Stress or burnout? Writers can suffer from both.
by Ruth Harris
Look at your to-do list.
- WiP needs edits and revisions
- Editor/cover designer to hire
- Promo forms to fill out
- First draft to finish
- Get that new book/new series ready to launch
- The next-to-final draft need polishing
- Backlist covers need a refresh
- A box set waits for formatting and covers.
- An idea for a new series needs an outline
- Time to write a new book for an existing series
- Newsletter!
- Writing a newsletter for your pen name
- Writing a blurb / a blog post
- Analyzing results of AMS and FB ads
- Beta readers to be contacted
Now look at yourself.
- Snapping at colleagues, the strangers at the table next to you in a restaurant, the checkout clerk at the supermarket.
- Snarling at your dog who’s too afraid of your rotten moods to snarl back.
- Fighting with your spouse/roommate/bestie over…nothing.
- Can’t sleep.
- Can’t eat or you overeat.
- You’re losing/gaining weight.
- Productivity has slipped to zilch.
- You hate everyone.
- And everything.
- Including yourself.
We’re stressed out. Or are we burned out?
We feel like hamsters trapped on an endless wheel. We’re tired, crabby, frustrated, uninspired, and unmotivated. Our anxiety-meter has topped out and we’re not even running on fumes any more—we’re running on empty.
We talk about it among ourselves, moaning and bitching and rolling our eyes. Our sense of humor turns blacker and blacker.
We can—and do—complain about our plight but we’re paying real consequences, physically and emotionally. Our friends and family suffer the fallout. So does our work.
Stress and burnout are related but they are different although, according to experts, some of the signs and symptoms overlap. Whatever the specific definitions, stress and burnout reveal themselves with specific symptoms and are more dangerous than you might think.
Stress or burnout: how they’re different.
Stress is a condition of too much and is characterized by over engagement.
Too many demands, too much pressure. Your emotions are overactive and hyped up, you face too many demands on your time and energy, and feel barraged by unrelenting pressure. The consequences of stress are primarily physical: your pulse rate quickens, your heart pounds, but you still feel a glimmer of hope. You think that if you can just get everything under control, you’ll be OK again.
Burnout, a result of continual stress, is a condition of too little and is characterized by disengagement.
You feel empty, emotionally drained, and devoid of energy. Burnout reduces productivity and leaves you feeling helpless, hopeless, cynical, and resentful. Your motivation is gone, your creativity kaput. You feel detached and depressed, and as if you have nothing more to give.
The Mayo Clinic lists the common symptoms of stress
Stress symptoms can affect your body, thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Being able to recognize common stress symptoms can give you techniques for managing them.
Stress that’s left unchecked can contribute to health problems like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
Common physical effects of stress
- Headache
- Muscle tension or pain
- Chest pain
- Fatigue
- Change in sex drive
- Stomach upset
- Sleep problems
Psychological effects of stress
- Anxiety
- Restlessness
- Lack of motivation or focus
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Irritability or anger
- Sadness or depression
Behavioral effects of stress
- Overeating or undereating
- Angry outbursts
- Drug or alcohol abuse
- Tobacco use
- Social withdrawal
- Exercising less often
The Harvard health newsletter describes the symptoms of burnout.
Burnout, which can be a result of prolonged stress, is a gradual process. The signs and symptoms are subtle at first and can mirror those of stress. However, over time they become more severe and destructive.
Physical effects of burnout:
- Feeling tired and drained most of the time
- Lowered immunity, getting sick a lot
- Frequent headaches or muscle pain
- Change in appetite or sleep habits
Emotional signs and symptoms of burnout:
- Sense of failure and self-doubt
- Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated
- Detachment, feeling alone in the world
- Loss of motivation
- Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
- Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment
Behavioral effects of burnout:
- Withdrawing from responsibilities
- Isolating yourself from others
- Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done
- Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope
- Taking out your frustrations on others
Type A personalities and burnout.
Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter Psy.D explains that high achievers—Type A personalities—often experience burnout. She describes the early and later stages of burnout as follows:
Chronic fatigue.
