If you find yourself constantly exhausted, overwhelmed, or stressed, you may be experiencing burnout. Burnout is a severe form of chronic stress that can come from long periods of being overworked or unfulfilled. While we often talk about burnout as symptom of a stressful work environment, we can be burnt out from any form of work: maintaining a relationship, caring for our family, running a household, or trying to start your own business. Burnout can feel like you’re fighting an impossible battle. But you’re not alone! Here are some of my tips on how to recover from burnout.
Accept that You’re Burnt Out
Like most problems in our life, it’s so important to acknowledge the issue before addressing it. As women, we’re trained to treat exhaustion as a weakness. We think we should be stronger and do more to tackle the fatigue. However, accepting that we’re facing a period of burnout can be a lot more effective than trying to fight against it.
If you’re unsure if your exhaustion is run-of-the-mill tiredness or a period of burnout, here are some symptoms that can help you identify burnout:
- Physical symptoms like headaches, digestive issues, muscle tension, or high blood pressure
- “Sunday Scaries” or intense feelings of dread at the end of time off
- Feelings of loneliness
- Severe lack of motivation, even while tasks pile up
If you’re experiencing these symptoms, acknowledge that your burnout has surpassed simple tiredness. It’s time to start trying to recover!
Take Care of Your Physical Health
When you’re thinking about how to recover from burnout, it can be easier to understand the physical symptoms of burnout than the more complex mental symptoms. Prioritizing your physical help can help rejuvenate you in times of exhaustion. Some simple things you can do to improve your physical health are:
- Stretch every day
- Drink more water and limit caffeine
- Get more sunshine
- Track your sleep and do what you can to increase your sleeping hours
- Limit your screen time
For me, it’s easiest to start with my morning routine. This gives me a quick and simple way to start the day prioritizing my health and it helps me keep that mindset throughout the day.
Find Things to Look Forward To
For the most part, I’d say living in the present moment can be an extremely helpful mindset. However, when you’re experiencing burnout, it can be powerful to look toward the future. If your job is causing you to burnout, make a career plan. Ask yourself where you want to be, what you could be doing for work, and what your priorities for a workplace are. This could lead to a career change, or it could just lead to small changes at work that improve your experience. If running a household is causing you to burnout, think about tasks you could delegate in the future or what you imagine an ideal home to be.
Thinking about the future can help alleviate feelings that the stress and exhaustion will never end. It can help you see how your environment could improve in the future.
Build a Support Network
When you’re working on how to recover from burnout, you’ll need support. Managing work, family, mental health, and everything else is a lot for anyone to handle. It’s critical that we find people or groups that can provide us support. Here are some great places to start:
- a therapist or counselor
- an online support group or community group for people with similar situations
- regularly scheduled get-togethers with friends or close family
- an exercise group (yoga class, gym “buddies”, etc.)
When you meet other people in similar situations, you start to fully understand how universal burnout is. This can help you feel more comfortable discussing the issue and working through it.
Being Kind to Yourself
Above all, you’ll start to recover from burnout when you give yourself grace. Affirmations can be a powerful tool to remind yourself of your strength and worth. Burnout is not a sign of weakness or inability! Remind yourself that you can recover, you can restore a feeling of peace and contentment, and you deserve to do that! Always reach out for support if tackling burnout becomes too difficult to do on your own.
xoxo Fil
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