Burnout

Burnout is real.

Burnout hits all of us.

We can’t hide from it. We can’t run from it.

If you are able to avoid it, you are one of the very few in this world who have the ability to control how much attachment/detachment you put into something. I am not one of those people.

I take ownership almost instantly of anything that I am working on or am part of. Whether a personal project, the life of someone I care about, or work, it doesn’t matter. I really do not know how to distance myself from things that are on my mind, and for that reason I get burnt out on a regular basis.

I recognize when it’s happening because it has happened many times throughout my life. There are signs that repeat themselves such as fatigue and quick irritability. Burnout comes in the form of cycles for me. I start off by being super excited about something, I get disappointed or find myself in a situation where I am fighting “the system” (that can refer to different things, depending on the case), which brings my energy level down. Then something triggers my irritation and then becomes a constantly repeating event. At that point if the irritation persists for a long time and is not resolved, it tends to become something that consumes my time and energy and distracts me from the positive things and progress. This is what leads to me having dreams of fighting with someone, usually the person at the source of the irritation.

When my thoughts are consumed by negativity, and especially imaginary situations, that’s when I know I’ve burnt out.

I believe I’m in the middle of one of those cycles right now. I am acknowledging it. I am also hoping that certain upcoming events will help diffuse the situation that is causing the burnout, and thus help avoid its onset.

I am bad at scheduling activities in my life that let me detach. I’ve never really scheduled a vacation in my career. Most, if not all, of the time off I’ve ever taken was either scheduled by things out of my control (eg. Thanksgiving break while at college) or or scheduled to serve a purpose other than simply detaching (eg. time off to prepare and have my wedding). Maybe this year I’ll take a step towards that.

Kids, make sure you are purposeful about taking time to decompress, and be mindful of your mind and its state.