Let me be blunt, Burnout aka Adrenal Fatigue really, really sucks and it seems to happen a lot in Millenials and it stems from stress - the stress of relationships, stress from work, family, to perform, etc. There usually never one thing that causes burn out, it's akin to a build-up of stress and the result of our bodies essentially shutting down in an attempt to recover.
As I went through one of my biggest burnout sessions (?) I began to learn a lot about myself and some ways on how to deal with it. I also want to mention that burnout shouldn't be a normal thing but in today's society, side hustle, and hustle until you make it is great and all but what about taking care of your mental health or just your health in general?
I'm not going to say that I have all the answers because I don't, I wanted to share my own history with my big burnout moment and some of the healthy (and maybe a little unhealthy) things that I did to help me through my moment. In addition to sharing, I hope to spark a little inspiration to get through your own burn out moment.
My biggest moment of burnout happened back in 2016, I had decided that I wanted to go to grad school and quickly began working towards that goal- reaching out to graduate schools, seeing what the requirements were, application deadlines, money??!!, did I need to take the GRE, new job? Basically, my life was a whole whirlwind that year and also one major stress factor.
The 2016 Presidential Election.
I had already decided that I would take online courses due to not being able to move to Washingon D.C. to attend classes in person and quickly found out that I had to move quickly with everything – applications, recommendations, GRE test prep and more.
It was truly a whirlwind of events but forward ahead to the
results of the 2016 Presidential results – I didn’t get into the university and
the presidential results was the final punch to the gut. I rushed through
everything to make the application deadlines and honestly, I left feeling
defeated.
I had used all the energy, I had and had nothing left
- No motivation
- No energy
- Fatigue
I was a mess and it took me years before I really started to recover from my initial
burn out and believe it or not I had burnouts within my burnout but I managed
to crawl out of it somewhat. Even now I don’t feel as if I fully recovered but
it is a work in progress.
Starting with the basics, you actually have to come to terms that you are burned out. Some signs of burn out can be
#1 Accept Burnout
Starting with the basics, you will need to come to terms with the fact that you are burned out.
Accept it. You're burnt out.
I am stubborn, VERY stubborn that even though my body is telling me one thing I still feel the need to do something, it's really hard for me to sit still and not do anything. I feel it's a trait that I picked up from my mother, which in most cases is fine but specifically this situation not so much.
#2 Realize the Gaps
Once you accept it, really look in and at yourself. What are the things that you have been avoiding/procrastinating/haven't been doing? Take a moment to realize what those things are and start simple, break down whatever those things are into small digestible pieces-
Example #1: Dirty dishes. Set a timer for 15-20 minutes and clean as many dishes as you can within that time limit and stop once the time is up. Repeat the process.
Example #2: Eating. You don't need to cook a full course meal it could be as simple as al dente pasta or ramen or rice with kimchi or a couple of sandwiches. It doesn't need to be fancy, you need substance, make it simple for yourself.
#3 Focus & Prioritize
Focus on the tasks that ACTUALLY need to be completed, this applies to work and at home. Start by listing your tasks, start with three to four a day until you are finished with all of them. The tasks that you should focus on are the ones that are the most time-sensitive and then work your way through your list until you are finished with those tasks.
Each day, write down three to four tasks and work to complete those tasks and once completed, that time is for you to do whatever you choose to do. Another thing is to be gentle with yourself but not too gentle where you aren't completing your tasks.
When I have days off, I usually have at least 3-4 tasks that I set out to complete and the rest of the time is carved out for me and doing things that bring me happiness
#4 You
As cliche as it sounds but it is extremely important to remember this, you have one life and one body.
It is your responsibility to take care of it because no one else will.
The first steps of recovery begin with actually spending time with yourself and really taking care of yourself, asking yourself what you need to sustain and function. Take a look back at #2 - to realize those gaps and start taking care of that. But also remember you need to give yourself a break, you've already run yourself ragged and now you need to give yourself time to recover.
Here are some of the things that I did to support my recover:
Burn out sucks and can come at the worst times but once you realize and accept it for what it is the sooner the path of recovery opens. As a reminder it's important to be gentle to yourself during the recovery process, the length it takes can vary depending on several factors that you may or may not be able to control.
Remember to breathe and think of the things that you can control and focus on those things to help you through the process of recovering.
I hope that the four points and some of the things that helped me help can help you with your own recovery.
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