What happens if you ignore a burnout for too long?
Burnout happens to people who have continued to work for years solely based on a strong sense of responsibility; workers who always want to perform well for others, perfectionists and reliable colleagues who have picked up the work from others in periods of increased work pressure and absenteeism. These are the victims of burnout. These are not the losers but the diehards, the champions of our society. People who have crossed their own mental and emotional limits and eventually collapse physically because their body is fully exhausted after months or even years of hard work.
Physically, this usually means that the body has experienced chronic stress for too long. Some acute stress is fine, we can all handle that, however if it lasts too long without the opportunity of recovery, the silent killer named 'adrenal fatigue' starts its stealthy work. What happens is that after a considerable period of sustained stress, the adrenal glands are driven to extra production of adrenaline, predominantly to be able to continue and survive. At the end, after months of continuation (despite signals from the stressed, overtired body), the adrenaline is depleted and the diehard also becomes exhausted. This is the moment when many people suddenly collapse, black out, can’t utter a single word anymore, end up on the couch like a zombie, cry for hours or sleep the day away.
This is currently very recognisable for many (remote) working diehards, who previously barely complained about stress or fatigue, yet now must combine too many tasks. That is what burnout is, and you wouldn't wish that upon anyone, not even upon the comfortable critic who thinks that burnout is just for losers…
