Let’s talk about burnout. It’s not a really fun, upbeat topic, but in an effort to be authentic and transparent I wanted to address it. If you are a regular reader and are wondering where I’ve been, well, I burned out. February marks the one year anniversary of my blog, and instead of writing a celebratory post about it, I just quit blogging.
Few people know just how much time goes into blogging, but it’s pretty safe to say that each post requires about 5 hours of work. Yes, a lot of it is fun work, but it’s work none the less. I let something that was meant to be a creative outlet turn into a mandatory all consuming project that started to take over my free time. This affected my attitude and my relationships with my husband and kids. It also affected how I felt about blogging.
Burnout is something that most people experience at some point in their lives, and in an effort to become more self aware and (hopefully) prevent it from happening again, I’m sharing some tips for recovering from burnout that will also help you to not get to that point.
Tips for Recovering from Burnout
Take a Break
There are certainly things in life that you can’t take a break from. Going to work and being a wife and/or mother fall into this category. But sometimes we set expectations for ourselves to do things that we don’t really have to keep doing. Sometimes they are really great things, or even things that we really enjoy doing that can turn into a “have to”. Personally, blogging went from one of those things that I loved doing to a “have to” that led to burnout.
Some of you may feel that if you took a break from something, you might not start again. I felt that way about blogging, as I sometimes have a hard time finishing projects. But choosing to continue to do something without a break can take all the joy you get from it out of the equation. A break doesn’t have to be forever.
Ask For Feedback
You might need an outside perspective to help you determine what you need to take a break from. It can feel like everything we do is a “must do” or is really important. I’m not sure that I would have taken a blogging break without encouragement from my husband to do so. Of course, I knew that nothing tragic would happen to anyone if I wasn’t blogging each week. But I didn’t want to be a quitter.
Taking a break doesn’t have to mean quitting. I decided to give myself permission to wait until I missed blogging, and I did in fact get to that point. Now I feel ready to get back to it, and I feel inspired with a long list of topics again!
Is there anything in your life that you need to take a break from for a while? Consider asking a spouse or friend for some outside perspective. Will you really be letting anyone down (including yourself) if you step back for a week or two?
Learn to Say No
Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. It’s easy to volunteer yourself into taking on way too much. Sometimes you just need to learn to say no to things up front so that you can have more time and energy to devote to things you enjoy or just down time. Saying no is easier for some people than others. But consider asking yourself, next month, (or whenever the event is) will you be glad that you said yes?
When things are far away it’s easy to assume we will have time or energy to devote to that thing we are saying yes to. But, if you take a second to imagine yourself completely swamped with work/life, will you be excited that event is on your calendar? Especially if the commitment is weekly or monthly, will you be happy you said yes to this next week? Next month?
“Self Care”
The term “self care” has been so overused that it sounds kind of cheesy. I prefer to call it “feeding my soul”, which might sound really cheesy to you. Whatever you choose to call it, it is extremely important to actually do it. There are a lot of factors that go into determining how good a person is at prioritizing self care, but according to research done by Jessica Turner, author of The Fringe Hours, women are much more prone to neglecting self care than men.
In her book, she shares many examples of women who say that they don’t take time for themselves because they just don’t have the time. Jessica makes the case that women often let feelings of guilt, pressure to perform or “keep up with the Jones'”, and sacrificing for family keep them from taking care of themselves.
The Fringe Hours makes a strong case for why women should prioritize self care, and I’m so glad I came across this book during my phase of burnout.
How I’ve Been Doing Self Care
Self care will of course be very personal to each individual, what relaxes me may sound totally boring to you. I’m still going to share, just to give you a chance to get to know me a little better and maybe something I mention will trigger an idea for you as well.
Simple Pleasures
Painting my nails – This may seem trivial, but that’s part of the point, right? Taking the time to do small things that make you happy. I’ve always done my own nails at home, but it’s been MONTHS since I let myself do it. I’ve had a hard time making it last more than a couple days, and it didn’t make sense to spend that much time painting them and then letting them dry. I still wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t started using this topcoat again. I used it a lot a few years ago, but then ran out and forgot to buy it again. It’s really a game changer though. My nails dry really fast (important when you have small kids running around), and my nails look pretty good for about 5 days. I’m really into neutral nails right now, and wear this color and this color on repeat.
Take Time to Create
Painting and drawing – I love making art. I have no formal training in it, and wouldn’t even say that I’m very good yet, but it makes me so happy. Sitting in my little office painting flowers, practicing hand lettering, or learning to draw cacti definitely feeds my soul.
Ceramic Palette | Micron Pen | Waterbrush
I started with this student watercolor set, but there are tons of paints I would like to try (like this one and this one). Good brushes and paper really make a difference too. I’ll be purchasing this paper next, it comes very highly recommended. I love my Window & Newton brushes that I found in store at Michaels, but an art instructor also recommends these. I often paint with these water brushes that I also use for hand lettering.
Favorite Pens: Tombow Fudenosuke | Pentel Pocket Brush Pen | Tombow Dual Brush Pens | The Ultimate Brush Lettering Guide
Learn and Enjoy
Reading – I have loved to read since I was a child, and often got into trouble for reading too much. I managed to read 50 books in 2016, but only January through September. I stopped reading because I was focusing so hard on other things. I’m back at it though, and hope to beat my number from last year. So far for 2017, I read my first Agatha Christie book, devoured Living with Pattern, and also really enjoyed Better Than Before and The Fringe Hours. I’ve got a huge stack in my office and I’m so happy about it.
If you’re recovering from burnout right now, I hope that this post has encouraged you. I didn’t mention these things earlier, but I’m also trying to make sure that I’m getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and making better food choices. It’s kind of amazing how much these things can affect your outlook on life. I hope that you do something for yourself today!
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