30 Days Into Burnout Recovery
30 days ago I was having my last day at my startup. I had noticed in the leading months that my health didn’t give me a chance to continue. I was suffering from burnout and had to change how I approach life and work. I decided to leave the company that I’d co-founded, and take a vacation to reflect on what I should change.
During the worst weeks of burnout in January and February of this year (2019), I couldn’t really do much. My symptoms were constant fatigue and no appetite for new challenges in my work or in my personal life. More things, than just leaving my previous work, had to happen, if I wanted to get back to normal.
The goal was clear: find a new way to approach doing things in life, sleeping, working, consuming ideas and thoughts, and implementing new things. I hadn’t had a proper vacation in seven years, so it was time to see how time alone and a variety of activities would help me recover.
Active versus passive
Once my holiday started, I quickly noticed that there was a big difference in how I was feel, depending on if the day’s activities, whether it was of the active or passive nature. Let me list the things that I did and how I categorise them into active or passive.
Active
- Exercising (swimming, skiing, weightlifting, walking)
- Cooking
- Learning instruments (guitar, piano, singing)
- Reading books and taking notes
- Playing games
- Listening to podcasts
- Writing a journal
Passive
- Lying in bed
- Watching Netflix
- Consuming more sugar
After the first few days, I didn’t get much help from “being bored”, meaning that I wouldn’t do anything, besides lying in bed or watching Netflix. Those activities actually made me feel worse, with feelings of fatigue compounding. Like I was taking a step back.
When I was practising the active things from the list, I could feel more rewarded for doing things that I had neglected and missed out on. I pushed Netflix to the weekends and created a routine where I would practise the active stuff from Monday to Friday, and Saturday and Sunday I would allow for passive activities.
Applying a routine to a vacation might sound strange as you are trying to relax. But it was more like a party plan; a way to actively pre-plan experiences and fun for the time I spent on my vacation.
Control
What I didn’t do during my vacation? I didn’t see my friends. This was partially on purpose, because I didn’t want to get into the discussion of work. I shielded myself from those situations as I understood those discussions would link me back to the place where I didn’t have control.
I tried to meditate during my vacation, but my inability to focus on things was getting in the way. I would use an app called Calm to meditate. In the app, an audio instructor would ask me to focus on my breath and different parts of my body, but my mind was always distracted. To this day, I haven’t been able to handle the distractions that are coming up in my mind, to gain a benefit from meditation. I guess I still need more practice.
On the positive side, I’ve developed a way to bring some Facebook and Twitter back into my life, but in controlled ways. I have bookmarked the important groups on Facebook that I want to follow and the individuals on Twitter that currently are important for me to follow. I avoid notifications inside and outside the services, and I’ve installed an extension to my browser which blocks the news feed from loading up on Facebook. I’m also using an extension that clears up lots of the clutter from Twitter.
Sleep
I’ve added lots of focus to how I sleep, after reading the book “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker. Biggest takeaway: There is much to be gained by having a strict routine of sleeping the same amount every day with the same time for going to bed and waking up. I took up a routine of going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 6am, every day, including weekends.
To prepare for sleep, I wind down my day at 9:30. I tidy up, brush my teeth and head over to bed. I don’t immediately try to fall asleep but I listen to music with my AirPods. Here’s a great list to listen to when going to bed https://spoti.fi/2I05IzI. I’ve notice that during the second song I usually start dozing off.
This routine and habit of focusing on my sleep has helped much in my recovery from burnout. It could be the best remedy for the fatigue that I’ve been suffering from.
Resources
Here is a list of the tools that I’ve been using for my recover from burnout.
- Simply Piano app (https://apple.co/1Zu1TUn or https://bit.ly/2n9tPRI)
- Rockband game (https://www.rockband4.com/)
- Rocksmith game (https://bit.ly/2icHA0P)
- News Feed Eradicator (Chrome extension https://bit.ly/2HNwGez)
- Refined Twitter (Chrome extension https://bit.ly/2FI8EPI)
- Make Time book (https://amzn.to/2OyGpWo)
- Why We Sleep book (https://amzn.to/2WvOJcq)
- Hurry Slowly podcast (https://hurryslowly.co/)
- Five Minute Journal app (https://apple.co/2cNUvA2 or https://bit.ly/2taWNFa)
- Calm app (https://apple.co/2WtRHy1 or https://bit.ly/1pVhR4U)
What next
I’m still recovering, but I feel less fatigued and that I can bring work back into my life; doing a few hours of creative work per day. I’ll still put in a full day of work, by spending the rest of the day on reading books and thinking.
My first project to kick off will be on my book project, which I’m planning to publish by the end of the year. I’ll be sharing more on the book and the writing process soon. I’m also going to start sharing more thoughts on my newsletter, so please tap on the link below to sign up.