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When I was at home with my burnout, I really wanted to know how on earth I could get out of this misery as quickly as possible. I had two questions: 1 “How long will this take?” and 2 “What do I have to do to get out of this as quickly as possible?” Well, like most burnouters, I searched many forums and Google was my great friend. And what do you read… (the same thing I was told by the doctor):
- Go for a walk
- Go for a run (if possible).
- Go meditate
- Do fun things (I really couldn’t do anything with that… I didn’t enjoy anything anymore!)
Believe me, when I was finally able to get dressed and go outside again, I did these things. I walked every day, when I got stronger I started running, meditation was my salvation otherwise I would go completely crazy (especially at night) with my worrying and very occasionally I would do something ‘fun’.
Well, this misery lasted at least 2 years for me and I still didn’t make any progress . That drove me crazy! Because I thought it was quite a dent in my ego that I had suffered a burnout in the first place and that it had taken so long… my god, I thought I was a wimp. But I kept challenging myself and setting new goals. Okay, all well and good, but in 2 months I MUST be able to do this or that again. And if that didn’t work, I was so disappointed in myself again. So I set a new timetable for myself. Yet I never achieved my goals. So frustrating! I did everything the doctor said I SHOULD do and I was still ‘sick’.
Also Read: How haptotherapy helped me recover from my burnout
After reading the above paragraph, you have probably already realized what went wrong… for me it took 2 years before I realized that I was actually not doing well at all… Because I did indeed do everything that I was supposed to do according to the booklet, but I didn’t do the most important thing… Namely: let go and accept, I still had to do everything from myself and I still hadn’t learned to be kind to myself.
I couldn’t accept that I had destroyed myself so much, that I was in it so deeply and I couldn’t let it go. I wanted to stay in control, well believe me… you have zero control when you have a big burnout. You just have to recover, be very kind to yourself and give your body time to recover. When I finally got this insight I could start my recovery. I finally let go of that stupid timeline I had in my head about my recovery. Because it makes no sense to say that you want to be recovered in six months or in 3 months. You have no control over that at all. So from then on I just let it happen and started living day by day.
Also Read: Back in the office after your burnout, what now?
I also started to accept that I had a burnout . Nothing to be ashamed of. I had simply crossed all my boundaries for years, or actually maybe I didn’t even have any boundaries. I had worn out and exhausted my body, yes that sucks. But that happened and it happens to a lot of people, so it was bad luck. I had better accept it, because that struggle really didn’t bring me anything.
And from there it slowly got better, believe me it still took a long time, but I noticed progress! If I was too tired or didn’t feel like going outside, I didn’t. When I was tired I went to bed, even during the day. If I didn’t want to do anything all day, I did it. At first it felt very strange and I felt very lazy. But I’m not lazy, I just needed to get my energy back!
Slowly I started to feel like going for a walk or exercising again. The relapses (yes, they kept coming) were less intense and shorter and I slowly needed less sleep, was able to slowly put things into perspective and gradually became myself again.
For me, the turnaround really came when I learned to be kind to myself. When I accepted that I was sick and that I had to listen to my body’s signals and not to the planning in my head.
When did your turnaround come? What helped you get out of your burnout? Will you share it on Facebook under this post? This way we can help each other.
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