This post focuses on the 6 common stages of burnout recovery that pretty much everyone who experiences burnout goes through.
Burnout recovery is a huge topic that realistically cannot be covered in a short blog piece. So, do check out my burnout recovery series on TikTok if you want to find out more. I cover the 6 stages of burnout recovery in depth in the videos. There will also be lots more coming on recovery on here too!
If you’re not sure if you’re burnt out, be sure to read this post about the stages of burnout itself. You might also find the burnout assessment quiz in this post helpful.
Let’s move on to today’s topic, which is the 6 stages of burnout recovery!
Burnout Recovery Stage 1: Realising the problem
It is surprisingly hard to recognise burnout in yourself. The first step to recovery is acknowledging that you have a problem. By the time you get to this point, it’s usually very obvious to friends and family that you are in trouble. It might only just have clicked for you however. This is totally normal. Once you have realised the situation, and understand that things have to change, then you move quickly to stage 2.
Burnout Recovery Stage 2: Taking a break from work (or other source of stress)
Just after you’ve realised that you’re burnt out, ideally you should have a break from work. For people who manage to take time out, it’s mainly through taking sick leave. Sometimes this can be for as long as a year, but on average it’s for 3.5 months. Others achieve a break by leaving their job entirely. Having a break is the ideal way to kick start the next stage of recovery, which is all about restoring your health.
But, not everyone has the luxury of being able to take paid sick leave or leave their jobs. If this is you then you will be pleased to hear that many people do continue to work throughout their burnout recovery. Even better, it is possible to feel better while continuing to work. If you are continuing to work, it’s important to reduce the cause of your stress and put temporary changes in place to help. You may need to negotiate these changes with your employer.
Don’t get too hung up if you’re not able to take time off work. There is no single act (such as leaving your job, or taking sick leave) that determines if your recovery is successful. There are, however 3 key aspects to burnout recovery that you will need to focus on. They are: believing you are in control of your work and wellbeing, and supportive relationships. Put all of your energy into these 3 things (more on how to do this to come!).
What if the cause of your burnout isn’t work?
Sometimes the cause of burnout isn’t your work, it’s things outside of it. It might be parenting or caring that is making you burnt out. In this case, it’s very tricky to completely remove yourself from the cause of the stress, because you are responsible for others. If this is you, then asking for help to reduce the burden of care of you is the first place to start.
If the cause of your burnout is due to being neurodivergent, then time off work might help. Here, the burnout cycles are driven by the effects of living and working in a world that is set up for the neurotypical. Crucially, your focus needs to be on tackling your symptoms and how they directly affect how you live and work.
Burnout Recovery Stage 3: Focusing on, and restoring, your health
Now it’s time to focus on your health. This stage of recovery is about restoring your health. For the majority, this starts with dealing with their fatigue. Most people at this stage sleep excessively, either by sleeping longer overnight or by taking frequent naps.
Besides sleep, people also engage in low-energy activities, such as watching TV or playing mindless games on their phones. After the initial fatigue starts to improve, people can gradually start to engage in fun activities. They restart doing their hobbies, they see their friends and family socially, and they do physical activities. The goal at this stage is to improve your mental and physical health to a point where your focus, decision making, ability to control emotions and concentration is just good enough to move onto the next stage.
Burnout Recovery Stage 4: Looking at your values
At this point, having regained some energy and restored their health, people reflect on their old values. They then explore and identify their new post burnout values, in order to support their recovery.
Your values act as your internal moral and ethical compass. Burnout is a lot like other significant life events, such as getting married, having a baby, a big bereavement or a divorce. It causes you to question what is really important.
One common change during this particular stage is that everyone ultimately ends up placing more emphasis on their health. This stage of questioning your values is really important. Every subsequent decision that you make needs to be based on what is now important to you post-burnout.
Not sure what your values are? Start with this list.
Burnout Recovery Stage 5: Exploring changes
In this stage, you work hard to research job opportunities that align with their new post-burnout values. This could be exploring the idea of continuing in your pre-burnout role with changes to suit your new values. Or, it could mean looking for something completely new. This stage is about exploring rather than doing, though. It’s about looking at every option that is open to you without the fear or burden of having to commit to anything just yet. Consider it window shopping!
If you’re on sick leave, you will simply be thinking about these changes.
Perhaps you’re about to return to work, in which case you will need to think about what changes you need to make prior to your return.
Or, you might still be working. In which case, you will need to think about the changes you need while simultaneously balancing your workload.
Burnout Recovery Stage 6: Making changes
The final stage of the 6 stages of burnout recovery is all about making changes to support your recovery. It is possibly the trickiest stage to get right and stay well during. It might mean changes to your existing job, or it might mean leaving your job to step into a similar role in a different organisation. You could take on something completely different in a new industry.
For those of you that burnt out away from work, this stage involves making changes to the root cause of your stress (if possible), how you handle that stress, and how you can be supported to stay well going forward.
You will be looking at making these changes long before you are fully recovered from burnout. Most people with burnout start looking at making changes weeks to months after first realising they are burnt out, but complete burnout recovery takes 1-3 years.
So, when you start to think about making changes, you must respect the fact that you will have less energy and will not be back to your full strength for some time. This is very hard for people with burnout to come to terms with, because the people that burn out are generally very driven, motivated and capable.
So, now you know the 6 stages of burnout recovery. Take a moment to reflect on where you might be in this cycle. What do you need to do to move onto the next stage?
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REFERENCES: Bernier, D. (1998). A study of coping: Successful recovery from severe burnout and other reactions to severe work-related stress. Work & Stress, 12(1), 50–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678379808256848