Recovering from Burnout
We all experience at least a marginal degree of burnout from time to time. You know the feeling… you’re physically exhausted, mentally worn out, and emotionally drained.
But there’s also a more serious form of burnout, one that becomes a chronic problem. Day after day, week after week, even month after month, you slug along, uninterested even in the things that generally get you excited. All aspects of your life can suffer, including career, hobbies, and relationships. This type of burnout causes you to miss out on important parts of life, from family activities to learning new things to getting ahead at work and so much more.
When this profound burnout strikes, you need to make a concerted effort and take some time to recharge—not just physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Too often, people only attempt to recharge their body. But that doesn’t cut it. When burnout is chronic and permeates all or most aspects of your life, it’s more than your body that needs to be refreshed. It’s also your spirit and your soul.
Different people have different takes on the precise definitions of these, but here’s a brief explanation of what I mean by refreshing each of these three components of your entire being.
Recovering from Burnout: The Spirit
Who you are is affected by the things you encounter as you go about your life and the ways in which you interact with them. When you’re focused on recovering from burnout, you have to revive who you really are at the core. You have to give power back to parts of you that you’ve pushed aside. This requires seeking out positive, uplifting, inspiring forces. You have to look at things internally initially to figure out what’s missing from your life before you can get yourself back on track.
Recovering from Burnout: The Soul
The soul is mind, will, emotions, intellect, and imagination. To revive the soul, surround yourself with good things. Wake up in the morning and meditate on what inspires you, what you want to do, and where you want to go in life. Then, you have to activate those things by positively and proactively pursuing them. To overcome profound burnout, imagine a new, revived picture of yourself and resolve to achieve it. It’s about healing yourself in a much larger sense than the physical.
Recovering from Burnout: The Body
I have an acronym, MEDS, which stands for move, eat, drink, sleep. These are foundations of life, and as such, the basis for healing the body. Exercise, nutritious food, water, and rest are key. But recovering from serious burnout means getting away to refresh yourself. It means things like going to the spa, getting a massage, taking a week off to go on vacation, unplugging from your normal routine. If you can’t escape the things that led to burnout in the first place, it’s very difficult to free yourself from it. Learn to relax and breathe again.