In the early stages, you may lack energy and feel tired most days. In the latter stages, you feel physically and emotionally exhausted, drained, and depleted. You may even feel a sense of dread for what lies ahead on any given day.
Insomnia.
In the early stages, you may have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep one or two nights a week. In the latter stages, insomnia may turn into a persistent, nightly ordeal. As exhausted as you are, you can’t sleep.
Forgetfulness/impaired concentration and attention.
Lack of focus and mild forgetfulness are early signs. Later, the problems may get to the point where you can’t get your work done and everything begins to pile up.
Physical symptoms.
Physical symptoms may include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal pain, dizziness, fainting, and/or headaches. (All of these symptoms merit a medical evaluation.)
Increased illness.
Because your body is depleted, your immune system becomes weakened. This makes you more vulnerable to infections, colds, flu, and other immune-related medical problems.
Loss of appetite.
In the early stages, you may not feel hungry and may skip a few meals. In the latter stages, you may lose your appetite all together and begin to lose a significant amount of weight.
Anxiety.
Early on, you may experience mild symptoms of tension, worry, and edginess. As you move closer to burnout, the anxiety may become so serious that it interferes in your ability to work productively. It may also cause problems in your personal life.
Depression.
In the early stages, you may feel mildly sad, occasionally hopeless, and you may experience feelings of guilt and worthlessness as a result. At its worst, you may feel trapped, severely depressed, and think the world would be better off without you.
(If your depression is at this point, you should seek professional help.)
Anger.
At first, this may present as interpersonal tension and irritability. In the latter stages, this may turn into angry outbursts and serious arguments at home and in the workplace.
(If anger gets to the point where it turns to thoughts or acts of violence toward family or coworkers, people should get professional assistance.)
How to manage stress and avoid burnout.
Because the consequences of stress and burnout are serious and because so many of us feel overwhelmed and stressed out, recognizing the signs and symptoms is critical.
Learning how to manage stress and avoid burnout before it starts can save your marriage, your relationships, your job, and your career.
Next month (March 26, 2017), in Part Two of this series, I will turn to experts for advice about how to manage stress and burnout.
by Ruth Harris (@RuthHarrisBooks) February 26, 2017
What about you, scriveners? Are you suffering from stress or burnout? It’s so easy for writers to get stressed these days, since most of us have day jobs, and the job of being a writer involves so much more than actually writing. Do you recognize any of these symptoms in yourself or others?
This week on her book blog, Anne has another installment of her series on Poisoning People for Fun and Profit. This month it’s about the poisonous yew tree,.
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I suppose I have reason for Big Gratitude — possibly due to not possessing not one Type A corpuscle. Neither list of symptoms apply. Thanks for the reminder that I should be thankful (& that I need to be more aware of my pals & cohorts who might not be so fortunate).
CS—I salute your non-Type-A corpuscles. Each one is a source of strength and sanity!
Hmm. I see the classic signs of stress in what’s happening to me right now. Thanks for the information, Anne. Time to revamp my lifestyle.
Kathy—No time for a revamp like the present. Stress is dangerous, physically and mentally! You want to tone it down for your own sake—and the sake of those around you.
I should have directed my comment at you, Ruth. Sorry. Duh on my part. 🙂
I’ve had burnout twice before. The first time, I was writing a script a week to break into Hollywood and my creative brain finally shut down for two years. It was just, simply, I think that I pushed myself too hard and didn’t respect that I also needed me time.
The second time I was in the Army. The Group (command above a Battalion) found out I could write and drafted me into writing articles for the post newspaper … in addition to what I worked at normally. My squad leader was unhappy with the situation and I was this lowly private sitting in meetings with very senior people and trying to figure out why I was there. And I was trying to meet the newspaper deadlines once a week for a kind of writing I didn’t enjoy. It was about six weeks of this and I was walking into the mess hall and struggling to remember my last four.
More recently, I’ve had to protect my writing because my job is nuts. It should be done by 2-3 people, and it’s just me and I can’t keep up. I have lots of short notice deadlines every day, so I finally decided I was going to stop writing for anthology calls because I didn’t want to deal with the deadlines on the writing side, too. I also had to step back from the promise I would do paper right now because it’s got a learning curve I’m not quite ready to deal with. It’s ‘do I write or do I spend time learning how to do this’? Getting more writing done is more important at this point. Right now, I’m holding off on some planned classes because I broke my foot and I’m seeing how that’s influencing me.
