Hey, T. Martinez here to tell you about NPR Plus.

MPR Plus gives you access to sponsor free versions of your favorite NPR podcast, such as Up First,

and even special bonus episodes from shows such as Fresh Air and Planet Money.

And the best part, it all supports public media.

Learn more at plus.mPR.org, that's PLUS.

NPR.org. This is NPR's life kit. I'm Rita Chategy. I cover mental health for

NPR and today we're talking about something many people might be experiencing

right now. Burn out. It was an overwhelming set of feelings where I wasn't making the right decisions.

It was like a set of days where I was beyond exhausted, physically, mentally, emotionally.

Every day normal things that will just weigh on my shoulders.

Like, I remember feeling so defeated by thinking, oh, I haven't given my dog a bath was definitely real.

Every single day felt like a Monday and then over time that became beyond just a matter of

being tired too tired to roll out of bed, but literally getting a PTSD like

symptom when I heard my outlook calendar go off. My body toast, my stomach started to ache, and I felt nauseous.

The World Health Organization defines burnout as a syndrome associated

with chronic stress at work.

The term has gained popularity in recent years as workplaces

around the world now require people to do more and more, leading to more employees feeling

burnt out. And right now during the pandemic people's work lives have become even more stressful.

It's all the more reason for us to talk about it now.

When I first started to report on the topic a couple years ago, I thought I knew what the word meant based on how we use it colloquially, like I'm burnt out or exhausted because I've been working too hard.

It becomes this sort of acceptable American thing where we work really hard, work made me tired, it's just that work, work, work, work.

...