Writers — Avoid and Recover from Burnout
Is it Possible? YES!
Once upon a time, as most true stories go, I experienced BURNOUT. It felt like I was hanging on by a thread. I even expressed that verbally at the time, yet I didn’t know what was WRONG with me!
My life was overly busy. I owned my own business, had a large house, a child and a spouse to care for. Even my writing seemed flat, hanging by a thread, too.
It wasn’t until I visited my parents and was sitting on their patio in the desert (how I felt), reading some educational material for my ongoing nursing license, that I came across the word ’BURNOUT’ and its signs and symptoms.
BINGO — I knew exactly what was wrong with me! Just identifying the problem was the beginning of healing for me!!!
Since then, a couple of times, I’ve recognized that I was standing on the precipice of Burnout once again. I remembered what I’d learned and backed away from that cliff. Maybe this will help you avoid or escape BURNOUT.
Do you recognize yourself here?
Burnout is feeling:
Helpless
Disillusioned
Completely exhausted
Feeling cynical
Sometimes feeling incompetent.
Here are some physical specifics that might indicate a problem:
Headaches
Stomach/intestinal issues
Fatigue
Frequent illness
Changes in appetite and sleep
Burnout is feeling empty and mentally exhausted, often lacking motivation and beyond caring.
That does not sound good, especially for a writer!
Life is busy enough but, as a writer, do you find yourself stressed, dashing from one writing activity to the next?
If we are observant, we will be able to see that our writing often mirrors our lives. Thus, if our lives are stressed, our writing will show the same as we attempt to keep it together wondering what is wrong with us!
On Medium, there are notifications to answer, reading of others’ posts, claps to give and comments to create. Highlighting others’ work takes time as does filing them to savor them for later or again.
Then we must WRITE if we are going to keep our momentum going!
Our writing ideas stack up as do our drafts.
Saving our writing in Medium’s Drafts is quite handy and yet how many drafts can we stack up in rough draft form before it is overloaded with unfinished items? (A mirror image of our life?)
A previous post can be the first step to help prevent burnout:
This may help, also:
Just as our writing ideas get stacked up, we look around and notice that the leaves need to be raked…again! The floor needs the vacuum run, the kitchen floor swept. The car needs to go in for maintenance. That’s not even to mention loved ones who crave attention.
How quickly things get out of balance and we HURRY through every part of our lives becoming overloaded with too much and too many.
Our surroundings are a mess, our relationships are even worse. We WANT to write but can’t seem to squeeze it in.
We are too BUSY!
According to the author of the book, ‘We Are Driven — The Compulsive Behavior America Applauds’ by Minirth and Meier, ‘Busyness can become a chronic problem…it does not go away unless we deal with the deeper causes. It is also progressive and, over time, the busyness will pick up speed and momentum. It will only get WORSE.’
Is that YOU? Are YOU Experiencing Full Burnout?
Are YOU standing at the Precipice of Burnout?
How to Escape Writer Burnout
It’s essential to replenish your physical, mental and emotional energy, along with your capacity to focus DAILY. Yes, we KNOW many ways in which to take care of ourselves, but do we DO them? Let’s remind ourselves.
It is important to prioritize:
Good sleep habits — maybe it’s time to take some much needed naps. Would we have better clarity in our thoughts and writing if we were well rested?
Good Nutrition — yeah, yeah, we all know ‘garbage in, garbage out’ and yet we don’t listen to ourselves. Would our writing improve if we ate better?
Adequate Exercise — we don’t need to do marathons to get ourselves going again. Just a walk around the block is a good start. Would a simple walk ‘jog’ some new ideas about which to write? Or the ability to word something with which you are struggling?
Social Connections — we are too tired, you say. Yet how much energy does it take to read a fun book to a child, share some dessert with a neighborhood friend…just LIVE. Maybe there is material for your next writing project hiding in plain sight.
Enjoying Life — Practices that promote well-being, such as soaking up nature, journaling, prayer and meditation on the Word of God and being still should also be included.
Bit by bit, one would arise out of the ashes of burnout, excited about life once again with a mind wanting to overflow with words!
“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with … the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.”
Luke 21:34
References:
“The Compulsive Behavior America Applauds” by Frank Minirth, MD and Paul Meier
Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials
Mayo Clinic
Harvard Business Review
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