By Sarah Kewin
Burnout is more than just feeling tired after a busy week. It's a state of chronic stress that leaves you emotionally exhausted, detached, and feeling less capable.
Australians report some of the highest levels of burnout, with 82% of workers feeling burnout and over a third feeling extremely burnt out.
Today's burnout doesn't look like it did for previous generations. With smartphones keeping us perpetually connected to work and constant digital demands for our attention, the boundaries between work and rest have blurred beyond recognition.
Burnout seeps into your relationships, your physical health, your sense of self-worth, and can eventually lead to clinical depression and anxiety disorders. What most productivity podcasts won't tell you is that recovering from full-blown burnout doesn't just take a weekend of self-care.
If you’re experiencing these symptoms and they’re interfering with your day-to-day life, it may be worth speaking with a psychologist to explore what’s really going on beneath the surface.
Early Warning Signs Most People Miss
Physical signs:
Persistent headaches, digestive issues, tension in your shoulders and jaw, disrupted sleep patterns, constant fatigue no matter how much you rest
Emotional red flags:
Increased irritability, emotional numbness, losing pleasure in activities you used to enjoy, feeling detached from your own life
Mental symptoms:
Brain fog, difficulty making simple decisions, shortened attention span, forgetting things you normally wouldn't, reduced sense of achievement, growing cynicism and disengagement
Behavioural changes:
Cancelling plans more often, increased alcohol or substance use, procrastination despite consequences, withdrawing from people
Relationship impacts:
Shorter fuse with loved ones, physically present but mentally absent during interactions, viewing social connections as obligations rather than pleasures
If you're Googling "psychologist near me" or "psychologist Sydney" at 2am, that might be your nervous system’s way of trying to ask for help.
The Burnout Risk Factors Unique to Our Generation
Our generation faces distinct pressures that create perfect conditions for burnout:
• Economic instability, student debt, and housing costs that necessitate overwork
• Work cultures that glorify hustle and treat rest as weakness
• Social media's constant comparison trap and distorted views of "normal" achievement
• Geographic mobility that reduces in-person support systems
• Unprecedented pressure to excel in multiple areas simultaneously
Maintenance Factors
High achievement often masks burnout's progression. When you're still performing well externally despite internal struggles, it's easy to dismiss your symptoms as "just stress."
Perfectionism works as both cause and consequence. Impossibly high standards drive initial overwork, then failing to meet these standards as resources deplete creates shame that drains you further. Rather than resting when exhausted, perfectionists often push harder, blaming their depleted state on lack of discipline rather than recognising it as a natural response to chronic overextension.
External validation becomes addictive. Praise and recognition temporarily boost mood and self-worth, creating dependency that drives continued overwork despite diminishing internal resources.
Traditional self-care suggestions like "take a bubble bath" treat burnout as a scheduling problem rather than a systemic one. These quick fixes are insufficient when facing structural issues like unsustainable workloads or financial insecurity. They can even become another source of failure—now you're "bad at self-care" too. Real recovery requires addressing root causes, not just adding pleasant activities to an already overcrowded schedule.
A qualified psychologist can help identify whether you're dealing with chronic stress, high-functioning burnout, or early signs of anxiety or depression.
Breaking the Cycle: Prevention Strategies That Actually Work
Redefine success on your terms:
Clarify what genuine success means to you beyond external metrics and cultural expectations.
Create meaningful boundaries:
Establish digital limits, clear work hours, and social boundaries.
Practice strategic rest:
Don't wait until you're exhausted to rest. Schedule recovery periods pre-emptively, like regular maintenance for your mental health.
Check in with your values:
Regularly assess whether your daily activities align with what truly matters to you, and make adjustments before small misalignments lead to major dissatisfaction.
Manage energy, not just time:
Recognise which activities drain or restore different types of energy (mental, emotional, physical), and structure your days to avoid depleting any one system completely.
When to Seek Professional Support
It's time to reach out for professional help when:
• You're experiencing persistent sleep disturbances, panic attacks, or thoughts of suicide
• You're using substances to cope with daily stress
• Your relationships are significantly suffering despite your efforts
• You're unable to fulfill basic responsibilities despite trying your best
• Your burnout symptoms have persisted for more than a few weeks
Therapy specifically targeting burnout often focuses on reconstructing your relationship with achievement and self-worth. It helps dismantle the false belief that your value is tied exclusively to productivity, challenges perfectionistic thinking patterns, and builds resilience through self-compassion practices.
Working with a clinical psychologist—whether in-person or online—can help you understand and address the unique stressors contributing to your burnout, especially if you're unsure whether what you're experiencing is burnout, depression, or something else.
The path beyond burnout isn't about eliminating stress entirely—it's about creating a sustainable relationship with stress, where periods of stretching and striving are balanced with genuine recovery. Your ability to sustain energy for what truly matters depends not on pushing through at all costs, but on respecting your very human limits while honouring your capacity for renewal.
If you're in Sydney and searching for a psychologist who truly understands modern burnout, there is help available—and it doesn't have to wait until breaking point. For more information or to schedule a consultation with Sarah or one of our other psychologists, contact us at admin@brodieearl.com or call 0450 808 917.
Written by Sarah Kewin
Psychologist and Clinical Psychology Registrar
