You have burnout. Now what do you do?
It may be a diagnosis you did not expect. It certainly was not what I expected when it happened to me, but at the same time it made so much sense. Does it make sense to you that you have burnout? Do you see now how everything that has happened lately (or in the past) might have led to this? And how can you heal from burnout?
What May Have Caused Your Burnout?
Perhaps you have taken on too much over the last few months, years, or even decades. Too much work; constant struggling and bending over backwards to please your boss, and sometimes even your family; putting up with continuous abuse and bullying; and there could be more reasons.
It takes its toll. Let’s look at just two causes for burnout.
Abuse that stretches over years or decades will exert its price on your mind in the end, resulting in even more pain than you already suffered during the abuse.
If hard work and never-ending stress was your way of life, in the end the mind will end up paying the consequences. The endless hours of overtime and the hustling over weekends and even holidays do not pay off at all. All the money you earned cannot be enjoyed now and much of it will go into your recovery.
What do you do now?
How Can I Help?
Over a series of several blog posts I will go over what I did, what I recommend, and I will explain the steps you can take to get through burnout and come out a healed person. In truth, it is not easy, and I am not going to promise miracles like so many self-proclaimed “gurus” do online. Instead, I want to give you tools that can help you heal.
I want to give the help I did not have when I went through burnout. I know how hard it is, and this is why I created this website. You can read my story on my “About Me” page.
Before we take this road together, we have to be honest with each other. So, I am sorry if my next paragraph looks a little like a doze of “tough love”, but I want to get off on the right foot, and seeing how challenging it is to heal from burnout, we must be sincere from the beginning.
This will only work if you do your part. See it like a teacher and student relationship. A teacher doesn’t miraculously implant the knowledge in the student. The student will only learn if he/she pays attention in class, asks questions, and actively participates in projects and homework assignments. The same principle will apply here.
What if I can’t afford to take time of?
A friend of mine has never healed from burnout and she has been suffering from it for twelve years now. On the other hand, she doesn’t do much about it either … She told me that she works hard to earn money and cannot afford to take time to heal … However, to get through this, you have to make time, take the bull by the horns, and step on that road to recovery.
In 2006, I was living in Belgium (I now live in Mexico), and my boss back then had burnout. He worked incredibly hard all the time, had been doing so for years, and when he was diagnosed, the doctor advised him to take at least a year of work.
My boss did that. He dropped his workload, and disappeared from the workforce for a year, finding a way to recover. Now, hang on a minute. How could he take a year off without having to work for it? He had so many untaken vacations piled up, that he could now easily take them, and he was insured.
Besides, in that company where I used to work, vacation time ranged between 30 to 50 paid working days per year, so now it’s easier to understand how unpaid vacations can easily bring about a sabbatical. That was, of course, not a recommended practice; you had to take those vacations every year, but in his case it was needed. And he was the boss …
Back to you and me now. We know that in our world this isn’t always possible. We must work to bring food upon the table. I get it. So, my first recommendation won’t be about taking a sabbatical, although it would be wonderful if it were possible, but we have to remain realistic.
The question is, what can we do under the circumstances?
First Steps of Healing
If taking a long period of time off is impossible, then I suggest that you speak to your employer and ask for whatever time he or she can give you. They will understand. Well, not all employers, but most do. In my case, I had to fight to even get a week of … In the end I was given my free time, but it was not easy to get that week.
So, take the time that you are allowed to take.
What else can you do?
I will write a list of the first things you must do when you are diagnosed with burnout.
- As I mentioned before, take time off. It is necessary. You need time for yourself.
- You must direct your focus on yourself. From now on it’s going to be me, myself, and I. That has nothing to do with selfishness, but everything to do with healing.
- Please reduce or – even better – get rid of your booze. Lock it away or just stay away from that cabinet. Alcohol is a depressant, and when you are going through burn out, depressants are the last thing you need.True, a glass of wine may provide you with that calming effect, but that one glass can turn into another and another. In fact, an increased consumption of alcohol is considered a sign that you might have burnout. So, lose the booze.
