I was surfing Pinterest the other night when a pin peaked my interest. The pin was titled “20 Warning Signs You are Burnt Out” and even though I typically scroll past these, I took a moment to read it. I realized pretty quickly that some of the feelings I have been feeling fell into these categories of burn out. Here are some of the signs that struck me the most:
Being depleted after work.
Inconsistent sleep patterns.
Feeling liberated after a Friday at work.
Living like a vampire.
Dreading every Monday.
Fantasizing about quitting.
Forgetting you last accomplishment at work.
Consistently feeling overwhelmed.
Being cynical.
I know everyone feels these feeling, but what happens when you have these feeling everyday?! The one item on this list, that struck me the hardest, was feeling like a vampire. My work schedule is Monday - Friday 9:30 am - 6:00 pm and when I first got the shift I thought it was going to be great. These feelings lasted for about a week, until I realized I was going to have to leave my house really early so I am not sitting in 2 hours of traffic each morning. I am now leaving my house between 5:30 - 6 am and arriving at the office between 6:30 - 7 am. Now, I am not leaving work until 6:30 pm, so I am essentially spending 12+ hours a day in the office. The definition of a vampire, from this article, is someone who arrives at work before dawn and leaving well into the evening...this is me! On top of my normal hours, I have also been working extra hours during the week and Saturdays, due to workload and wanting to stay on top of my work.
I think my burnout comes from feeling like I don’t have a work/life balance. I look at this list above and basically I am noticing a lot of the above signs on a daily basis. I know this should be something that is easily fixable, but I keep saying I will stop working Saturdays after I get back from vacation. This is only one solution to several different areas of burn out that is going on. Some people may tell me that I need to back off from the blog or the skincare business, but these are my saviors during the week. I absolutely love working these side gigs! So, I started looking into how I could fix this burnout without simply quitting the job that supports my life and found the following ideas:
Take a Step Back - This May be the last thing you want to do, but you were doing too much and that is how you got here.
Admit you are overworked and stressed out- everyone always says admitting you have a problem is the first step. I don’t think this situation would be any different.
Lean on your support group - we all have friends or family we can talk to, so find that person you can vent to and maybe it will help you de-stress.
Find a creative outlet - creativity will naturally lower your stress hormones, so find something you like, whether it is coloring, journaling, drawing, etc. and do that when you start to feel stressed or burnt out.
Schedule your rest and relaxation - well all need to take care of ourselves, first and foremost, so rest and relaxation will need to be a priority. Whether it is getting a massage, having a mani/pedi or even taking a weekend road trip to get your rest and relaxation.
Going through the list of how I could come out of my burnout gives me hope. I think I will add a page in my anxiety journal for these items so I can track them and report back. We all go through burnout at some point in our lives, so it would be nice to have these resources so you know when you are heading towards a burnout or what you can do to get out of a burnout. What techniques do you used to get through a burnout?
