Text and Photos by Henrylito D. Tacio

“Burnout is nature’s way of telling you, you’ve been going through the motions your soul has departed; you’re a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administering stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.” – Sam Keen in Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man

Growing up in General Santos City, Rain Rivera Ramas came to Metro Manila in 2006 to work in one of the country’s noted companies. To prove that he had what it takes to become successful, he got so engrossed with his work in the corporate world.

“I worked six days a week, spending almost 12 hours in the office,” he said, adding that sometimes he had no time for himself. “My daily commute from Quezon City to Makati was an average of two hours per way.”

Although it was so strenuous and exhausting, Ramas persevered. “The pay was good, the perks were great, but the work was demanding,” he said. When he was at the office, he had to battle the three P’s: politics, protocol and pressure.

“It was a glamorous job, but it slowly lost its glitter as fast as my blood pressure rose,” he admitted. Until one day, his temper just popped. “So, I resigned,” he said.

Now, Ramas is back in his hometown running his own business “with stress levels just a small fraction of how it was before.”

Out of 69 cities from 53 different countries surveyed by think tank Savvy Sleeper, 10 cities in Asia dominate the top 10 with the highest risk of burnout. Manila made it to the top 5.

“With increasing professional pressures, heavy workloads, and unclear expectations, employees often find themselves working later, socializing less and having impacted sleep,” Savvy Sleeper said.

Based on another study done by audit and consulting firm Deloitte Philippines, it was found that 70% of the country’s workforce are experiencing burnout because of the “demands of their workload.” The percentage is very much higher than the 45% global average.

Burnout is now recognized by the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) as an occupational phenomenon.  In fact, it has been included in the United Nations health agency’s handbook of medical diagnoses, which guides health professionals around the globe.

The International Classification of Diseases states doctors can issue a diagnosis of burnout if a patient exhibits these three symptoms: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.

The diagnosis is listed in the handbook’s section on issues related to employment or unemployment. “Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life,” it states.

Dictionary defines burnout as “a state of emotional and physical exhaustion caused by a prolonged period of stress and frustration.”  It is also described as “a complete depletion of energy or strength.”

If you do nothing about your burnout, the problem will get worse. The Mayo Clinic says that you might experience the following as a result: feel drained, not feel able to cope, not be able to sleep, be sad, angry, irritable or not care, use more alcohol or other substances, get heart disease, high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes, and be more likely to get sick.

Dr. Ellen Hendriksen, a psychologist at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, has written in Psychology Today seven ways on how to recover from burnout:

1. Start with your body. This is cliché but take care of yourself. How much wine do you drink after work? When was the last time you exercised? Decide to trade screen time for shuteye, skip fast food, and work regular exercise back into your routine.

2. Discover what causes your burnout. Dr. Christina Maslach of the University of California, Berkeley, identifies six areas: workload (an endless to-do list and can never catch up), control (or rather, lack thereof), rewards (feeling like you’re being exploited), fairness (work environment is hostile or unjust), community (lack of support and camaraderie from colleagues), and values (working against your values).

3. Look to the future. The opposite of job burnout is something called job engagement. So,  imagine what it would take for you to be engaged.

4. Try to make a better match. Once you’ve pinpointed the problem(s), see if you can create a better match. Some problems are intractable, like working against your values or an unethical company culture.

5. If improving your current job doesn’t work, make some big decisions. Make some executive decisions. If making a better match doesn’t work, it might be a sign to look for another role someplace else or consider if now’s a good time to go back to school.

6. Delegate. By “delegate,” she doesn’t mean reassign the part of your job you dread to the intern. Instead, fight the feeling that you’re the only one who can handle things.

7. Diversify your time. Do things you want to do, not just more things you should do. Ask yourself what you used to like to do. Take your time off too; whether you take a few days after you finish that big work project or after you wrap up your current job and before you start the next one.

Remember what Sally Clarke said. “Burnout is a slow, insidious experience,” she pointed out. “Burnout is not afraid of playing the long game. To prevent burnout, we need to play a long game, too.”