The only people on the planet who do not suffer burnout are children… while they are being tossed into the air by an adult.
“Again! Again!”
No. Not again. My arms are jelly.
For the rest of us, we deal with burnout from time to time. It can be from a hobby, a career, or even a relationship. When that mental fatigue hits, it’s difficult to press on.
But what can you do about it?
If you’re dealing with burnout, try these strategies to help overcome the frustration:
Remember your purpose
Our current life situation is a combination of external circumstances and our own choices. If you are burned out with your career, your passion, or even a relationship, turn back the clock and remember.
Why did you make the choice to go into that field?
Why did you decide to marry that person?
The most important things are not exempt from bad times, but they should survive bad times.
They can only do that if we remember our purpose. My purpose exists beyond the day-to-day. My purpose is higher than the temporary. My purpose is more important than now.
Burnout screams, “Look at the trees!” Purpose whispers, “Remember the forest.”
Listen to that whisper. Hold on and hold out for your purpose.
Hit the pause button
Sometimes the way to solve burnout is simply to take a break.
Burnout can feel like you’re drowning. If that is so, it’s okay to come up for some air.
Do you have some vacation time? Take a day off.
Have you been going nonstop with a project? Take the weekend.
Have you been with your kids at home nonstop due to COVID/weather/homeschooling/etc.? It’s okay to institute downtime. We call it “quiet time” in our house.
And it’s glorious.
Taking a break can give you the rest and recharge you need to keep going. Hit that pause button without guilt so you can get back to it full-strength.
Make it fun
There’s nothing to give you a boost of energy like having fun. In fact, research says that our brains function more optimally when we play. The play theorist Brian Sutton-Smith said, “The opposite of play is not work- it is depression.”
If you are experiencing burnout, look for ways to incorporate play.
You may be asking, how am I supposed to do that?
One word: games.
Putting away the groceries with the kids? Boring. Playing a game of how many items we can toss in an assembly line from the bag to the fridge without dropping anything? Fun!
Making cold calls for a business? Nightmare. Seeing how many rejections you can get in one hour? Less of a nightmare.
Okay, maybe that was a bad example. But you get the point.
Having some fun by incorporating play can go a long way to making a situation bearable and even, dare I say it, enjoyable.
Make a change
Sometimes the reason we deal with burnout is that we need to move on.
Life is not static. I don’t wear the same clothes I wore when I was twelve (you’re welcome, world).
Why?
Because things have changed. Those clothes would not be appropriate anymore, either in terms of fashion or size.
I firmly believe in fighting to keep those things that are most dear to us (faith, marriage, family), but almost everything else falls outside that category.
We may find that making a change does not mean abandoning our values but actually living them.
If you’ve tried all the other strategies on the list and they haven’t worked, you might need to make a change.
If you’ve found yourself justifying why you can’t try the other strategies (“I can’t take a day off”), you might need to make a change.
If you are burned out right now, there’s hope. There’s a way forward, and hopefully you can find it by using one of these strategies.
Have you ever dealt with burnout? Share your thoughts in the comments!