To recover from burnout as a creative person means giving yourself some grace during its episodes. If you’ve experienced burnout before, you’d agree that it is a challenging place to be mentally and physically.
My experience with burnout was a bit torturous as I could not understand why I suddenly started feeling the way I felt then. It took me a while before I looked inward to identify that I was dealing with burnout. Before my experience, I often heard writers complain about it and its effect on their creativity, but I never stopped to think about it or find out what’s involved. Not until it hit me square in the face, and I struggled not to lose my entire balance.
If you’ve read to this point, chances are you are curious to learn or are already dealing with it and eager to know how to recover from burn out shackles. So, first things first, a definition to help you look within and figure out if you are right in the middle of burnout or just to help you keep tabs to prevent it before it strikes.
What is burnout?
According to Oxford Reference, burnout is a work-related emotional exhaustion that causes you to lose interest in work and other activities. From someone with firsthand experience, I’d define burnout as an intense mental exhaustion that quickly envelops you in a blanket of despair. It zaps your will to lift a finger, let alone work. The zeal that once burned brightly in you quenches to be replaced with an intense lack of interest in things that once held your attention. And then you feel empty, deeply exhausted, and only wish to lay in bed all day, questioning your life’s choices. Hello, burnout.
Moving on, it will interest you to know how burnout came to be and the human who looked at it and gave it a name.
Who defined burnout?
Story has it that the term burnout was mentioned somewhere in the Bible during Moses’s time. Outside Bible times, an award-winning Psychologist, Freudenberger, was the first to use the word burnout in the 1970s. He described the situation as ‘professional exhaustion’ and went on to research and write a book that shed more light on chronic fatigue. To date, people still refer to his findings when speaking about burnout.
Workers experienced burnout but could not put a name on how they all felt until they were almost depressed or even slipped into actual depression.
In recent times, many creatives have not been able to tell when they start slipping into the burnout phase. There are symptoms to look out for to catch it before it takes over. Meanwhile, you may have entered the phase without knowing. It’s all fine if you already understand what you are up against and pull yourself out of it before you hit the last stage.
So, yes, this burnout journey has known phases or stages. I bet you, the last stage is rock bottom because people hardly recover from it.
Let’s begin with the symptoms, progress through the stages, and finally arrive at how to recover from burn out.
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What are the symptoms of writer burnout?
Everyone can generally check out these symptoms as they touch other occupations:
- Lack of focus
- Loss of interest in anything
- Soulful exhaustion
- Headaches
- Disrupted sleep patterns
- Irritation
Creatives who write for a living feel the onset of burnout with these symptoms:
- Mental fog
- Emptiness
- Zero desire to type or pick a pen
- Lack of motivation
- Mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion
- Being overwhelmed
- Lack of joy in general life dealings
- Disappeared muse
- Restless sleeping habits
- Moodiness
- Guilty feeling for not being able to work
- Weakness
Now you know what to call it whenever you begin to experience two or three of these symptoms. Do not wait for the stages to run its course before you help yourself or seek help.
What are the stages of burnout?
When you fail to create boundaries and balance work and life, you may begin to pass through the stages of burnout without knowing it. Let’s examine these stages.
Perfectionism and the need to prove your work
This is where it starts from. A workaholic who hates to do a lousy job and loves to recross every Is and dot all the Ts.
Living the workaholic life as a lifestyle
I never thought that I was getting down to burnout at this stage. I increased my workload and shunned sleep. The 24 hours we get daily stopped being enough, and I forgot about social life or relaxation time. It’s funny, but I saw sitting to watch TV as a waste of my time.
Neglect
At this stage, you begin to overlook or neglect comfort and self-care, such as rest, exercise, and enjoying your meal. Even if you do them, you rush over them because you feel you have limited time.
Denial
Now, you are working up yourself but do not want to see it. You may add more strength just to keep going and deny that your body and brain need some time off.
The withdrawal
You seek ways to isolate yourself from family and friends to get the job done. You believe you need more time alone to put in the work.
Emptiness
At this stage, you’ve poured all your virtue out and are now pouring from an empty cup. Cortisol is through the roof, and you are stressed for days. You feel light inwards without any purpose or drive left in you. All the ‘Lacks’ sets in. Lack of motivation, no zeal to leave the bed, everything looks and sounds boring, and you are profoundly exhausted and physically extremely tired. Tears, maybe. No clear plan for the day. Etc
Rockbottom stage
Anyone who gets to this stage may never fully return because, at this stage, you may lose your mind. Many others do not lose their minds but never learn how to crawl out of this hole again. The exhaustion and other stages turn out to become their final reality. They just find a way to adapt to this newfound way of life. It’s a very sad place to be.
How to recover from burn out as a writer
Catch it before it slips further
You have to catch it first. I mean, stop it from progressing. It’s all about staying alert to yourself to know when you’ve crossed the boundaries.
Take that long-needed break
Your healing and recovery start when you take that much-needed break. Forget about work and the need to prove yourself. You are on the verge of a mental breakdown, so you need to stop every mental activity immediately. Sleep for longer hours. Take long baths. Stop to smell a flower. Savor your meals. Watch movies. Indulge in some pleasurable activities. Admire yourself in the mirror. Fight off the urge to feel guilty about not being productive. Prioritize self-care. Visit the beach. Do not count your lazy days.
Talk to someone
Talk to a trusted loved one. Vent and unpack on them. You need someone just to sit and listen to you. You can’t do this alone, as you deserve all the love, care, attention, and encouragement you can get.
Indulge in guilty pleasures
What are your guilty pleasures? Make a list of them and indulge. You are fighting for your life; you should win this fight, even if it means indulging yourself.
Visit loved ones
Get out of your home and get on that flight, train, or bus. Go where you’re loved. Visit your family. Attend that family function.
Open your lungs and deeply breathe in the fresh air.
