9 Warning Signs That You Are Emotionally and Mentally Exhausted

Life is full of “mountains and valleys”.

There will be seasons where you feel like life could not get any better! But you may not be in one of those seasons right now.

You may be experiencing a period in your life where you are emotionally, mentally, and spiritually exhausted.

You wake up every morning to the realization that you are living a crazy, busy, overwhelming life.

Perhaps it is your job, a family situation, coworkers, a difficult relationship, mental health issues, or even a bad habit that you have allowed into your life.

All you do is hold onto the hope and pray that maybe things will change. But they don’t – and they keep getting worse.

Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The most important thing you can do is ask God for His help and guidance! But you also need to be proactive about taking care of your own health.

Many people have pushed themselves too far and suffered from burnout and health problems.

This may be you!

Below are 9 warning signs that you are emotionally and mentally exhausted.

1.) You Are Completely Exhausted – All the Time

When you wake up in the morning, you already feel exhausted…like you haven’t slept in days.

Just the idea of getting out of bed and going to work makes you feel fatigued and emotional.

This kind of exhaustion isn’t just physical; it is also mental.

Your personality isn’t there anymore. When you are in public, you have to paint on a smile and fake a laugh just to look like you are enjoying yourself.

All you want to do is curl up in bed and do something that requires 0% effort.

You don’t care about the things that once made you happy because you are too tired to put in the effort.

2.) You get irritated very quickly

Everything seems to get on your nerves!

The little things that use to “slightly” bother you now seem monumental and unbearable.

Perhaps it is a sarcastic comment, a coworkers bad habit, a child’s constant questions, a spouse’s remark, the tone of someone’s voice, or even the way they eat their food.

It sends you over the edge! A cloud of gloom and anger sets in and all you want to do is take it out on everyone else!

As the days pass, it becomes a pattern of you becoming increasingly irritated and upset at those around you.

3.) You Start Experiencing the Symptoms of Anxiety

First of all, let me state that anxiety is very normal! It affects more than 40 million adults in the United States, and you may be one of them.

According to Mental Health Gateway, feeling of anxiety is characterized by feelings of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks.

These feelings seem to come out of nowhere!

Your mind is racing and full of overwhelming thoughts, your chest is tight and heavy, and you feel overwhelmed with uncontrollable emotions.

The positive thing about anxiety is that it can be a guiding force in your life – showing you what your limits are and forcing you not to put yourself in unhealthy situations.

Whenever you start to feel anxiety creeping in, try to identify what started it. Work to remedy the problem or find a way to quiet your mind, so you can learn to live with the situation in a peaceful way.

4.) You Are Having Health Problems

…severe headaches, gut problems, constipation, acid reflux, chest pain, neck pain, etc.

You may find yourself clenching your jaw or having trouble breathing.

These symptoms are your body’s normal response to consistent stress. It is signaling that you need to make a lifestyle change!

Your body knows that over long period of time, chronic stress can take a debilitating toll on a person’s health. The longer you stay in unhealthy circumstances, your body will continue to have worsening symptoms.

It is important for you to listen to your body! Find a way to deal with the stress and anxiety that your body is currently under.

Otherwise, your health symptoms may turn into a heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, or a gastrointestinal problem – all directly related to stress!

5.) You Have Trouble Sleeping At Night

You are absolutely exhausted!

And yet, as soon as you crawl into bed, your mind turns on and you can’t get to sleep!

You lay there, staring at the ceiling, thinking about all the things that are stressing you out. You can’t stop!

This situation causes many people to unfortunately get addicted to sleep aids.

You should be getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night, but your can’t. As your sleep deprivation catches up with you, you become increasingly irritable and depressed.

Take action to start creating healthy evening habits that encourage a good night’s sleep. This article will help you build these habits.

6.) You Just Don’t Care Anymore

…at least about the things you once used to. Your motivation to get things done is at 0%.

Perhaps your job performance is declining. Your once very clean home is now a complete mess. Your eating habits have become unhealthy and you continue to eat poorly. Or perhaps you don’t take care of your appearance like you used to.

Your life is too full of anxiety to even care anymore. You say “No” to your friends invitations and become detached from the things you once loved.

Take a good, hard look at your life. You need to stop and relax!

Take some much-needed “you-time”. You and your well-being need to be made a priority!

Identify the things that destroy your joy and try to eliminate them as quickly as possible. You must find ways build happiness and purpose back into your life.

Sometimes, you can’t “eliminate the negativity” from your life. In these situations, try to make the decision to choose joy.

Get counselling or ask a trusted friend for advice. Pray and ask God to restore the joy, peace, and contentment in your life.

7.) Sometimes, you start crying for “no reason”

The thing is, you are crying for many reasons.

You are at a loss for what to do! You feel trapped in your life and the circumstances that you are surrounded with.

This is a sign that you are emotionally exhausted. The smallest thing makes you want to burst into tears!

Breath deeply and try to focus on something positive.

If you need to cry, go ahead and cry! Sometimes, tears have a way of releasing built-up emotions.

8.) Your Relationship are Starting to Suffer

As your stress levels continue to rise, you may start to respond to your friends and family in a negative way.

Perhaps you are becoming increasingly argumentative and negative. Or maybe you are withdrawing from the world, preferring to be all alone by yourself.

While it is normal to occasionally experience negative emotions, you must identify when these emotions are destroying your happiness and chasing away the people you love.

Family and friends are there to help you through the hard times, but they aren’t there to continuously allow you to treat them in an uncaring way.

If you start to notice your friends distancing themselves from you, you must take action to find a way through.

Otherwise, it will create a vicious cycle of negativity that will leave you depressed and alone.

Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

9.) You have a feeling of hopelessness

This is the hardest place to be! When you feel like there is nothing you can do to improve your circumstances.

When people are depressed or exhausted, they tend to focus on themselves and all the difficulty they are experiencing. By doing so, they become overwhelmed with all the negative things they are experiencing and forget to look around and see the positive things that do exist.

Once you reach mental and physical exhaustion, you feel like things are never going to change. This is it! This is going to be the rest of your life.

Know there is always hope, no matter where you are!

In the Bible, the whole book of Psalms is full of verses where David was crying out to God in the middle of his hopelessness!

Psalm 34:17-20 “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.”

When things start feeling hopeless, seek godly advice and professional help. Go to a professional counselor/therapist or a medical professional.

There are a lot of mental health resources out there – take advantage of them!

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You owe it to yourself to take a break!

And yes, self care is a very Biblical thing! Even Jesus knew the value of taking a break and resting from the cares of life.

First, you must identify what is causing your stress. If possible, eliminate it from your life. Maybe you need to quit your job, break off a relationship, or take a break from something that is causing you a great amount of stress.

If you can’t, seek professional help to try to remedy the cause of the stress.

Most importantly, cry out to God! He is the Renewer spirits and Changer of life circumstances.

Psalm 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

Isaiah 41:31 “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”