Young Professional Women and Burnout: The Causes, Signs, and How to Recover

Do you feel like you are constantly running on empty? Are you struggling to keep up with the demands of your job and home life? If so, you are not alone. Burnout is a common problem among young professional women. In this blog post, we will dive into the stressors that can lead to burnout and fatigue in young professional women. We will also offer our advice on how to recover from burnout, along with how therapy can help!

What is "Burnout"?

Burnout (or being burnt out) is a state of emotional and physical exhaustion. When you're burnt out you might feel unusually tired, unmotivated, and irritable. It's worth noting that burnout is not simply a case of being "stressed out." We all get a bit stressed from time to time, but burnout happens when someone feels completely overwhelmed and is unable to meet the demands of their life. Burnout makes it very challenging to complete your tasks at work, and for young professional women, burnout makes it even more difficult to juggle work, life, and families for women with partners or children. It's important to understand what burnout is so you can recognize the signs of it and take the steps you need to recover. By understanding what causes burnout, you can also prevent yourself from becoming burnt out in the future!

What Causes Burnout in Young Professional Women?

There are many different things that can contribute to burnout in young professional women. Depending on what your career looks like, your social life, or the cultural expectations that you carry, the causes of burnout may look very different for you compared to your coworkers or friends. However, there are a few common factors that lead to burnout.

Professional women often experience burnout because of unreasonable workloads.

If you're constantly being asked to do more than you can reasonably handle, it's only a matter of time before you start to feel burnt out. If your workload is consistently putting stress on your mind and body, it's time to speak up! It can be especially difficult for women in the workplace to advocate for themselves. You might be afraid that you'll look weak if you can't take on every single extra task that gets handed to you. Or maybe, you're afraid that you'll seem selfish for speaking up for your needs. Whatever you're afraid of, know that advocating for yourself is an essential part of work/life balance, something that all professionals need in order to succeed (and thrive!) in their careers.

On that note, let's talk about work/life balance!

Poor work/life balance is one of the top causes of burnout in professionals. When you're working long hours and not taking enough time for yourself, burnout is practically inevitable! The balance will look a bit different for each person, so it's important to find a balance that works for you. Make sure you're making time for the things that you enjoy outside of work and that you're prioritizing self-care on your days off.

Lastly, there's perfectionism, that thing we all know is impractical but continue to strive for anyway.

Trying to be perfect all the time is an impossible feat, and it will often make you feel inadequate. If you're constantly striving for perfection, even at the sake of your own mental and physical health, you are going to become burnout eventually. Try to set realistic standards and goals for yourself. If you're having trouble with this, make a list of your goals and then make a list of the realistic versions of those goals. If you end up going beyond that realistic goal, that's great! If you don't, try to remember that you're human and that mistakes are an essential part of learning.

These are just a few of the many stressors that can lead to burnout in young professional women. Now that you know what commonly causes burnout, try to take the necessary steps to prevent it from happening to you.

How to Recover From Burnout

If you're already feeling burnt out, don't worry! There are steps that you can take to recover. If you're reading this blog post, you may already be doing the first step: acknowledging that you're burnt out and that you need to take a step back. This might mean taking some time off work, and if you can't do that, then you definitely need to say no to additional projects or tasks while you recover.

The next step is to take care of your physical and mental health. When you're burnt out, it's easy to let your health slide. You might not feel like eating healthy meals or meditating. However, it's important to take care of yourself, even when you don't feel like it. Make sure you're getting enough sleep, staying active, and practicing self-care.

The last step is to seek professional help if you feel like you can't recover on your own.

If you're struggling with burnout, therapy is an extremely helpful resource! A burnout therapist can help you manage your stressors and create a plan to prevent burnout in the future. If you deal with anxiety or depression which makes you more prone to burnout, counseling is a key part of your mental health.

Hopefully, this article has helped to shed some light on what burnout is and how it can affect young professional women. Remember, burnout is preventable! If you're starting to feel burnt out, make sure to take the necessary steps to recover, and prevent it from happening in the future.

Begin Mindfulness Therapy in Silver Spring, MD To Curb Burnout Today!

Mindfulness therapy in Washington, DC is one of the most effective ways I’ve seen to help with burnout. If mindfulness therapy is something you’ve been interested in, or if you’re unfamiliar with the word, learn more and begin recovering from burnout. To begin, set up a free 15-minute phone consultation with me. Then, we’ll meet to discuss your needs and goals for therapy. From there, we’ll get started with sessions and you can begin adding mindfulness tools to your daily life before you know it.

Other Services at Lisa Zimmerman Therapy

If you don’t believe mindfulness is right for you, I offer other services, too, like therapy for codependency, trauma therapy, individual therapy for relationships, and more. Plus, I offer online therapy for your added convenience. Let’s get started working you through your struggles so you can find joy in the present.