Stress and burnout are not the same thing. It’s important that we don’t get them mixed up because the language we use to describe our experiences can impact what we choose to do about it.

Stress is more short-term and situational. Usually, when we are experiencing stress, we can point to a stressor (what is causing stress) and feel a stress response (the reaction to stress that is happening in the body).

Also, stress is a natural part of life. We will encounter stressors daily, and our bodies are designed to respond to stress. In general, stress is not necessarily a bad thing. But, stress can become a problem when it is chronic, unmanaged, overwhelming, or leads to burnout.

Burnout is more cumulative and generalized, which means that burnout builds up over time and is an experience that usually has multiple causes or underlying factors. It can sometimes be hard to know what to do about burnout because of its ambiguous yet depleting nature.

The difference between stress and burnout can look like this – stress can be more like a sharp pain and burnout can be more like an exhausting dull ache. Either way, this sharp pain or dull ache is uncomfortable and is a signal that something is needed.

It’s important to make this distinction between stress and burnout because we don’t want to treat stress like it’s a dull ache or burnout as a sharp pain. With stress, we want to take action to address the stressor and the stress response. With burnout, we want to find, understand, and address the underlying cause of the ache, and this can take time, patience, and compassion.

Because burnout and stress are different experiences, this does mean we can experience burnout and stress at the same time. Although being burned out and simultaneously stressed out is difficult, this is not an impossible situation. In fact, your experiences with stress can help you better understand your experience of burnout, and addressing burnout can help decrease stress.

When it comes to stress and burnout, we can start with observing and experimenting. Observe your experiences and take a moment to notice and assess your situation instead of just pushing through it. And, experiment with self-care to see what works for you. Life will be an ongoing experiment with self-care, so attend to the process with awareness and compassion.

Be kind to yourself today.

Ami Kunimura, Ph.D. is the founder of the Self-Care Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine and is a board-certified music therapist. Ami provides support for individuals and organizations worldwide with burnout prevention, burnout recovery, stress management, and sustainable self-care. Learn more about Ami here.