What Are The Signs Of Emotional Exhaustion?
1. Detachment
Do the words “numb,” “disconnected,” “disengaged,” or “senseless” ring a bell? Do you feel like you have fallen into some sort of a deep, bottomless well, an existentialist crisis, and nothing really gets to you? Do you often catch yourself avoiding human interactions, or when you do eventually interact with people, you feel like you cannot bond with them? If this is happening, make sure you take some time to yourself to figure out what you want to do in life and heal your soul before moving on.
2. Over The Top Emotions, Or No Emotions At All
Extreme responses to daily life happenings. You either cry being triggered by a song or by what someone says. It brings a pool of emotions to you. And other times, you feel great. You get a rush of positivity, but you know it’s fleeting.
Start working on acknowledging and processing your emotions. This means you need to get in touch with yourself deep down, and keeping a journal often helps with this.
3. Long-Term Insomnia
If you are noticing signs of a lack of sleep, try to empty your mind of worries and be more active during the day to fall asleep more easily at night. Remember, a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night is needed to keep your body functioning properly and to its full potential.
4. Nausea And Fatigue
Emotional and mental burnout show through physical discomforts, such as splitting headaches, overall body weakness, nausea, or dizziness. If you experience any of these, you should opt for a physical and mental recovery by boosting your immune system, sleeping longer, and taking one thing at a time. Physical exhaustion only reflects your state of mind, so do not rush to meetings, do not stress about details – just take a day off and relax. Easier said than done, true, but your recovery is in YOUR hands only.
5. You Crave For A Change Deep Down
You don’t know what kind of change, you just know you want one. You want out of your old ways; you need something or someone to lift you up, and you can’t put the finger on the type of change you want, but you know that something has to change.
You are worn out. You tried numbing your emotions; you tried not doing anything and letting time heal you, but sometimes it’s the action and the freshness that only change can bring about that you need. And you slowly realize it. The key is to be open to new experiences in life. Don’t shut down. Don’t pre-judge the apple before you’ve tasted it.
6. Agitation And Hypersensitivity
Do you easily get mad with your friends and family? Do you take everything seriously? Have you lost the ability to joke and loosen up?
Shutting down and hurting your loved ones will not make you feel any better, but exercising or writing a journal or even starting your own blog may just do the trick. Get all that frustration and disappointment out of your system by beating the boxing bag or writing about it in your journal—it helps!
7. Drained Motivation
Your motivation is leaking. You are struggling to find the will to move on. You used to go to the gym and do all sorts of things, but now you just don’t have the energy. You are unwilling to undertake the action or start a new chapter in life. This is something we have all had to deal with at a certain point in life, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to last forever. This is just a temporary phase, so do your so-called silent period, wait until you gather the strength and move on. Take one day at a time. One hour even, if it feels better. Gradually increase your productivity as you slowly gather your strength back.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Being Emotionally Exhausted Mean?
Being emotionally exhausted means feeling drained, overwhelmed, irritable, and worn out due to being under stress for an extended period of time. We live in a fast-paced society, so it’s normal for us to experience stress in our personal life or work on a daily basis. The most common examples of things that can lead to emotional exhaustion include:
- Working long hours
- Trying to meet excessive job demands
- Having a baby
- Raising kids
- Facing financial or family problems
- Living with a chronic health condition
- Death of a loved one
- Going through a divorce
When you don’t know how to handle stress and are under stress for a longer period of time, this causes stress to accumulate, which can over time lead to a chronic, stressed-out state that can negatively affect your mood, behavior, relationships, and everyday life.
When you’re emotionally exhausted, you feel drained and irritable. You have trouble concentrating and finding the strength and motivation to perform even simple tasks at home and at work. You can also feel stuck, trapped, and unable to control your emotions.
What Are The Most Common Symptoms Of Emotional Exhaustion?
- Nervousness
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Lack of appetite
- Digestive problems
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep at night
- Apathy
- Lack of motivation
- Headaches
- Weight gain or loss
- Heart palpitations
- Forgetfulness
- Anxiety
- Muscle tension or sore muscles
- Feeling powerless, pessimistic, or hopeless
- Depression
Emotional exhaustion can also affect your work performance. For example, you may lose motivation to work or meet deadlines or carry out work duties slowly.
Emotional exhaustion can also affect your relationships. For instance, you may feel less able to connect with other people on an emotional or personal level or socially withdraw from others.
Why Do I Feel Emotionally Drained In My Relationship?
Undoubtedly, there’s no such thing as a perfect relationship. All couples go through ups and downs in their relationships and are prone to occasional misunderstandings, disagreements, and arguments. However, if you are constantly feeling physically exhausted when spending time with your partner or if whenever you think about them, this stresses you out, this may be a telltale sign that you’re in a relationship that is taking its toll on your mental health.
