Eager To Please: 7 Signs You're An Overworked, Young Female Professional
When landing that first post-college job, many women find themselves so determined to please their bosses that they become too exhausted to lead a life outside work.
They eat lunch by their desks; they work unpaid overtime and their minds are still on work when they go to sleep.
Are you one of them? Here are seven obvious signs you need to recharge your batteries:
1. You’re constantly tired.
Getting up in the morning seems harder than your job itself and staying in bed feels like going to the spa. When you’re finally at the office, you just want to lie over the keyboard and fall asleep.
It isn’t necessarily because you’ve gotten tired of your job, though. According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation, 20 percent of Americans who work more than 50 hours a week reported getting less than six hours of sleep during the night.
2. Your mind is always at work.
On a rare day off, your mind is still at your workplace. When you meet your friends and they ask what’s new in your life, you don’t know what to say because you don’t have a life outside of work. You’re too tired to go to the gym.
There isn’t time for a casual date in your strict schedule and, when you’re done at the office, you’re still not actually done working because your mind is still going through the last task you did at work.
3. You adopt unhealthy habits.
Somewhere along the road, you started overeating chocolate bars and drinking double mocha Frappuccinos instead of your usual salad and black coffee.
Your working hours have become a vicious cycle in which your blood sugar is low and you constantly need a quick fix in the form of sugar or caffeine.
You love these indulgences in your otherwise boring days but then, your blood sugar again falls and soon, you’re back to where you started.
4. You’re on edge.
This is your first, real grown-up job after college and it feels scary, stressful, exciting and fun all at the same time. All of these feelings blended make you significantly more drained than those who have had your job for several years.
On top of this, you feel a need to prove to your boss and colleagues that you can nail this job, which understandably makes you feel even more exhausted.
5. You’re easily annoyed.
According to Visual.ly, 39 percent of American employees feel annoyed or irritated by their coworkers. Irritability is a natural symptom of stress, so before you let your anger get the best of you, get out of the office and snag some fresh air.
6. You’re procrastinating and being unproductive.
Lately, you’ve found yourself scrolling up and down every meaningless social media website around. You weren’t even that into Instagram or Twitter before, but now, you can’t keep your fingers away from them.
Due to the long days you work, you reward yourself with procrastination and end up doing your work less efficiently. As a result, you have to work overtime to get the work done.
7. You overwork without being paid for it.
Women especially feel like they have to stay at work, even though they’re not paid to do so. Women tend to feel guilty about not getting everything done and will often choose to get the job done perfectly without overtime pay, rather than going home when the day is over.
Photo Courtesy: We Heart It