Linda—Sorry you had to experience burnout on this scale. Sounds like you’ve come to understand its negative impact and found ways to protect yourself. Hope your broken foot mends well and you’re soon back to normal.
I think we’ve all experienced both at some time. Fortunately I’m not an over-achiever. And when it comes to writing related stuff, I’ve learned when to step back before burnout. Stepping back when you’ve already hit burnout is a really bad sign.
Alex—Sounds like you’ve figured out how to keep a sane & healthy balance! Most important!
The lists and symptoms sound all too familiar — and were my every waking moment — until I ‘retired’ from working a straight gig while freelancing several years ago. The lists are still around, but included are things like ‘defend your Sunday!’ My lists have a limit as well, and when the limit is crossed, there are terrible consequences, like taking a nap, visiting my brother, or walking around the lake for 2-3 times longer than usual.
I have also re-balanced my writing/editing schedule. Editing takes a different part of my brain and can handle a bit more demand in deadlines. Writing is more intense and demands a different kind of energy, so I limit what I write and when I write it. I can knock out a 14 page assessment of a novel in a couple hours, and it’s coherent! (amazing) But working on my own creative material can produce 1-2 pages in 6 hours, with lots of swearing and daydreaming and fussing and procrastinating and swearing… My creative work reveals my stress level very quickly — especially when I find myself wanting a nap, and I just got up. :o)
Thanks, Ruth, for reminding us of the sneakiness of stress and how to avoid it, recognize it, and thwart it.
Maria
I wanted to mention the threat of self-sabotage and stress…which I believe happens pretty regularly at various levels. We have an unmanageable situation. We try to survive it. We begin to be overwhelmed and, ultimately, we may display behavior that forces us into confrontations or work problems. Our mind knows we’re in trouble, so uses self-sabotage to terminate or at least disrupt the situation. The desire to survive the original situation, and our denial of the building stress, forces this mental rebellion.
Anyway – that’s one of my theories….I have others, why does my family leave the room when I try to explain them? :o)
Maria—Brilliant! Thanks for pointing out the connection between self-sabotage and stress. When we “screw up” and can’t understand why, a look at our stress meter might well hold the explanation. Astute and very helpful insight!
Yes, been there, done that..no fun. Life’s busy and demanding, but oftentimes it seems we choose to drive ourselves to stress. And it’s not just about work. There’s too much activity in general. There can be less activity and less, or no, stress; but something’s got to give. Cannot do it all. Unfortunately 🙁
Sasha—Cannot have it all. Cannot do it all. We’re human beings. Not robots or fantasy figures. Welcome to the real world! Why not enjoy it?
I don’t think I’ve hit Burnout, but definitely stress and depression. The latter when my mom was dying and I just couldn’t cope. Stress I have learned to manage by only writing new work in the summer when I’m not teaching. I know my limits. The rest of the year is all that other writing related stuff. This past Christmas I was completely stressed and I’ll and didn’t enjoy the holiday. I hope that’s not a new trend.
Victoria—Sorry to hear about your mother and to hear that Christmas was no fun. Stress and depression are serious warning signs and it sounds like you’re learning to heed them. Knowing—and respecting—your limits is so important. We need to take care of ourselves first of all!
Very good post, Ruth. Yes, I am a triple A type personality and have had to learn to say no. It really is true, that saying, “If you want something to get done, give it to the busiest person in the office.” Or it is, until we top out and burn out.
I’ve had a few writers say to me that they are leaving the biz because all they want to do is write. They don’t want to be an author, and all that entails these days. I’ll be talking about that on this space in April.
