If you think that the term “career burnout” applies only to adults 30-40 years of age then you are very wrong! Even seniors experience career burnouts and they are usually the ones that have been on job for so long, they don’t know how and when to stop working.
Yes, you heard me right, these are your standard-issue senior workaholics. I believe that there are people who were born to work however, there will also come a time when everything will suddenly feel redundant and pointless. Then everything you have worked hard for will quickly shed its luster. This is your mind telling you that working is not anymore worth it.
Seniors should never feel bad if suddenly they find themselves in this kind of rut. These things happen sooner or later. When you experience career burnout, it is important that you know your priorities. Assess your current situation and know your options since there is possibility that you’ll end up taking a second career. In fact, don’t be surprised if you one day find yourself working on an entirely different area of expertise than your career now.
However, if you are aiming to just improve your mood but would rather stay put on your job then all you need to do is improve your work-life balance. Work-life balance depends on how you actively participate on issues regarding your work and your life as a private person. You can be happy working your old bottoms off and not notice you are slowly losing your friends or missing out on your grandkid’s little milestones. These things, even if you don’t recognize it right away has an effect on you psychologically which stresses your being leaving you feeling empty and incomplete. It also has an effect on your productivity even if you, again, don’t recognize your work-life balance as the problem.
In order for you to achieve a perfect work-life balance, you should be able to set aside time for your life as a person in between work. I do know that this is easier said than done since nowadays you can bring your work to anywhere you want. While this may sound benefiting to seniors trying to achieve balance in their lives, this complicates things even more since you don’t have any more room for yourself, i.e your “me” time. Just imagine yourself off to a vacation then suddenly be greeted by your laptop upon unpacking, what would your thoughts be? I bet it’s to check on your emails. See? It has become harder for us to separate work and personal life. Although it can be hard, you just have to exert extra effort to really succeed in achieving work-life balance.
Working is not bad, in fact, it has health benefits since it encourages active lifestyle and was even reported to have helped many seniors to live long and happy lives however, doing it in excess will cause burnout which can trigger illnesses too.
