This has always been an area of struggle for me, but I have found some ways to alleviate the burn out from one day to the next especially when I was working in some pretty stressful atmospheres with phones ringing, bosses yelling, and crazy people staring at you with nothing to say that made any sense.
One of the things I did was remove myself from the situation that was causing me stress. I would politely ask my boss, "Am I free to go at this time? Need to take a breather..." My bosses usually understood, because not to long after I got back they disappeared for awhile too.
The second thing I did was take a book with me to work, so that I could escape thoughts of work during my breaks.
Although I didn't always take my break like I should have, I tried very hard to use them. Legally they are yours so why not take them? Those breaks helped me often especially when I wanted to really express how I felt about an event or something someone said to me.
The last thing I did was visit a few places I had never been to before during lunch, on off days or after work. Sometimes a change of scenery will make you forget about some of those things that put you in a bad mood in the first place.
Nicholl McGuire
http://associatedcontent.com/nichollmcguire