Here are a few reasons why you may feel emotionally exhausted in your relationship.
1. You Feel Like You Can’t Be Who You Are Around Your Partner
If you don’t feel free and comfortable sharing your feelings and opinions with your partner, that’s a serious red flag.
Whether you’re avoiding talking about your personal or relationship problems with your partner or expressing your opinions when they’re different from theirs because you’re trying to protect their feelings or avoid picking a fight with them, hiding the truth, feeling like you’re constantly walking on eggshells around your partner, and keeping whatever is bothering you to yourself can over time cause you to become dissatisfied with yourself and the relationship and even become resentful towards your partner.
2. You’re Constantly Worrying About Your Partner’s Problems
Of course, it’s normal to want to help your partner handle their issues and be their greatest cheerleader. After all, your partner needs to know that they can always rely on you. The problem arises when you begin worrying about solving their problems more than focusing on your own well-being.
Not only can concentrating solely on fixing your partner’s problems cause you to put your own problems aside, but it can also make you feel stressed, overwhelmed, and emotionally and mentally drained. In the worst-case scenario, it can cause you to neglect your overall health.
3. You Feel Physically Drained
Mental health is closely related to physical health. For example, one reason you may feel emotionally exhausted in your relationship is that spending time with your partner or talking with them makes you feel physically exhausted.
For example, maybe you’re having trouble falling asleep since every single conversation you have with your partner has turned into a bitter argument. Or perhaps you’re having a hard time waking up in the morning since you’ve been staying up late lately trying to help your partner with an important work project.
Whatever the reason, when you’re in a relationship that’s causing you to feel physically drained, chances are this will make you feel emotionally exhausted as well.
4. You Feel Like You’ve Lost Interest In Being Affectionate With Your Partner
If you’re in a relationship with someone who doesn’t make you feel heard, respected, and loved, often displays controlling behavior, or doesn’t meet your emotional needs, chances are that you’ll gradually lose interest in being affectionate toward them. Kissing, cuddling, or being intimate with your partner can become quite challenging.
5. You’ve Distanced Yourself From Your Friends And Family
An emotionally draining relationship is one that consumes all of your energy and time. This can negatively affect your relationships. For instance, you may start to avoid talking about your relationship to your friends and family or completely withdraw from them.
But the truth is that it’s important that you nurture your friendships and other relationships so that you know you have someone you can always turn to if things in your relationship go wrong.
6. Your Relationship Is Affecting Other Areas Of Your Life
An emotionally draining relationship can easily begin interfering with your family, friendships, health, work, or finances.
For instance, you may begin spending less time with your family, neglecting your friendships, or performing poorly at work.
What’s important to remember is that if you’re not capable of drawing a line between your relationship and other areas of your life and let everything in your life suffers due to your relationship, not only can this cause you to feel emotionally exhausted, but it can also prevent you from being the best version of yourself as a person.
Can Emotional Exhaustion Cause Fatigue?
It certainly can. When a person experiences emotional exhaustion, this can cause them to feel drained and physically fatigued, which, in turn, can affect their behavior and mood and cause them to have trouble falling or staying asleep at night.
How Do I Stop Being Mentally Exhausted?
Here are several lifestyle changes you need to make to reduce symptoms of mental exhaustion:
Look after your health.
Eat a healthy, balanced diet, exercise regularly, keep your body always hydrated, and get enough sleep. These can all help alleviate symptoms of mental exhaustion or even prevent it.
Make changes in your work life.
If your work causes you to feel mentally exhausted, making some changes to your working conditions may make it easier for you to manage fatigue or burnout. For instance, you may ask for more support from your co-workers, reduce your workload, or take some time off work.
Seek therapy.
Talking to a therapist may help you better manage stress and burnout. They can also help you determine what stressors you should eliminate from your life and what lifestyle changes you should make to reduce symptoms of mental exhaustion.
Practice mindfulness mediation.
Practicing mindfulness meditation can help you become more aware of and better control your emotions, which, in turn, can make it easier for you to better deal with fatigue or burnout.
Spend more time outdoors.
Rather than spending many hours on your phone, spend more time in nature. Go for a walk at the park or anywhere in nature. You need to expose yourself to sunlight every day because this helps regulate your vitamin D and serotonin levels.
Distract yourself.
When you’re feeling mentally exhausted, try to distract yourself in positive ways. For example, hang out with friends, go for a walk in nature, listen to your favorite music, watch a movie, cuddle with a pet or exercise.
Change your medications.
Certain medications, including antidepressants, can make you feel tired. You should talk to your doctor about whether taking different medications might benefit you more.
Nora Connel is a devoted writer with a BA in English Language and Literature. Her interests span around psychology, human relationships, and the inner self. She believes that writing has healing powers.
