Dealing with Burnout

So over this past month, I have been dealing with burnout. Funny, as my previous post was talking about my bursts of creativity!

But life can be unpredictable and amusing. You can go on weeks filled with inspiration and just being on full-on creative mode. But then the next few weeks can be a slope of getting burnt out. Though don't get me wrong, it's not because I was forcing my creativity, no that wasn't it. But when you have other aspects in life you have to juggle, like work, these can contribute to your burnout and ultimately affect how you stay creative.

This month, I have came across more things piling up in my "things to do" and by the end of every day, I just get exhausted. My anxiety also makes me sensitive to things and I have to be careful not to overstimulate myself or to trigger myself in high-stress situations. So by the end of the day, I don't want to do anything but just lay in bed and relax and not think of anything else. I can't pour my love into things I enjoy. I don't feel the desire to read, to play piano, to write, or to do anything else I know usually gives me joy. Heck, even writing this quick blog piece took me weeks because I just felt no spark of motivation to finish it!

What I truly appreciate though is that I haven't been giving myself a hard time about this. When this happened to me before in university, I beat myself up a lot, thinking that I have to be productive 24/7 if I want to make the most of my day. These days though, I realize that this is what our society has programmed us to do. We have been told that being productive = being valuable as a human being in society. When that's not the case!

We must let ourselves rest and be unproductive once in a while, because we deserve as much. It's how we protect our mental health and our ability to stay creative. Though we are not channeling anything into being creative on paper or in person, we are still using our minds to brainstorm away. After all, imagination is always free.

And here's the thing: you can still be inspired and motivated, yet feel lazy at the same time. I know it's quite conflicting, but sometimes, I lean in to the latter and just embrace, well, not doing anything. Sometimes, that recharging phase helps. And once I feel that little energy, I try to start things in baby steps again. Whether that be reading a page, or just spending five minutes to exercise. It's a bit tough to do that at first, to be honest. In fact, I feel like I'm forcing myself to do it, and I just don't feel much happiness doing the things I know I love. But I know that deep down, I have a passion for it, but it's just overtaken by my exhaustion. I try not to let my burnout take these hobbies and interests away from me, because I know that the burnout is temporary. And when I break out of that, that enjoyment I have will re-ignite. So having that small initiative will ultimately help you build that foundation to keep the ball rolling again. But the important thing is not to be too critical on yourself when you do less than you usually do (it's still a thing I'm working on as well). You only have one mind and one body, and it's impossible to maintain a consistent level of energy and effort without taking some rest and healing (just like an injury).

So normalize taking breaks! What's important is that we recognize when we're burnt out and take the necessary steps to take care of our mental (and physical) health!