Are you currently dealing with burnout? Let me share my recent experience with burnout and the things I would do next time to avoid
In Term 2, the lengthy essays were piling up, there were speakers I needed to contact for events, I had to turn up to weekly rehearsals. I barely had any time for myself, which meant that I barely had any time to properly relax. Self-care was just non-existent. I felt as though I was drowning in quicksand.
The struggle with the quicksand continued into the Easter break. So the burnout showed up on my doorstep in Term 3. I delayed it for as long as possible, but it had to happen one way or another. Just as exercising is followed by a resting period to regain your breath, a period of intense activity is followed by a need for rest. It was all catching up to me.
It’s not the nicest feeling - feeling burnt out. I was overcome with feelings of hopelessness and a lack of motivation. It felt as though I was in ‘survival’ mode: I was preoccupied with getting through the day, rather than thinking about the future. Thus, I was putting all the career aspirations on hold. Perhaps I needed to experience it so that it could highlight to me that I needed to take extra care of myself and my health.
So I have come up with three tips. If you feel you can relate to this experience, perhaps these will help you. Do I know if these will work? I’m not sure, but I was not implementing these before. So, surely if I make a change to my habits, I will see a change in the results.
Dedicate one day per week to self-care. - This could be the Sunday, where you take the day slowly and do things to get back in touch with yourself and your health. Meditate, go for a walk, tidy your room, do something you love that you don’t have time for during the week. I used to feel incredibly guilty when I took a moment to rest - I felt I was losing momentum. What I’ve learnt is that you won’t go back to Square One though, you will just pick up where you left off.
Find a way to unwind and do this everyday. - Scrolling on TikTok does not count. What I want to pick up again is reading for pleasure. As an English and History student, all the books and articles I have been reading were for my degree. Now that summer’s here, I have more time to read what I actually want. You can start journaling, doing stretches, listening to relaxing music. It has to be something simple that you can do everyday in the long term.
Learn to say no. - We don’t have to take on every single task that we are given. We don’t need to fill every moment with doing something productive. Sometimes we need to allow ourselves to just be. This will be hard for those who like to keep themselves busy, including me. It may feel uncomfortable at first - you may feel a sense of guilt - but, over time, this will become a habit. Set boundaries, because you are still a human being, not a machine.
I remember attending the Women’s Summit in March, and one of the guests explained that, sometimes, maintaining a work-life balance is not possible. That life has its periods of high intense activity and periods of nothing much happening. Life is unpredictable after all. So perhaps burnout just cannot be avoided. However, that’s exactly why we need to take care of ourselves. Building healthy, self-care habits so that we can try to make the burnout less intense and more importantly, less harmful. I’m not the most knowledgeable on this topic but I am aware that there can be physical side effects to burnout, such as headaches, insomnia, and more.
Over the past month, I have been taking the time to focus on my needs, and I’ve put a pause on the ‘self-improvement’ journey. Having reflected on the past few months, I have realised that I need to cultivate healthy and sustainable habits for the future, in order to avoid future situations like these.
This summer is the perfect time to start forming these habits because you have more time to do so. At the end of the day, our health is the most important, and so, we should all take this as a reminder to look after ourselves and pay attention to what our body needs.
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