Crushing Your New Year’s Resolutions? Read This Before It’s Too Late
I burnt out, so you don’t have to…
I’m not someone who struggles with motivation. In fact, I’m quite the opposite. Often I feel like my own drill sergeant, screaming at myself to go harder while I’m down in the mud, working through whatever it is I’ve decided I need to work through.
Naturally, the turn of the New Year is a time where even the most lackadaisical among us feel the push towards a better version of themselves. There’s something about a new beginning that’s intrinsically motivating in and of itself.
So when January 1st comes around in my life, I’m raring to go. I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the year gone by, and I’ve set out plans and routines that are sure to push me forward. I’m quick off the starting line, chasing that future version of myself that is more evolved in all of the ways I feel he needs to be.
In the U.K. at least, the third Monday of January is known as Blue Monday. This is the day of the year our morale is typically at its lowest. It’s freezing outside, the days are still tragically short, we’re all still broke after the holidays and to top it off, most of us have given up on our New Year’s resolutions and are licking the wounds left by habits that we couldn’t make stick.
Since I’m a type-A personality to a fault, of course giving up on new routines so soon was never an option.
So when Blue Monday came around this year, I wasn’t dropping out. I was burning out.
I woke up on Tuesday after a completely reasonable night’s sleep feeling like I hadn’t slept a wink. My head was pounding and my body felt like it weighed double.
I dragged myself to my desk to start the workday, only to find myself back in bed minutes later.
Two days of being completely bed-bound followed. Standing up was too hard. Getting to the bathroom felt like an expedition. I often felt dizzy and unsteady on my feet.
When those two days passed, three more of feeling off the pace, light-headed and beside myself followed. I’m writing this on the first day since I burnt out that my brain has felt capable of stringing a few coherent sentences together.
All this because after 27 years of life on Planet Earth, I still haven’t learned to take it easy on myself.
I purposefully didn’t set myself any goals this year. I have a career change planned for sometime in the next few years, and in order to make it happen, I have to practice, practice, practice a physically demanding skillset to the point I’m able to teach it fluently and effortlessly.
I’m a long way off, which is why I wanted to start the year on a strong trajectory.
I’m a long way off, so I‘ve been unforgiving when it comes to rest days.
Here’s the thing though – without appropriate rest, progress grinds to a halt. Although resting is technically a pause, it actually speeds up progress in a way powering through simply can’t sustain.
The message of this article is practice agnostic – I don’t care if your practice is physically demanding or mentally taxing. It could be reading or running. It could be meditating or martial arts.
If you’re not taking the appropriate time to rest between sessions, burnout will find you.
It’s no picnic, and it’s only a matter of time.
If you’re here on Medium, chances are you’re interested in ideas. If you’re interested in ideas, I’m going to surmise that you’re reasonably focused on your growth as an individual.
If you’re focused on your growth as an individual, remember to take a breath every now and then. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and true progress is often the result of many small steps, not a few huge leaps.
Let my experience serve as a warning to everyone out there who feels like success in the year ahead hinges on working hard and playing harder.
It’s a long year ahead.
Slow it down.
Ironically, that might just speed you up.
