exhaustion

Feelings of Heaviness?

word job on someone's back

In the poem, “For One Who is Exhausted, a Bleassing” the Irish poet John O’Donohue writes:

Weariness invades your spirit.

Gravity begins falling inside you,

Dragging down every bone.

Can you resonate with those words? Do you find yourself having strong stressors and emotions when you listen to the news or read the newspaper? You may find yourself experiencing personal challenges, financial stress, high-pressure jobs, parenting, caregiving, or dealing with a chronic illness. I find myself wondering what’s next or what else am I going to be expected to handle. If you too find yourself with a sense of struggle, being irritable, difficulty concentrating or lacking motivation. Those are sign’s you may be emotionally exhausted.

Emotional exhaustion tends to happen slowly over time and people can find themselves feeling worn out and drained. According to the Mayo Clinic, emotional exhaustion includes emotional, physical and performance symptoms.

person sitting down with head between their knees

Emotional symptoms can include:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Feeling hopeless
  • Irritability
  • Lack of Focus
  • Lack of Motivation
  • Negative Thinking
  • Sense of Being Trapped
  • Tearfulness

Physical symptoms can include:

  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Lack of Appetite
  • Muscle Tension
  • Poor Sleep
  • Upset Stomach

Performance symptoms can include:

  • Difficulty Completing Tasks
  • Increased Absences
  • Isolation
  • Lowering Commitments
  • Not Meeting Deadlines
stones on the beach at the ocean

The middle of the poem goes on to talk about getting out of the heaviness and shifting your focus.

Draw alongside the silence of stone

Until its calmness can claim you.

Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Strategies to reduce emotional exhaustion can include:

  • Balancing Your Thoughts
  • Eating A Balanced Diet
  • Exercising
  • Minimizing Stressors
  • Practicing Mindfulness
  • Sleep

Heaviness can lift. That temporary state can be overcome and when it does, you will feel light again.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,

Having learned a new respect for your heart

And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

You are stronger than you realize—every challenge you’ve faced has built a resilience within you that can carry you through this too. You will rise stronger than before.

Written by: Amanda Bohlen, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, OSU Extension Washington County

Reviewed by: Megan Taylor, Family and Consumer Sciences/4-H Educator, OSU Extension Union County