emotions: Recognizing Emotional Exhaustion: When Emotions Run Dry

Have you experienced emotional exhaustion? Do you describe yourself as someone who is emotionally drained, without clear physical causes? You may be heading towards emotional exhaustion and its negative effects on mental health.

Emotional exhaustion can sneak up on us and show up in our bodies and minds. A person may feel stuck or out of control and have so much stress that it makes them feel unwell. For example, if you experience this exhaustion you may end up taking twice as much more time to complete a given task.

You are likely to witness the effects in all areas of your lives. (Image via Pexels/ Cottonbro)

Symptoms of Emotional Exhaustion

How do we identify symptoms of exhaution? (Image via Pexels/ Mart Production)

While being emotionally exhausted is quite common, the effects and impact can be different for everyone. It is important to identify the symptoms of emotional exhaustion, before trying to reduce it. Once you become more aware of the potential symptoms of burnout, you can learn to manage them accordingly. Here are some common symptoms of emotional exhaustion:

1) Emotional Fatigue

When you are emotionally worn out, you often feel tired all the time and have no energy. Even after a good night's sleep, you may feel tired in your body and mind. This tiredness can last all day, making it hard to do the things you need to do every day. Whether it's work at the office or handling everyday household chores, fatigue can become a hindrance to your everyday life.

2) Emotional Friction

As a human being, you are bestowed with only a limited capacity to manage emotions. (Image via Pexels/ Darwish Alwan)

Emotional tiredness can make you more sensitive to your feelings and cause your mood to change often. You might feel strong emotions like frustration, sadness, or anger more often and more strongly than normal. Small stressors that are usually easy to deal with can cause big emotional reactions. You are likely to react in comparison to responding from your thinking brain.

3) Reduced Motivation

One of the most obvious signs of emotional exhaustion is a drop in motivation. Things that used to bring you joy or satisfaction may now feel like work or be boring. When someone feels apathetic and lacks motivation, it can be hard to start or keep doing chores or hobbies.

4) Difficulties with focus and attention

The effects of this exhaustion can be both short-term or long-term. (Image via Pexels/ Antoni Shkraba)

Emotional tiredness can make it hard to think clearly, making it hard to concentrate and focus. You might have trouble paying attention to details, getting things done quickly, or remembering new information. Reduced cognitive function and mental fog can make people less productive.

5) Reduced connection

Positive well-being fosters connection, but emotional exhaustion fosters disconnection. It can make it harder to develop feelings of care for others and make it harder to connect with them emotionally. You might find it hard to fully connect with or understand how other people feel. This can put a strain on relationships and make people feel emotionally distant or alone.

What Causes Emotional Exhaustion?

What are the potential causes leading up to this exhaustion? (Image via Pexels/ Timur Weber)

Emotional exhaustion or feeling emotionally drained are often caused by worry, suppressing feelings, or giving more to others than you can handle.⁣⁣ We all experience bouts of stress and anxiety in our day-to-day lives. Somedays, it is a whirlpool of situations that you can't cope with. As a consequence, your body finds it difficult to deal with the external events contributing to the overwhelming emotions.

A constant exposure to adverse events or difficult experiences, whether at work, relationships, or other sources can reduce your capacity to manage stress. Even the anticipation of upcoming stressful events can add to your signs and symptoms.

A major factor contributing to the exhaustion is a lack of clear boundaries. You can't pour from an empty cup, but if you continue to do so, it can easily add on to your tendency to manage stress and burnout. Without setting limits, you become vulnerable to any extraneous variables contributing to burnout. Not restoring our emotional resources can also lead to burnout syndrome.

Emotional exhaustion can be fixed if we learn to recognize the things that make us feel stressed for a long time and the signs that we are emotionally worn out. If you are feeling emotionally exhausted, this is your sign to remember that you are not a machine and you do require and deserve rest.

Making simple changes can often help with mental fatigue. Healthy habits like having a well-balanced diet, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and limiting substance use can improve our mood and make us less vulnerable to the effects of emotional exhaustion.

Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.

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