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You are exhausted, exhausted and burned out. You’ve probably been working hard for years. Effortlessly put yourself last, while being there for everyone around you. Because yes, you could rely on you, if you asked something, people were sure that it would turn out well. You delivered perfect work, set high standards for yourself and giving up was for the faint of heart, you were a go-getter!
And now you can’t anymore and that’s super shitty! I’ve experienced the same thing. I also didn’t know how to continue, was exhausted and an emotional wreck. But I do want to tell you the following:
1. You are not weak
You don’t just get a burnout. You’ve asked far too much of your body for years, completely exhausted it and now it’s gone. I was so disappointed that I could no longer do it, that I had fallen over. That really felt like failure and a sign of weakness. Now just to be clear, you are not weak and you have not failed! You crossed your boundaries, you didn’t know any better and you just kept going. That is not a sign of weakness, it means that you are a huge tough guy, but tough guys are also people and not robots.
Also read: My Journey to Recovery: How I Ultimately Overcame Burnout
2. Just throw your planning out the window
Okay, you’ve fallen over, what now? Recovery! How, what, with whom? If you plan it right and do all the things you need to do to recover, you can go back to work in 3 months, right? Well 3, months? Make it 2, you were always the best so you are also the best at recovering. Wrong.
Every person is different and every body is different, there is no fixed time frame for your recovery. So please throw your planning out the window. Be very kind to yourself, learn to listen for the first time to what you want, to what your body needs. Don’t be disappointed again and again because after those three months you are still not working and therefore have not met your schedule, or after 6 months or after a year. During this period, live day by day, it is no different.
3. Listen to yourself
You will probably get a lot of tips from care providers, but also from friends and family. Go running, go walking, do yoga, meditate, master the art of mindfulness, etc. But what do you want? Do you mainly want to sleep? Then please go to sleep, if anyone is not lazy it is you, so if your body indicates that it needs to rest, rest! And yes, running is good for recovery, but if you are not ready for this yet and you force yourself to do it, you will be just as busy as before. When your body is stronger again, you will notice that you feel like going for a walk or running. Everything in due time and what does that time look like? You feel this by learning to listen to your body.
Also read: Overcoming Burnout: How to Rebuild Confidence in Your Recovery Journey
4. You will relapse
Eventually you will see that you will take steps, small steps, but they are steps. How nice is it when you can just go to the supermarket again or when you actually sleep through the night! Those are huge victories, wonderful! It gives you strength and confidence, but then you wake up and it doesn’t work anymore. You feel terrible, tired and depressed. Yep, a relapse. I want to warn you, we all have them. It’s part of it, no matter how bad. So don’t be alarmed, you are not back to square one. But with a burnout it is: 6 steps forward and 4 steps back, but in the end you have taken those 2 steps forward!
5. Keep faith
Sometimes you really don’t know if this will ever work out. I know the feeling, that’s why I want to tell you this: keep faith. You too will recover, you too will probably say that you learned a lot from this period and that this was necessary to find yourself. Keep faith in your recovery.
Are you recovering or still recovering from a burnout? What would you like to tell your fellow burnouters? We can help each other, share it on Facebook.
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