Melodie—Thanks! I’m looking forward to your April post. Fact is, even back in the world of TradPub, being an author involved a lot more than “just writing.” We wrote proposals, outlines (even if we were terrible at it), wrote blurbs, and, even if we didn’t have final approval, were asked for cover ideas & concepts. We did signings, made public appearances, radio/tv/newspapers/print media. Might sound glam but mostly it was stressful and exhausting. Plus ça change…
As Sasha said above, there’s just too much activity and too much going on. Period. I’m in the burnout stages of my stressful life and it’s not fun. I’d have to say the one thing that keeps me sane is my writing and editing. It makes me feel happy and good about myself and I enjoy a real sense of accomplishment. But the burnout is real. I’m so tired all the time and yet I’m very healthy and haven’t been sick in ages. I take care of my family when they’re sick and don’t get “infected” but I’m just tired. Mentally and physically. I’ve reached the point where there have been so many things happening in our family – not good stuff – that my tipping point has been reached…and then some. I look forward to the next article, next week.
Thank you.
Patricia—I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this and you’re right: stress and burnout are no fun. Feeling drained and tired all the time makes life feel like a slog. As you point out, being able to write can be a salvation and a reliable release—an activity to be treasured when everything else seems to be on a down slope.
Thank you I have shared the link to this post on my Facebook page as more people need to read this
Joanne — many thanks! I hope the post will be of help to people.
I appreciated this! I’ve been burned out (from work, not writing)–and was slower coming out of it than I’d have liked. It killed my creativity. I spent a couple months gardening, exercising, reading and even binge-ing on Netflix with the goal of becoming a happier person rather than a better writer. I eased back into contract work. And now it’s back on the writing horse. As I said it was slower than I’d have wanted, but I reached my goal of being happier.
JoLynne—Thank you for sharing your experience with burn out and explaining what you did to recover and how long the process took. So glad to know you’re back to yourself again, found your creativity, and, most important, happier.
Not crazy about either option. I’m probably type A-. Sometimes we need regroup and set priorities and do something fun with our important others. Thanks for sharing.
Marsha—Even Type A-‘s can be afflicted! You’re so right about regrouping and having fun. 🙂
Great post, Ruth. I can most certainly relate to it. It’s deep stuff. Ah, these amazing sphere’s of a writer!
I also enjoyed the comments. Look forward to reading your next installment.
Have a pleasant week!
Jacqueline—Hope the post helped! Our commenters always have such interesting and informative reactions to our posts. Anne and I treasure them! And you!
Useful post, Ruth, this is the kind of information we all need. I quickly went through the comments and I was intrigued to see how everyone recounted their own experience with stress and burnout rather than refer to their writing experience. Strange, hasn’t anyone written about burnout? It would seem like such an excellent premise for a psychological romance plot…
I was particularly interested in your post too because burnout is the starting point of one of my books: The main character (in Luna Rising trilogy) suffers from burnout at 19. That young, you may wonder! But yes, he’s was born a gifted child, went to a special school, graduated early, and went to work for a videogame producer in Montreal at age of 15, leaving family and friends behind in New York – soon enough he was pushed too hard in his job (everyone admired him and that too didn’t help, it increased the pressure on him) so he ended up with no leisure or outlet from the pressure, no girlfriend, since he’s so much younger than all his co-workers and his family lived away – hence, he’s very lonely and emotionally unable to handle the work pressure. Result? Burnout at 19.
For a while, I wondered whether I was unrealistic, whether I had exaggerated the guy’s condition, but it does seem to work, it seems believable, and it did seem that way for me and was accepted as the premise of the book by my readers too (I never got a review questioning this).
Now that I’ve read your post, I think I was on the right track even if my psychological knowledge is not at the level of the Mayo Clinic or the Harvard people. Furthermore, there seems to be a structural link between stress, burnout and a high level of intelligence and capacity for self-observation and analysis.
If you’re not the kind of person able to deconstruct your personal situation, you will not reach the conclusion so characteristic of burnout, ie when one takes a step back and starts to consider one’s life and says to oneself: it doesn’t matter, why should I go on, I can’t stand the deadlines, the repetition of tasks, the monotony of it all, it’s pointless etc etc I do believe that burnout can happen to people with above-average intelligence and analytical capabilities and perhaps it does happen rather more to that kind of person than to others…Your views?
Claude—Between competition to get good grades, participate in athletics and other extra curricular events, young people are now over scheduled and, consequently, dealing with stress and maybe even burnout. Parents need to be on the alert and the fact that no one has questioned burnout in your MC is an indication that you’re spot on.
