Ever felt emotionally drained before? It’s also known as burnout and exhaustion. Emotionally drained is most likely caused by the various demands that have led to a feeling of being overwhelmed on a daily. When the tasks and demands get too much and have passed the threshold of one’s limits, that is when you’ll feel the drain.
So, what is an emotional drain, and are you experiencing it right now? How do you know if what you’re going through is an emotional drain? Let’s find out by reading more.
Being emotionally drained, or exhausted, is not a mental illness – it’s most likely an individual is experiencing chronic stress due to work and other problems that are revolving in their lives. Such examples include marital problems, family problems, relationship problems, financial problems, and health problems. When one is not able to withstand more than what they could, they get drained and stressed out.
A few symptoms that you should note if you think you are experiencing emotional drain include:
- Constantly feeling negative, helpless, and exhausted to do anything and you feel like you are not able to solve your problems efficiently.
- Low participation in activities that revolve around work and life. Additionally, experience poor physical conditions such as fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, and low appetite.
- Work performance quality is reduced which results in poor results and constant absence from work.
- Low concentration and motivation to handle responsibilities and chores.
- More frustrated, stressed, angry, anxious, and irritable when obstacles and challenges appear.
Reduce the Drain
Firstly, recognize the situation that had caused you to feel drained. Once you have gotten a hold of the cause, limit your interaction to the root of the problem. Don’t force yourself to interact with it and try your best to avoid it. There is so much you can carry on your shoulders, therefore you must recognize your limitations and take up one at a time. In addition, you’ll feel as if you have taken control of your issue and contained it properly.
Learn to Conserve
Secondly is to learn to function with great emotional control, such as identifying and acknowledging your feelings. Try to look outside of the box instead of keeping your thoughts boxed in and widened your perspectives on the root of the problem. When you realize that you aren’t alone in facing the issue and you can share your experiences with others, it relieves some of the tension and feels that the issue is not personal. In addition, stay true to your values and utilize them to help you find your way out of the problem. For example, keep a memento of what you feel is tied to the word “relax” or “honest”. Hence, whenever you look back at your memento, your values are renewed, keep an anodyne expression, and feel as if you can keep going by staying true to them.
Fill Your Fuel
The next method is to ensure that you refuel. Interact, reconnect, and converse with your loved ones. Gather intel, advice, and perspective to help you overcome your problems. Through these interactions, you’d feel as if you have people in your corner and you are not alone. Additionally, you’d feel like you belong in a community and your worries are validated instead of being shunned. Hence, try not to keep yourself isolated from your problems. Reach out to someone and share your thoughts.
Another essential method to avoid emotional drain is by doing activities that are not work-related. Go for a hike with your friends, connect with your loved ones in a video call, cooking, or water your plants. Shake the stress and bad thoughts away, don’t hold onto them. Doing these activities can help you detach yourself from work and balance your work-life. Now, you may feel as if these activities are useful and it may never solve your problems, but you must reduce the drain and keep going.
Tips to Recover from Emotional Drain
When you’re recovering from the emotional drain, it’s never an instant cure. Therefore, have patience and take it one step at a time. There are various ways for you to practice so that you’d find a way to cope and explore ways to keep your life less stressful.
- Get enough sleep
Get adequate rest and relaxation time. Otherwise, you might sink lower into your stress pool. Try to get 8 hours of sleep at least per night and allow yourself to take breaks between work.
- Exercise
Move your body and sweat the negativity out, it is important for you to stay active and eat healthily. Maintain your energy to keep the frustration away and free your mind of negativity.
- Focus on what you are able to control
When things get out of hand, we might feel helpless and that there is no solution to our problems. Hence, attend to the issues that you are able to control and allow yourself to deal with them at your own pace.
To conclude, if you feel that are stressed out, there are a few practices you can ritualize to keep the frustration at bay. Focus on your breathing, count your blessings for 10 minutes, and look at the bright side of the issue are some ways you can practice to keep it positive. Give yourself a moment of respite and keep yourself grounded in what is positive in your life. Though these practices aren’t able to keep the stress at bay, they’d improve your resistance to stress and reduce the sinking to emotional drain.
