Beginning of the Week and Yet…
Something I was definitely not prepared for my adult life was to tackle recurrent bouts of burnouts.
Yes, there are many other aspects of adult life that we are not ready and sometimes never will (I’m looking at you obscure admin tasks). We live in a pretty free world, which means that we are free to do what we want. The corollary lies in the fact that there is always more we can (have to) do than we physically can deliver. Depending on the level of commitment to all these tasks, we highly run the chance of burn out by drowning under all these workload.
Today is Monday and I’m already feeling overloaded with so many tasks, ideas, projects; all of which need/should/ideally be finished by ‘yesterday’.
I’ve already touched on this topic of burnout in a previous post and will expanding on this topic over the course of this multi-part blogpost.
The Sinking Feeling
I used the word ‘drowning’ on purpose here.
One defining sensation when a burnout shapes up in our mind is the overwhelming feeling of drowning. It mentally feels like we are running out of oxygen and are surrounded with water. The outlook on the world becomes darker and darker and soon enough we can even lose our bearings of in which direction is the surface. This makes the recovery even more challenging as we lose sight of how to get out of this feeling, further accelerating the piling-on effects as productivity plummets and unfinished tasks accumulates. Soon, our ability to move (aka think) becomes impaired and despair takes hold of our mind.
If all sounds very dark, it’s because it is.
Closing Words
What is your view on burnout? Have you or witnessed someone going through it? What are your short- and long-term tips for coping with it?
Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow.