Are you exhausted from work and home from responsibilities? How do you heal from burnout?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Physical, emotional, or mental burnout is something you can experience when you neglect your personal needs while overworking yourself. The most common symptoms of burnout are exhaustion, lack of motivation, and even more dangerous effects such as high blood pressure and insomnia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are six tips that will teach you how to heal from burnout<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n According to a study done by Indeed<\/a>, over half of the workers surveyed said they were feeling the effects of burnout, such as the symptoms listed above, plus an inability to focus. In the long run, these symptoms could negatively affect your job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The effects of burnout have been especially bad since the start of the pandemic and the increase in the number of employees working from home. LeeHealth.org<\/a> says that working from home blurs the line between work and home and makes it more difficult to leave your work at the office. And on top of everything else, the lack of change in scenery can make it feel like the days just blend together. The healthiest solution to all of these problems is to take a vacation.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Traveling is important<\/a> because it\u2019s a way to recharge your batteries, get a dramatic change of scenery, and find more meaning in your life. And when you return to work, you\u2019re likely to feel more energized, motivated, and creative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Burnout<\/em><\/a>, Emily and Amelia Nagoski explain that having meaning in life, or some larger purpose, is an important tool that will help you heal from burnout.<\/strong> Having a larger purpose enhances your well-being and makes you more resilient\u2014you\u2019re able to contextualize stressors and realize that in the grand scheme of things, they\u2019re not that important. And if you do end up facing burnout, having a larger purpose will give you the hope and direction you need to persist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They elaborate that a larger purpose is usually one of three things<\/strong>: (1) working toward an ambitious goal that will leave a legacy, (2) progressing down a spiritual path, or (3) having meaningful emotional connections with others. Or, your larger purpose could be a combination of any of these three things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burnout<\/em><\/a> asserts that having a steady, loving support system is also crucial to avoiding and healing from burnout<\/strong>. This is because connection is a vital component of human existence\u2014we can\u2019t survive without it\u2014and caring for others reminds us to care for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They elaborate that human emotion is contagious\u2014we end up syncing our emotions, speech, and even heartbeats with the people we spend time with. So when we spend time with someone who we share a loving, intimate relationship with, we can recharge our emotional battery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors explain that these types of intimate relationships are characterized by two things: <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two significant ways that taking periods of rest support your capacity for peak performance. These are best understood through the lens of an athlete, according to The 5 AM Club<\/em><\/a> by Robin Sharma:<\/p>\n\n\n\n An athlete who overtrains without cool-down moments runs the risk of injury. They push their bodies to get stronger and faster, but the overexertion causes them to blow out a knee. The damage to the muscle tissue or tendons is so severe, they aren\u2019t able to play again. If they had taken time to recover between workouts, they would have:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This second point is important to understand. Periods of rest not only ensure that you don\u2019t damage the assets required for you to perform your work but also allow your assets time to strengthen as a result of your intense training.<\/strong> This process of strengthening during rest is called \u201csupercompensation,\u201d and it describes the way that growth happens during moments of respite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why We Sleep<\/em><\/a> by Matthew Walker provides several tips on how you can start getting better, less interrupted sleep so you can heal from burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time<\/em><\/a>, Arianna Huffington devotes a chapter to sleep tips, tools, and techniques. While there are many overlaps with While We Sleep <\/em>(such as limiting blue light, avoiding alcohol, and getting the temperature right), she offers some additional tips that Walker doesn\u2019t mention:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a fine line between a healthy amount of pressure to stay committed to your work and putting too<\/em> much pressure on yourself. The latter case can lead to burnout, as you\u2019ll push yourself<\/a> to do more work than what your mind and body can handle. The 5 AM Club<\/em><\/a> has a solution to find a healthy balance: give yourself well-needed periods of deep restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what does a cycle of deep restoration look like? The key to restoration is self-care. You must take care of yourself to perform your best work, and the precursor to self-care is self-love. Self-love is the internal expression of loving your external life. Finding joy in life and having fun<\/a> are essential for a life well-lived. Success without joy is not true success because otherwise, you\u2019ll burn out from working on things you hate<\/a>. There is magic in life available to anyone willing to seek it, and you seek it by following your heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking time off and lounging begrudgingly is not a representation of joy. You must use your cycle of restoration to fill your heart with goodness and your body with wonder and light because these things repair the strained and torn muscles of endurance and motivation.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n The following are some ways to bring more joy into your life to heal from burnout:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last tip on learning how to heal from burnout is ensuring it doesn\u2019t happen again. Burnout<\/em><\/strong><\/a> explains that to prevent burnout<\/a>, we must manage both our stressors<\/em> and the stress<\/em> they cause<\/strong>. Stress is the body\u2019s hormonal response to perceived threats, and it helps keep us alive. For example, if you\u2019re swimming and see a shark in the water (a stressor), you\u2019re flooded with stress hormones, swim away fast, and feel relieved once you\u2019ve escaped. However, if the shark disappears and your body doesn\u2019t know whether you\u2019ve escaped the threat, the stress will remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stressors people face aren\u2019t usually escapable\u2014they tend to linger in our environment, like the shark. This means stress lingers, builds up, and eventually causes burnout. The authors explain that to avoid this, you must (1) dissipate the lingering stress hormones, and (2) manage and minimize your stressors. This section will provide the authors\u2019 techniques for how you can accomplish these objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors assert that to dissipate the stress hormones we create when faced with a stressor, we must mimic our body\u2019s natural response to stress. <\/strong>They elaborate that our stress response<\/a> cycle developed to help early humans survive, so to complete the stress cycle, we need to respond as early humans did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When our ancient ancestors faced threats (stressors), they took action\u2014they ran, hunted, screamed, and gathered together. While the stressors modern humans face aren\u2019t the same, the way our body processes a neutralized threat is. The authors assert that based on these primal responses, there are three main ways we can dissipate our stress: by exerting energy, connecting with others<\/a>, and practicing wellness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors explain that stressors are stimuli that indicate danger. Stressors tend to be things like patriarchal standards, unrealistic expectations<\/a>, and self-doubt\u2014things that indicate your potential to fail yourself or others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They elaborate that there are two main types of stressors: controllable and uncontrollable. Controllable stressors are things like self-doubt<\/a> or health issues\u2014there are steps you can take to eliminate these types of stressors. Uncontrollable stressors are things like misogyny or external barriers that hinder your ability to meet goals or expectations\u2014no matter what you do, you can\u2019t eliminate them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Take a Vacation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
2. Find Meaning in Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Form a Loving Support System<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
4. Get Plenty of Rest<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to Get Better Sleep<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
More Tips to Help You Sleep<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
5. Give Yourself Periods of Deep Restoration and Joy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Keys to Cultivating Joy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. Prevent Burnout From Happening Again<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Dissipate Your Stress Hormones<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Manage Your Stressors<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n