Burnin' Crazy

Burnout. Not a fun experience to say the least. It's like every ounce of excitement and motivation you had for life and/or work was beaten out of you. Your energy is low, you're easily angered, and you just can't function like you did. You may have a change in sleep patterns, in weight (if only this meant reduction for me, then maybe I'd see a positive side to this burnout monster), and in personal relationships. There are a slew of resources detailing burnout. One helpful article I read was here. Dr. Oz even did a show on it.

Burnout stems from being overly stressed for a period of time. In my case, I recently reached burnout from taking on a new responsibilities and not making changes so as to not overextend myself. This year, I started a MA in English Studies, which is truly a labor of love! But, I already had many roles: caregiver (as needed to my family), full-time employee, partner, homeowner, and my usual take-on-the-weight-of-the-world-cause-I'm-supposed-to mentality. Largely, this is all due to not listening to a little voice inside that says 'NO' to some things.  I realize I've got to make some changes in my lifestyle. I've been living (or is it living?) through 14 hour workdays a lot on little sleep and worrying to death over whether other people were ok and got what they wanted.

I've been here before. Usually, my way out has been to disengage from everything, which can be damaging. Sometimes the repercussions have hurt (loss of a letter grade in a class I had an A average, for example). I remember times when I just lay in bed all day and only did the most essential things for getting by. That's all a burned out person can do sometimes because that person's nerves are just stretched till the elasticity is popped like worn-out underwear.

This Memorial Day weekend, I went away for a few days, which gave me time to reflect a little on what I need to do to clim my way out of burn out.

Here is my Rx for taking care of me:

• Get more sleep
• Exercise
• Eat better (goes back to the green post)
• Not work during my lunch break
• Say no when I need to
• Allot time for things and stop working when I need to
• Get a new job (this one is important because I don't enjoy my work anymore)
• Have concern for others but make sure I'm taken care of too
• Journal to vent

Change does not happen right away, so it's not like I can unilaterally make all of these things happen at once. But, I can work at these! I've got to to recharge and get revitalized again, so I can enjoy my enthusiasms for living!