Getting mentally fatigued and being emotionally exhausted are not the same things. Emotional exhaustion is an extremely unhealthy state of mind, which needs to be taken care of immediately. We will help you with that in today’s post, but first let us be certain if you indeed suffering from emotional exhaustion.
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Suggested read: I Am Tired Of Pretending I Am Okay
What are the red flags of emotional exhaustion?
Emotional exhaustion is usually manifested in the form of chronic stress and even mental conditions such as, anxiety and depression. To know for certain that your stress is actually an indicator of emotional enervation, you need to be on the lookout for the following signs. Remember, only by diagnosing it well, can you treat the condition effectively.
1. Sleeping doesn’t relax
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Do you feel as exhausted when you wake up in the morning as you feel before hitting the bed? Does sleep not help in making you feel well rested or relaxed? Well, then it is quite possible that you are going through emotional exhaustion. A good night’s sleep is not likely to make you feel any better or positive about your life. Until you actually treat your condition, things will stay this way.
2. Relaxing and unwinding doesn’t work
Are you trying different relaxing techniques, but nothing is bearing any fruit? While relaxing and unwinding should alleviate your stress and exhaustion, people who have emotional exhaustion rarely get any relief from these techniques. You will have to be more creative to relax your mind and recharge it.
3. You are always annoyed, but you don’t know why
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Have people in your life started pointing out that you are almost always very cranky and angry? Has that angered you further? Have you tried finding out why you feel so irritated all the time, and failed at that? When one is going through the state of emotional exhaustion, they are very sensitive to everything, and react in a rather volatile manner to even the silliest things.
4. Insomnia is your new friend
Stress causes insomnia, but there is a way you can differentiate between insomnia caused by stress and insomnia caused by emotional exhaustion. While the former is treated through general relaxing techniques, the latter persists despite those practices.
5. Nightmares are regular visitors
Emotions and dreams are closely associated. Having nightmares almost regularly, suggests that there is something terribly wrong happening in your subconscious mind, which finds an escape and manifests itself as nightmares in your sleep. You may not be able to realize these issues when you are conscious, but when you are asleep and have no control over your mind, these emotions drop their veils and reveal themselves.
Suggested read: 12 Soothing Tips On How To Calm Your Overactive And Stressed Mind That Actually Work
6. You don’t feel attached to people and things
This sign almost confirms that you are indeed suffering from emotional exhaustion. When you have to force yourself to feel for the people around you or your things, it means that your emotions are just fried, and you are emotionally bushed. A feeling of emptiness fills the space around you.
7. Concentrating is a real struggle
When our emotional database is emptied, it becomes difficult to concentrate on anything. Focusing on your regular tasks or your life goals can seem like an ordeal, and you will find your mind wandering off most of the time. If this is your current situation, or if it has been this way for quite some time now, then you are emotionally used up, and need to recharge yourself.
8. Your immune system sucks
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When you are emotionally unwell, that is sure to have repercussions on your physical health. You are likely to get sick often. Not many people are aware of this, but prolonged stress harms the immune system making it very weak and susceptible to diseases.
9. You just can’t eat
When a person is going through a period of emotional exhaustion, eating takes great effort. Even if you do feel hungry, you will not be able to swallow your food. Even your favorites won’t entice you like they used to. To put it simply, yes, you just cannot eat.
10. Headaches trouble you more than often
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When people are emotionally beat, headaches are a regular occurrence. It is because your brain is functioning more than it should normally, to process all that’s going on with you emotionally. And what is worse is that though you are spending so much of your mental energy on overanalyzing everything that has happened and is happening, you cannot find out the cause of this emotional exhaustion that you feel all the time.
If five or more of these signs are true in your case, then you are emotionally exhausted, and need to take care of your condition. Let us tell you how.
What you can do to treat your emotional exhaustion
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1. Find someone you can trust, and share your situation with them
Opening up to someone you trust is crucial when it comes to treating emotional exhaustion. This person could be your friend or someone you are related to. If letting out things which are so close to your heart to a person you know scares you, then you can seek help from an expert who won’t judge you for the way you feel. Unburdening yourself is essential and you need to seek help for that.
2. Find out what’s causing this exhaustion
Analyzing, identifying and isolating the problem is the first step to correct it or solve it. You will have to go deep and think about various situations that drain you mentally. You will have to ask yourself some hard questions, which will provide you with a compass to navigate and reach the problem that lies somewhere deep within. Brushing the real cause under the carpet, and pretending to look for it in the room, is not going to help you.
3. Take a break
Yes, we are talking about a vacation, and no that is not a superficial or short-term solution. This vacation will help you take a break from everything that’s been going on, and for a while you can see and analyze your situation from the outside, which will give you a more unbiased and proper assessment of your situation. And as we said before, if you diagnose your condition better, the treatment will automatically be better too.
4. Don’t try to shove your feeling inward
Not talking t someone about what you are going through, not unburdening yourself, and instead keeping every emotion you feel buried inside of you, will only contribute to make things worse.
So what should you do instead? Cry when you feel like crying; if you feel like complimenting someone, go ahead and do that; if you are mad at someone, you need to find a way to address your feelings in a civilized manner. If there are people who are constantly upsetting you, then you need to confront them. As soon as you start communicating your feelings, you will see how relieved you feel.
5. Professional help
If you see that taking a break or communicating your feelings isn’t helping you, then you need to seek professional help. Remember, there is nothing wrong with going to the psychiatrist. You are not feeling well, emotionally, and you need to make yourself feel better again, and that will be possible only when you get yourself treated by a doctor.
Bonus:
Ways you can clean your tank of emotions and get recharged
1. Have a pity party for yourself
Everybody needs a pity party at least once in their lives. You need to let your guard down, and been genuine about how you feel. If you think there are a few things in your life that suck, talk about them. If someone asks you how you are, don’t say you are fine just for the heck of it; say how you really feel. Let the people you love into your nightmare, and see how they help you through it. If they don’t, then maybe they aren’t as close to you as you thought they were, and may be it was time to let go of them.
2. Remember you are only human
Being emotionally exhausted is a perfectly normal human experience. It does not mean something is wrong with you, and that you are a lost case. It only means you aren’t feeling very well, and need to rest. Stop beating yourself up for not being able to control everything; you are striving for something that is just not possible.
3. Say no more often
Learning how to say no is key to treating emotional exhaustion. Here’s why. People who are emotionally fatigued are more than often people-pleasers. They find it very hard to say no to people because they are sacred of one, breaking those peoples’ hearts; and two, losing friends. As a result, they keep doing things they don’t want to and that pile keeps growing, finally exhausting the person emotionally.
So to treat yourself of your emotional exhaustion, learn to say NO.
Suggested read: How It Is For Someone Living With Anxiety: My Story
That is all we have on today’s post. We hope you found it helpful. Do let us know what you think the post got right and what it got wrong, in the comments below. We love to learn from you. 
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