Beat Burnout Without Putting Your Life On Hold

I've read dozens of articles from medical experts on burnout. I knew it was something I was starting to deal with, but mentioning the "b" word suddenly makes everyone look at you like you're priceless collectible falling off a high shelf. I'm tired. I'm burnt out. I'm not going to break into hysterics.

But, this is the reality of dealing with burnout and one of the many obstacles that makes it seem impossible to beat burnout. You know what most experts tell you to do - take a break or a vacation. I'm sure that's fine for people who are able to just take a few weeks or months off whenever they feel like it.

For real people, you can't just put your life on hold because your brain says "hey, I'm sick of dealing with the daily grind, so I'm going to zone out for a while." No, you have to keep going to work. You have to keep making time for friends and family. You have to put on this happy face and pretend absolutely nothing's wrong, even when you know you can't hide how shitty things are going for you mentally.

The First Signs of Burnout

No one thinks burnout will happen to them. In fact, most of the time you don't even realize it's happening. For me, I just thought maybe it was hormonal changes or the stress of a new, not quite so rainbows and unicorns writing client. Or, maybe a mixture of both. I'd also had to deal with losing two of my closest loved ones in a year.

Surprisingly, I spent the first year of COVID being more productive than ever. While others talked about the stress of being stuck at home, I was fine just video chatting with loved ones.

It wasn't until things were starting to get back to normal that I began noticing something wasn't quite right. A few of the early signs, which seem clear now, were:

• Increasing fatigue
• Brain fog
• Less interest in hobbies
• Isolating myself
• Being less active
• Problems sleeping
• Frequent headaches

At first, it wasn't that bad. Everyone has crappy days, so I just wrote it off as maybe I didn't sleep well or perhaps I had sinus issues making me feel less than myself. I've always been prone to sinus infections, so nothing new there.

When I had to drop my first client, though, it hit me that something was terribly wrong. I had zero problems with the extra workload for over a year. Yet, now, I was having to drop clients.

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

I'm not the best at taking care of my mental health sometimes. I kind of have that approach of ignore it and the problem will disappear. So, you can't beat burnout by ignoring it. Despite what people say, ignorance isn't bliss.

The more I tried to ignore it, the worse things got. I went from an average article taking me an hour to write to three hours to write. I went from 8 clients to 2.

Yet still, I was exhausted and struggled to maintain any type of routine. I wasn't trying to take a vacation, but it wasn't unusual for me to only get maybe two good working days out of the week.

No Time for Vacation

I tried taking a week off. You know what happened? I felt worse than ever because I was already way behind on my work, yet I was wasting a week sitting around trying to relax. Needless to say, that didn't work at all.

I read everything I could find about burnout. Most of it said the same things - most importantly, take a break. But, who really has time to take an extended break from their life? I didn't have time for a retreat. I hate spas. Getting out in nature wasn't going to work with temps hovering around 100° F everyday and mosquitos wanting to drain every drop of blood from my body.

I also didn't have the energy for lengthy exercise sessions to boost my mood. Frankly, I just got pissed at myself for not being able to handle a good 15-20 minutes of cardio.

The Final Straw

I tried to keep chugging along. Emphasis on try. Every day felt like I was in one of those strong man competitions, trying to drag a bus along behind me, but instead of being strong, I felt more like a gangly teenager that couldn't even manage a pullup.

The final straw that I couldn't keep doing this was when I broke down in a full out ugly cry over something silly. I dropped a bowl of berries and just started crying. How could I do something so stupid? Why did I suck at everything thing I did? Why were other people doing just fine, but I was a perfectly healthy woman who struggled to get out of bed and do a job she loved?

Let me just say, I good cry is something everyone needs to do sometimes. It felt great to just get it all out. That's also when I took the following weekend to make some major adjustments to my life.

I Finally Beat Burnout

I'm going to be honest with you. This wasn't a quick fix. It was hard work and somedays I failed miserably, but that's okay. Part of the healing process is forgiving the bad days and realizing that burnout is no different than any other illness. It might be a mental illness, but it's no different than a physical illness.

I started thinking about burnout as a physical problem and how I'd act differently. For instance, if I had a broken leg, I wouldn't be trying to run five miles every day to train for a marathon. I'd adjust my life so that my leg could heal. I wouldn't blame myself for not being able to walk normally or needing to rest my leg often.

This change of mindset is really what started me on my path to beating burnout. I wasn't a terrible or weak person. Burnout doesn't discriminate. You could be the happiest person in the world and suddenly get hit with burnout.

After about eight months of dealing with this mental illness, I started on my path to recovery. Some of the major changes I made included:

• Doing senior fitness on YouTube - I highly recommend trying Silver Sneakers on YouTube. It's a super friendly and supportive channel with easy, yet effective exercises that help you build your energy levels back up gently. Yes2Next is another great channel.
• Meditating twice a day - Meditation hasn't always been my friend. But, I discovered Insight Timer and Medito. These two apps were actually life changing. While some items on Insight Timer aren't free, you don't have to pay a thing to benefit from the thousands of meditations, soothing sounds, and even bedtime stories. I started with just 5 minutes twice a day and it has made a major impact on my mental health.
• Hobby weekends - I used to try to make up for the bad days on weekends. Now, I take the weekend off no matter what. Each Monday, I decide what hobby I want to enjoy the following weekend. This gives me something to work toward. For me, I love to craft, so I pick different crafts each weekend.
• Set realistic goals - I've always been someone who loves taking on big challenges. But, now wasn't the time. I had to respect my limits and set more reasonable goals. I might have been able to handle 10 long posts a day before burnout, but now I set my sights on finishing 1 long post per day and setting up the next day's post. Obviously, on good days, I'd complete more, but completing my daily goal, albeit tiny, helped boost my mood and energy.
• Read or listen to an audiobook every day - Whenever the brain fog would start kicking in and making it impossible to work, I'd either try to read or listen to an audiobook. I'd do this for 20-30 minutes. Not only was it relaxing, but it helped change my focus. I'd then go a step further and list five things I remembered about what I'd read. This helped to rebuild my focus and attention span.
• Add in an extra hour of sleep per day - I know this isn't possible for everyone, but I started allowing for one extra hour of sleep per day. Knowing I had this bonus hour made me less stressed when I'd wake up frequently throughout the night. As a result, I actually started sleeping better.

It took a few weeks before I started noticing a difference. Obviously, I didn't succeed on every healing goal every day, but I tried. And, by the end of a month, I was sticking to everything above with no problems.

Beat Burnout On Your Terms

Yes, you can beat burnout. Just accept that it's a real illness and it will take time to heal. I think that's how it should be phrased. Not "beat burnout," but "heal burnout."

What worked for me might not work for you. It all depends on your type of burnout. If it comes from working insane hours, your healing might hinge on cutting back at least a little.

And remember, don't hesitate to ask for help. HealthLine provides a great list of free and affordable therapy options. Do what you need to do to heal from burnout or any other mental illness.