3/ Burnout
everyone experiences burnout. this Blog post helps you identify signs of burnout, and what you can do to recover.
Oh boyeeeeeee. Do I know about BURNOUT. I sure wish I didn’t, but alas, here we are. As a recovering perfectionist, I am very intentional everyday about avoiding burnout. Burnout leads to bad habits and it’s just downhill from there. So what are the signs or burnout and how can we avoid it?
Let’s start with a story. Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved things to be just “so.” She had an idea of what life was supposed to look like based on social conditioning from the environment she grew up in and outside factors, like magazine and TV shows. She put lots of pressure on herself to create and live that picture perfect life. But, life, as it turns out, had other plans.
Unable to let go of her picture perfect fantasy, the girl fought against what life had to offer her. It was exhausting and led to burnout. Little did she know, that if she just “let go, and let God” she would have been much happier much earlier in life.
It all begins with an idea. An idea about how your life is “supposed” to be and look like. Once you create this idea, and do everything you can to make it come to fruition, it normally feels good - like you are a go-getter. But as I mentioned in a previous post, too much of a good thing is not always good. Are you trying “too” hard? Is there such a thing?
In our society here in the States we are conditioned to applaud hard-work. We tend to overwork ourselves and push ourselves to the limit. We are seldom taught that if something feels off or not right, we should let go of the gas and take a pause to re-evaluate. Rather it is when we tend to have no other choice, that we do so. This is the point of “burnout” - we have no more gas to keep going, and we are exhausted and likely angry and frustrated, too.
BURNOUT’s beginnnings are innocent, BORNE BY AN IDEA THAT we aspire to and eventually JUST CAN’T LET GO OF Even if it makes us ANGRY, tired, sick, or frustrated. this is your sign. let. IT. GO.
3/
Burnout
Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does. It all begins with taking a step back - take that personal day, sleep in, journal, meditate. Or maybe on a grandeur scale - take a sabbatical, switch careers (thoughtfully and intentionally, of course), or start a new hobby. I know. Blasphemy. We are taught to keep moving forward and push through. But maybe a step back is all you need to move two steps forward, in a different, more happy direction.
Pausing and taking a proverbial breath can make all the difference. Don’t worry about looking lazy to the outside world. Fuck the noise and do you. Once you are where you want to be and killin’ it at life again, the outside world will look in awe and wonderment and want to know how you got to such a happy place. If you took a step back and still feel uneasiness and frustration on the daily, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Do you want to hear more about this topic? Drop a comment below. If you’ve experienced burnout, please let share your story and what you did to overcome it. It can help us all!
