Have you ever been tired? Like really tired. Like no matter how much you sleep you just can’t catch up tired. The thought of doing one more thing in the day fills you with an existential dread that makes it hard to get out of bed in the morning tired. You may be experiencing some of the symptoms of burn-out. We often joke about it in popular media, but it is a very real and very detrimental thing. Especially in this fast pace world we currently live in where everything is instant, interconnected and go-go-go it is easy to get caught up in the rat race. Trying to keep up with everything all the time can start to become incredibly overwhelming. According to Elizabeth Scott and Steven Gans in the article they wrote on the topic,” exhaustion, cynicism (less identification with the job), and feelings of reduced professional ability. More simply put, if you feel exhausted, start to hate your job, and begin to feel less capable at work, you are showing signs of burnout.” It’s very easy to allow yourself to get lost in this feeling of misery and let the things around you suffer.

The first step is being aware of the problem. Help Guide put out a super informative article about it, outlining not only the things to recognize but also ways to help. They speak at length about the 3 R method: Recognize, Reverse, Resilience. Simply knowing and acknowledging the problem is huge, then you can work on combatting the feelings of burnout and eventually come out of the other side more prepared and adapted to any situation. The mind can be exercised like we exercise out body and we can build resiliency overtime through overcoming these kinds of obstacles. They offered 3 main tips to combat burnout within your own life from Reaching out to those around you to reframing the way you look at work to reevaluating your priorities.

Reach out to those around you and lean on your support network already in place of friends and family (make some new friends along the way!), find a cause that has personal meaning for you and connect with that but most importantly try to limit your contact with negative people. Reframing how you look at work is also super helpful, start by trying to find meaning in your work, then find balance in your life, but most importantly TAKE TIME OFF! I know a lot of us have our nose to the grindstone but if you burn yourself out the quality of what you do begins to go down also. There is nothing wrong with taking a vacation or a mental health day here and there. Lastly, make sure to reevaluate your priorities, set boundaries in your life, nourish your creative side, and most importantly try to get a good amount of rest.

I have been burnt out and watched everything around me suffer. I lost interest in the job I was doing at the time, lost interest in my hobbies and felt like I was always in over my head. This caused the quality of my life to go down it was hard on my relationship, hard on my mind and hard on my spirit. Only when I took some time off and reevaluated what I wanted in life I was able to reevaluate why I was doing what I do. I found a new purpose which brought a spark back to my eye and back to my life. I try to stay cognizant of those feeling I had when I was burned out. I try to keep them in the front of my mind so that I can quickly start to get myself back grounded before I lose myself. Today I want you to take a moment and evaluate your burnout. The pandemic was incredibly hard on everyone and we all had to find new ways to adapt. Take some time for yourself and plan a day off or a vacation to look forward to.