The writing challenge that knows you have a life.
Many of my friends have been talking about burnout lately. I’ve definitely been showing the signs for some time, but have been soldiering on. Enough is enough, it’s time to figure another way.
We know moderation is the key for food choices. We also know when making changes, baby steps can be a set-up for success.
I came across a website yesterday called HelpGuide.org. Their page Preventing Burnout caught my attention. They breakdown the differences between stress and burnout. In dealing with burnout, they suggest the “three r” approach (recognize, reverse, and resilience). It’s really good stuff. My favorite section gives tips on preventing burnout. I’m very familiar with several things on this list and will continue to work on them. The two I want to add are Start the day with a relaxing ritual and Take a daily break from technology.
I’m hardly ever far from my phone and laptop. I rarely take any time for myself. No wonder I’m burning out.
I’ve recognized the issue, I’m working on reversing the effects, and it’s definitely time to work on building my resilience. It’s most definitely baby steps time.
The Goals – week-2 results
- Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters- done. 🙂
- Daily progress in writing craft, word count, editing, and/or plotting- almost done. The first couple days of the week, I was buried in evil day job and volunteer work. Ugh! By Wednesday, I was eager to make progress, but I let my frustrations get to me. Finally on Thursday, I started making some progress. I edited a couple of scenes and found the first scene that needs a rewrite to set the story in the direction of the new ending. I made good progress on Friday and Saturday too. There’s a happy ending.
- Take care of and be kind to myself- kind of done. I’m doing a better job of letting the stress go at the end of the day, something I used to have mastered. I’m getting back to that pattern and it makes me happy. Baby steps. I’ll let you know next week how I do with adding the morning relaxing ritual and the daily break from technology.
What you might have missed here this week:
S.J. Maylee 
Thanks for the article on Burnout. I will have to check it out and take it to heart – quite literally, as I have been having chest pain for three months now. All of the testing I have done so far has turned out negative, so I am starting to think the culprit is stress.
I think your goals of having a relaxation ritual and a break from technology are great ideas for anyone. I will have to get those on my list!
Good plan! We really do need to take time for ourselves to just take a breath and enjoy the view 🙂 Good luck with the new week 🙂
Well, I nearly burnt out last year fortunately managed to take steps to pull back – it creeps up on you silently – so yes we all need to be aware – it is such a busy busy world we live in:( good for you for recognizing and doing something:) all the best:)
Yeah, burnout’s a sneaky one! I think it’s especially insidious after the holidays, when we’re all doing all the extra things that entails, then we’re gung-ho on goals and resolutions come January, it’s no wonder we burn out! I’m reading a print book right now, so that’s my break from tech, but working anything else into my morning routine just doesn’t happen (I’m soooo not a morning person, don’t want to give up even five minutes of sleep!), but I will definitely check out that article. Good luck with it!
Burnout can really creep up on you, right? That tip on disconnecting from technology really helps me. Hope things go better for you this week, S.J.!
Well done on the progress. It’s scary how attached to technology we get and how guilty we allow ourselves to get if we dare take five minutes for relaxation. I am going to check out that burn out article. Have a great week. x