becomes problematic when this threat doesn’t really exist.

Today, the causes of our stress are very different, but our bodies continue to prepare us for primitive situations in which we have to survive. That is why it is essential to set good priorities.

What are the causes of burnout syndrome?

As we mentioned, the main cause of burnout syndrome is the stress that occurs because we want to keep all the balls in the air. Family, friends, work and relationships are all essential. However, when we can’t give them all the attention we think they deserve, we become frustrated and angry.

The funny thing is, we often think we can. That we can get to work early, help our kids, have a healthy life, get together with the family once a week, and go out with friends at night – and still get a good night’s sleep . Unfortunately we are not superheroes. We must therefore learn to organize our time more realistically.

How do I know if I have it?

How can you tell if you are exhausted and suffering from burnout syndrome? The answer is simple. When you can’t sleep well, when you become obsessive in your thinking, and when you blame everyone around you for your problems. You hibernate, don’t worry about your social life and just sleep on the couch. This will lead to isolation. Loved ones may no longer count on you and you will start to feel alone and guilty.

What should we do about burnout syndrome?

To solve the problem, there are some important things to keep in mind:

• Let’s accept that we can’t always do everything. We are not able to do everything we want. Sometimes we think we have time for all our responsibilities and still have time to relax, but this is not always true.
• This, of course, means that we need to start delegating. We should not be afraid to leave certain responsibilities to others when our health is at stake. This allows us to rest and resume those tasks when we feel stronger.

• Some things simply can’t be delegated and while we’re not going to like hearing it, we may have to give up some things that we really like. For example, if we don’t have time to clean and keep our house in order, maybe we shouldn’t think about buying an even bigger house. Or if the kids want a pet and we barely have time to ourselves, it might not be such a good idea to bring one into the house.
• To organize our lives we must first organize our minds ; we have to set priorities. There may be aspects of our lives that seem essential to us, but are actually not. It’s important to think about the things we can do without.

Don’t blame yourself (or others)

Guilt is an emotion that keeps us from moving forward. While our intentions may be good when we try to keep all the balls in the air, we shouldn’t blame ourselves if we fail. Instead, we should come up with solutions and also not blame the people around us, even if it feels good.

Enjoy the small things

Just because we don’t have everything under control doesn’t mean we should feel like a failure. Our minds simply fit more than our hands, and that’s okay. Our main goal should therefore be to find time to enjoy the small moments, both alone and with others. Let’s spread peace and happiness.