Great post. I think the only time I had major burnout was in 2011: I got tinnitus; my wife of 9.5 years (but who’s counting?) left me; I broke my ankle in the middle of a 5K race; my AC and upstairs plumbing both leaked through the ceiling; and I developed masses in my face and neck which required a surgery called a parotidectomy. Good times.
Looking back, my writing was actually the major source of solace through all that, so it wasn’t burnout from that – it was the stress of all the other stuff. If I’d been watching it all happen to someone else in a movie, it would have been hilarious…but it was me, so it wasn’t!
Mike—Sounds almost Job-like. Glad you’ve recovered, sense of humor intact. Also an excellent point that writing/creativity can counter the drift toward stress/burnout.
Thanks, Ruth. Yes, if one didn’t laugh, one would surely have to cry!
Eek! Thanks for the lists and advice. Between the full-time job, being a part-time caretaker for others, and the rest of life, I’ve got a few too many of these symptoms. Time to work out a plan
Jemi–my reply got lost! Sounds like you have reasons to feel overwhelmed. Having a plan to help cope and gain perspective is so important! You’re on the right track.
Deadlines and stuff like heightened adrenaline can get me to block out distractions and get serious. I had a computer coding to-do list staring me in the face yesterday, my promised first day of data delivery. I was up at 5:30 am and at 8, in the face of errors, was starting to freak out. “I’m not going to get it done!” But things calmed down and the data went out. Then I got the reply email pointing out an error. Back to work.
As it’s self employment, the to-do list looked very similar. I’m creating a product but also have marketing and customer service tasks to attend to.
Joe—Thanks for the interesting coments about to-do lists and your effective use of adrenaline. Much appreciated!
“Bad” stress is when I become fearful that I can’t accomplish the goal. In this case, clients had already paid me – so yeah, just a little frightened. Even as I was cursing at my computer, my wife was saying, “I have faith in you. You always figure it out.”
Fiction and computer code are similar in that they require logical strings to work. The big difference is that the computer usually tells you when the program doesn’t work. With fiction, it’s much more subjective. You frequently have to wait for someone else to read it and respond.
Joe—Excellent point about logical strings being common to fic and code. I have found that, with experience, I’ve become attuned to lapses in logic. An inner mechanism raises the warning, altho an outside reading is invaluable. Also, delighted to learn that coders, too, curse their computers. 😉
Yeah I’m there. Trying my best to stave off burnout as best I can, but since it’s caused by people and circumstances beyond my control, I can’t exactly take a break, because then I (and everything I have managed to keep going) will collapse and I no longer have the resources to rebuild.
Misha—Sorry to hear you’re in such a negative situation. Hopefully, it will decrease soon. Wishing you the best…
Excellent article! I’m very much looking forward to the next one – which I hope tells us how to deal with the dreaded burnout!
HJ–thanks for the kind words! The follow up post will be up on March 26. Hope you will find some helpful tips. 🙂
Help! Why are you making us wait?
Skipper—Mostly because it takes quite a bit of time to research and write. See you next time with some helpful approaches. 🙂
This is a very good distinction. It’s too easy to feel like you’re always on the verge of burnout when that’s just the wear of doing routine work.
John—Thanks for the kind words—and for pointing out the reality of the fatiguing consequences of the routine work we all do.
Absolutely. I took on way too many projects this past fall and quickly experienced stress. So much so it almost paralyzed my writing. It wasn’t until I took a step back that I refocused on one project at a time, and then the progress quickly mounted. It’s important, whether we write full-time or work a day job, that we take time to cool off between novels, or we will burn out. Looking forward to Part II.
Sue—Thanks for sharing your experience—and your solution. We all need cooling off periods to save our health, our sanity, and our creativity. Glad you found your way back! 🙂
Okay. It’s next month. I’ve read both articles and never, once, in the text or in the comments, did I find the words “writer’s block”.
Is “burnout” the new writer’s block? Or am I missing an important distinction?
Home’s Cool!—So-called “writer’s block” can result from many causes. The loss of motivation and fatigue associated with burnout can be among them.