The Lows of a High-Energy Individual: Burnout vs. Depression
High Energy individual: A person who is always active, not limited to body activity and movement but also on their mental activity. This ranges from how much work they take on, how much they think about the things to do and even how well they perform.
Everyone has the capacity to be a high energy individual, especially when doing something they love.
As an energetic individual, the activity never stops. You are either doing something personal, for family and friends or work related.
No matter what, you love what you do most times and cannot complain.
This energetic person is me, me is this person!
A few weeks ago, I woke up and had no urge or vibe to do anything.
This may be normal for everyone, but not me. There was always a way to psyche myself up and actually start doing the work.
This was different. Abandoning my usual routine, I laid in bed all day and only scrolled through my phone, getting up only to eat.
I knew something was up but I let it go.
Two weeks in and my new routine had gotten the best of me.
The cycle of eat, sleep, press phone, listen to music, watch movies had become home to me. I did anything but touched the work that needed to be done.
Note: These are activities I genuinely love and enjoy doing no doubt, but even with the abnormality, I wanted to remain in it.
Why?
Am I depressed? What’s going on? Why don’t I feel productive? Why can’t I be motivated and concentrate?
I was really going through it and sincerely, the thought of not being productive alone took its toll on me.
Having been depressed before, this did not seem close to it. How did I know?
Symptoms of Depression
1. Low self esteem
2. Feeling like you are not enough
3. Suicidal thoughts
4. Irritability about all areas of life
“No, I am not depressed”, I concluded, because asides from work and school I felt okay with every other area of my life (I think 😕)
D̶e̶p̶r̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶
So what could it be?
Let’s look at new behaviors I developed during this period that helped me narrow it down
1. Imposter syndrome: feeling like a fraud and constantly asking myself if I really knew what I was doing, even when I did.
2. Lack of motivation: Knowing what I needed to do but no will to actually get up and do it. It could be something that could be done under 5 minutes, yet id think for 6 hours before doing it.
3. Lack of concentration: If and when I finally decide to carry out the activity, I could barely focus for 20 minutes.
4. Overeating: For someone who has not added weight in two years and even during the better part of lockdown, gaining 5kg in two weeks definitely told me something was up (can’t lie that I’m a tad bit grateful for the weight though 😉). This was due to constantly needing to eat or snack or chew something to pass time. While some people experience signs of no appetite during their low times, this was quite the opposite and I definitely knew something was up.
5. Restlessness: Walking around, looking for something to do and then going back to behavior 1 and 2.
Other behaviors were: constant headaches, feeling of drained energy, lack of creativity, sleep, support or feedback.
Looking through these foreign behaviors, I finally found what was wrong.
I was burnt out. Phew!
According to Herbert Freudenberger, Burnout is the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.
It involves feeling exhausted and less capable especially when things are not going as planned.
While there might be a wide range of behaviors particular to different people, the truth remains that most times we are not depressed. We may just be burnt out.
What I would experience as burnout may be different from what a CEO of a tech company experiences. Burnout may vary depending on one’s level of work and stress. Sometimes it may just be a dry spell of productivity.
Dealing with Burnout.
So, what did I do to help me get back on track? It’s not enough to talk about it and feel it, you actually need to be deliberate in your efforts, else spanning into depression. I considered the following points:
1. Remember your ‘why’
This is literally the first and most important thing to do to snap out of an unproductivity spell, lack of motivation spell or burnout spell. What is your ‘why’? Why do you do what you do? Why do you put in so much effort into that project, job or schoolwork? Could it be for impact, money, fame, a goal no one else knows about? If you do not have a ‘why’, then its impossible to continue because your brain is wired to only do things for a reason. Develop a ‘why’, remember the one you had, refine it if need be.
2. You are not superwoman or superman
This is something I constantly yell at myself. You cannot do so many things all at once. Prioritize your goals. Go back to step 1 and ask which of these activities has the biggest ‘why’ and do that first. Doing so much takes a toll on your mental and physical health. Have your work divided into a “Do, Delay, Delegate and Delete” list (would write more on this in a future post)
3. Talk to someone about it
Most times we are scared to talk about our weak times because we feel its just us facing or going through it. Truth is, everyone goes through this and when you talk to the right person, they just may help get you out of your little funk. This could be a family member, friend, or mentor. This person may also keep you accountable and help you do things better. You are never alone. Find an accountability partner, someone to keep you in check. This should be someone you respect.
4. You are enough
Do not beat yourself up about having a burnout spell. It is easy to start letting all the emotions get to you and fail to actually tackle the main problem. When you hammer down on yourself for being unmotivated it could span into depression and feeling down about all areas of life. Depression is a much tougher battle to fight.
5. Write it down
I am probably the ambassador for the ‘write it down’ campaign 😆 (if you have read my previous blog posts you would know). When something is written down it is etched back into memory and not easily forgotten. Do not underestimate the power of writing your goals, your reasons, your why and the challenges you face. They help you understand yourself better and know the next steps to take. Writing down is the first step to being deliberate about an issue because it finally lives your mind and becomes reality. This could be in form of your daily or weekly schedule, your yearly goals and even in your daily personal diary.
6. Be deliberate
It starts with you and your mindset. You can do it; you just need to believe it more. Also be more practical; if you are a morning person, do the most important things as soon as you wake up, it fuels you for the rest of the day. Same goes with being a night person. Know the times and attitudes that work for you. Know your distractions and avoid them. Be intentional about achieving your goals and being productive. No one else can do it for you.
“Just because you take breaks doesn’t mean you’re broken.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones
You are certainly not alone in your journey to being productive. Burnout is pretty normal and can be treated as soon as noticed.
I hope the points above can help you in your journey of achieving your goals.
Keep Being the Product!
Ajoke
