4 Ways to Recover from Burnout

Photo by Kostiantyn Li on Unsplash

I am all too familiar with the signs of burnout: you find no reason to get up out of bed, nothing you do seems meaningful, there is no joy in doing even the things that you used to love, and a heavy feeling of restlessness and despair. The causes of burnout can differ from person to person. For me, being a results-oriented individual, when things that I do bear no visible progress or when I can't seem to understand what I'm doing wrong that's causing the results to be far from expectations, I start to become disheartened, discouraged, and despairing. I lose my sense of meaning in what I'm doing, and it just doesn't motivate me anymore to keep putting an effort because I feel like my efforts aren't being rewarded. So, having experienced that so many times, I sort of understand what I need to do when I go through it and how I can get out of it. These four things may not be effective for everyone, but they can be a good start to recover from your burnout phase.

1. Stop. Stop worrying, thinking about your goals, doing your tasks and responsibilities.

Drop everything for a while and take your mind off of those things that are causing the burnout. It may sound counterintuitive or even counterproductive, but when the things that you used to enjoy doing stop becoming enjoyable, then just pushing yourself more won't solve the issue. You have become so engrossed and so focused as to tunnel-vision, and when the results aren't showing, you become frustrated and you lose hope. It's also possible that somebody just randomly, out of the blue, would stop enjoying the things that they do, or even the work that they love doing. But generally, it's not as sudden or inexplicable as that. Often, the reason we burn out is because we have expended all of our energy and there's no fuel left in the tank to keep us going. So, you need to refill yourself.

The only way for you to do that is to get away from those things that you're doing. Stop thinking about the goals that you have set for yourself because at your current state, you won't be able to do anything productive to achieve them. You will only find yourself even more frustrated and digging deeper into a hole which you might not be able to come out of when you realize it too late. The moment that you feel the onset of a burnout, stop. You still have a lot of time, the goals will still be there, and the tasks and responsibilities that you had to carry out can be taken over by someone else. Your health is more important, and although physical health would be our primary concern, when your emotional or mental health start to fail, sooner or later your physical health will too.

There are a few things you can do during this phase of recovery: you can travel and experience something new, or go to that vacation spot that you have always been wanting to visit. You can buy the stuff that you have long wanted to buy, or you can eat the things that you have been holding out on. You can even just laze around, watch TV or movies, and do the things that you didn't have time for before. From there, I think you can start to recover.

2. Reconnect with people.

One of the possible reasons why burnout becomes too unbearable is that we isolate ourselves too much. Sure, you should do everything that you want to do, but there's also a need for balance in that, we are social creatures, and we're able to be refreshed by being with other people. You need someone with a different kind of energy to help with your recovery. It's best to reconnect with old friends or with family whom you haven't seen a long time or talked to in a while. Perhaps, you can even make a new friend by joining clubs or groups with like-minded people. Being part of community helps reset our mind and our hearts to regain our passion and strength to do the things that we love doing.

I would suggest to talk with someone about the things that you felt or the things that caused your burnout, somebody who will simply listen and give you company. It doesn't necessarily have to be a psychiatrist or a professional counselor. You just need someone willing to listen to what you have to say, someone in whose company you can relax, enjoy spending time, and be yourself. I think life would be much more colorful and wonderful if you have somebody like that to stand by your side, especially through dark times like these.

3. Exercise, sleep well, and eat healthy.

One of the underlying reasons for burnout is not being able to live a healthy lifestyle. When we don't take care of physical bodies properly, that's going to take its toll on our emotional and mental well-being, which can then be exasperated by the circumstances outside our control. These are our main defenses against burnout, I believe because if we are living healthy lives, then no matter what stresses we face in life, we will have enough fortitude and physical resistances to not easily succumb to the disparaging thoughts that enter our minds.

Perhaps, one of the causes of your burnout is that you weren't able to get enough sleep consecutively and that accumulated, and your sleep deprivation seeped into your psyche and tore down your emotional and mental defenses. Perhaps, you have been living a sedentary life and you weren't able to be as active so your body does not have enough strength or resistance to stress. And a healthy diet is the foundation for a healthy life as well, eating poorly will slowly deteriorate your bodily functions as you are not getting the proper nutrients that your body needs to perform well in any situation. So, think about these things as well while you are trying to recover.

4. Pray, read the Bible, and find a good church.

As much as we need to take care of our physical well-being, we also need to consider our spiritual well-being, and as with any kind of psychological or mental condition, sometimes the root cause may be spiritual. There are many new age spiritual movements out there, but I don't advocate for any of them because the solutions that they offer do not target the root cause. One of the things that we may be battling with in our lives is the fact that things aren't going our way, and that frustrates and confuses us. You think that there's no hope and there's no meaning or purpose in life, so why should I even continue and do what I've been doing. There's also the temptation to just cheat your way to the top or to do dishonest things to get the results you sorely wanted to achieve.

That's not the solution. You have to understand that God the Creator of everything is in sovereign control over all the comings and goings in life. You may not understand why certain things happen in your life, but if you trust the LORD and His purposes, then nothing that comes your way will surprise or dishearten you because you know that God is at work in your life. He may be teaching you something in your current situation, or there may be something He wants to remove or prune out of you in preparation for something better. Of course, this is all on the basis that you do believe in Jesus Christ and you follow Him as your LORD and master.

I promise that it will be easier to cast all your cares to the LORD than to keep carrying the burden all by yourself. That's the foundation of the Christian life, trust in Christ. Burnout happens sometimes because we try to control things that are out of our control. Or, we get frustrated by things that happen that are contradictory to our plans or expectations. But having a Biblical perspective and trusting in God's sovereignty over any and every situation humbles us and gives us the assurance that things can get better. We just need to wait on God and do what is right before Him.

Conclusion

So these are just a few things that you can do to help you recover from burnout. If you want to talk about it or anything else, you may also send me an email or use the contact page of this blog. I hope you are able to recover from your burnout and I hope this was helpful in that regard.