This is a heavy topic for us humans. We encounter burnout almost everyday, yet we don’t acknowledge it; it gets swept under the table…like the Cheerios from this morning. Well, it is about time I try to add some “normalcy” to the word.
What is Burnout
According to Dictonary.com, the third meaning states, “physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress”. I don’t know about yall, but I think this applies to every person out there: man or woman. I think what we, as humans do, is that we try to stay busy. We stay busy to ignore ourselves if that makes any sense. We are too busy to acknowledge that we are tired. We are too busy to acknowledge that we are anxious. We are too busy to acknowledge that we are burnt out.
How to redirect our energy
The saying “You can’t pour from an empty cup” it holds more weight than you think. When we go to work we have stress. When we come home we have stress. When we’re “relaxing” we are stressed. When do we actually STOP?! This is a loaded question.
- We feel like when we are doing absolutely NOTHING, we should be doing something. It is THIS exact mindset that get’s us burnt out. So WHAT if we want to sit in our pjs all day, eat junk food, and binge watch Netflix? There should be shame in that. WE deserve it. It gives us a MENTAL BREAK just as much as a physical break. It slows us down to “enjoy the little things”. The things we get to do for OURSELVES and not have to feel bad for it. I am not saying we should do this 24/7, but it definitely is nice to have a break to escape the burnout.
- Another thing we can do is actually ADDRESS the burnout. How do we do that? The first steps in ANY mental block is to admit that we have one to begin with. This is harder for some people (like myself) because we are used to being strong or used to not “talking about our problem”; we bottle them up. What if I told you that bottling up out emotions, feelings, anxiety actually does more harm than good in this situation? When we bottle up our words, we are actually withdrawing ourselves from the world, from our family. We think we are doing everyone a favor by not talking about our “problems” because they don’t have time for it. When we start addressing our burnout, we start feeling the weight of the world lift off our shoulders.
- This leads me to my final note on burnout: find a counselor or a really close friend to talk to. This is by far the most important because you don’t want to feel like you are alone. I guarantee you, that if you ask ANYBODY on the streets to tell you what’s REALLY on their heart/mind, they’ll be willing to talk to you. It is easier to talk to a “stranger” than someone we really know. That’s why, in some instances, it’s harder to talk to our husband/wife because they “know” us and when we don’t “feel ourselves” it’s almost “awkward” to talk about it. I mean, when something doesn’t fit into out routine, it feels awkward. BUT I do want to encourage you to open those line of communications with your significant other because you’re a team and there’s no “I” in team 😛
Final Remarks
Ignoring a burnout will only dig yourself into a deeper hole with a pile of other burnouts. We have to find time for things that make us happy. It could be as small as reading a book on the back porch or even as big as a weekend trip. We just have to make time for self-care.
One last thing, but the most pivotal: PRAY!! Pray with your church and pray with your family. Finding peace with yourself is never easy, but it is achievable. It will be a journey, but don’t spend the majority of your life pretending to be happy and just going along with the motions. Your emotional health effects your physical as well. Don’t give the world what’s left of you, but give the world THE BEST you.
