Do you

  • Feel overworked, overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted constantly – not just one week?

  • Get the “Sunday Scaries” each week and dread going back to work the next day?

  • Feel run-down by saying yes all the time – or having to handle everything for everyone else?

  • Find yourself crying randomly, irritated by little things, or snapping at people close to you?

Usually, stress comes and goes each day or week. When stress stays for weeks or months on-end and strange things start to happen to how you feel, it’s a sign that’s not “normal” stress anymore.

Keep scrolling to find out whether what you’re feeling is just stress – or might be something known as burnout.

Have you been feeling really stressed – and wondering whether it’s just stress?

Take a burnout quiz

Normal stress feels like

  • A day or two of low motivation, tiredness, or anxiety

  • A passing headache, cold, or a poor night or two of sleep

  • An occasional cancelled plan

  • A temporary frustration with a life or work experience or event

Burnout-driving stress feels like

  • Weeks-long exhaustion, apathy, or pessimism

  • Brain fog, headaches, stomach aches, getting sick easier, and difficulties sleeping

  • Withdrawing from colleagues, friends, a partner, or family

  • Life/work feel lacking, or deeply misaligned with core values

Where does burnout come from?

  • A long-term buildup of stress, without

    • Regular and sufficient sleep

    • Exercise/sports

    • Healthy food

    • Social connection

    • Self-care that works for you

  • A misalignment between your work or life and your core values – or being in an environment that doesn’t offer enough support and autonomy

  • Unsustainable belief systems, such as:

    • I’m not good enough

    • I can’t afford to ask for help or slow down

    • If I don’t keep working this hard I won’t be safe, or accepted

    • I have no choice or alternative

    • Once I reach Y, I can slow down

Take a 5-minute burnout quiz

Take this anonymous quiz to find out whether what you’re experiencing matches the signs of burnout.

Take a burnout quiz

Want to do something more?

If you are worried what you’re feeling might actually be burnout but don’t know where to start, start by downloading Bonsai from the App Store.

Bonsai is a self-guided stress regulation app that provides information, tips, and tools that can help you prevent stress from turning into burnout – or figure out what to do if it’s not stress and is already burnout.

Try Bonsai