Burnout is the result of unrelieved stress over long periods of time, and it can happen to anyone.
The big danger of burnout is that it's hard to recover from it, because when you reach burnout you have nothing left to give – stress has stripped you of your mental and physical health.

In motoring terms, if stress is over-revving an engine, burnout occurs when the engine burns out and stops for good. Therefore, it's vital that you pay attention to early signs that you're close to burnout, and take action immediately. Be aware that you may not notice these early signs that you're burning out: someone else may notice them first. Listen if family and close friends remark on your behavioural changes.

Let's look at five of the signs of burnout:
You're irritable with family, friends and colleagues. If you're under stress at work, you may not snap at co-workers, but you may find yourself yelling at your partner and children. You may feel that your home, rather then being a retreat, is just another place where people put demands on you. This leads to feelings of guilt, and even more stress.

You feel as if you're a failure
Occasional feelings of frustration, powerlessness and hopelessness – of failure – are common for everyone. However, they're usually brief. You feel let down and frustrated when a project is killed,
or you suffer a loss, but within a short time you're over it. However, if your feelings of failure continue beyond a week, you may be close to burnout.

You've lost interest in activities you used to enjoy
An early sign of burnout may be that you stop working on your hobbies. You feel you have no
time, but the truth is you lack interest. Loss of libido – interest in sex – can also be an early sign of burnout.

You dread getting out of bed in the morning
If you feel anxious and as if there's a weight on your chest when you wake up in the morning, this is another sign that you may be burning out.

You feel that nothing will ever change, and nothing matters
Everyone has choices. If you feel as if you're out of choices, and that nothing you do makes any difference, this is a clear sign that you're heading for burnout.

What you can do about these early signs
If you recognize any of these early signs of burnout in yourself, congratulations. This is a great achievement: now you know what's happening to you, you can do something about it.

Although burnout is serious, when you take action against burnout, you will develops skills which will burnout-proof you. These skills will also help you to eliminate too much stress in the future.