- Limit your time on your computer and phone to next to nothing. Yes, I know, this info is online, but keep your online browsing to that, to healing. Spending hours staring at a laptop or phone screen is not conducive to lowering your stress levels; and it is of extreme importance that while you are going through burnout your stress levels are kept to a minimum.
If you really can’t do without the phone and/or laptop, then plan a schedule and allow yourself perhaps an hour for them every two days, at the most. I know, in this time and age, that sounds like an impossible thing to achieve, but it will do you heaps of good. Being away from social media and the internet in general can bring you a feeling of freedom. Now, you are free to enjoy other things you never do anymore.
- That takes me to my next point. Go for walks, preferably in quiet, natural environments. So, forget about a trip to the mall; that is not what I meant. 😉 I mean, go for a stroll on the beach or at a lake or river if there is no beach nearby. Take a walk in nature, explore a forest.
If you have an old bicycle gathering rust and dust in your garage, take it out for a spin. Riding a bike is a beautiful, freeing experience, and it will help you relax and re-connect with yourself. Do not ride your bicycle in town or on a busy road; find a quiet and stress-free area to step on those pedals.
If you can start doing these things, you have taken the first steps on that road to recovery. The road is still long, but you now have the tools (and even a bicycle 😉 ) to navigate that road. Stay on this path. And remember, we may be taking baby-steps right now, but eventually we will take giant leaps. It takes time.
In my next post we will explore how we can keep stress levels to a minimum in a stress-induced world, especially if you cannot afford to take much time off from work. We will travel further down that road together.
If you have any questions, or you like to share your experience please let me know in the comments. I will be happy to answer them.
Hi, Christine, thank you for this eye-opening reality of life. Many people suffer burnouts which linger for years until the situation deteriorates into serious health challenges. I wish many people see this post and get help to heal from exhaustion. Sharing from your own life experience adds more weight to this piece. Your suggested practical and realistic steps to healing from various stresses are appreciated. I personally like taking strolls alone to admire nature; it has a great calming effect.
Hello Debbie,
Walks in nature can work miracles; they replenish the soul and refill you with newbound energy and positivity. It has indeed such a great calming effect.
Thank you very much for your valuable input!
This is a new scenario to my side cause I never had anyone suffering from it but since you have put it on my table I have some few remedies from my friend’s research, telling me that to overcome from burnouts one is ordered by the doctors to try taking some alcohol to calm one’s soul down, take a trip to a sweet vacation tour to free the mind and others as a walk through the sand at the beach Bear footed.
Hi Paulex,
While alcohol can provide a temporary calming or soothing effect, it does not resolve the issue and it is also a depressant, so in the long run, alcohol will not help. It is better to take active steps to heal, like I mentioned in my article.
when you experience long-term stress in your job, or when you have worked in a physically or emotionally draining role for a long time, when your efforts at work have failed to produce the expected results then you are likely to get burnout…thanks for the tips i would definitely put them to the test
Thank you! I’m glad this was useful to you.
This post gave me a lot to think about. I have always had a difficult time focusing on myself. I like the way you break down why it’s so important to do so.
I also appreciated the suggestions about how to deal with stress. Taking walks in nature and bike riding would certainly help.
Overall I thought this was really informative. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
Christopher
Hi Christopher,
I’m happy this was helful to you. Taking walks in nature and bike rides are very calming; and it’s true, they help a lot 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
Heyyy….. I really love this article how to heal from burout …. It very much informative and helpful too… I really appreciate your effort on going into details the causes of burnout, the help, and the steps for healing, I certainly enjoyed reading this with this knowledge I could help people around who are suffering from burnout…. Thanks alot for sharing.
You’re welcome 🙂
Thank you for your comment!
Thanks for sharing this great review on how to heal from burnout. I find this review is quite appreciative, educative and informative, it’s really important to share information as a lot of people are stressed out as a result of the nation’s lockdown, many spend hours working from home. How can get to meet you?
Hi Peter,
Nowadays, people are going through a lot, very true. For many it isn’t easy to spend so much time at home.
Thank you for your comment!
Hello there, this is a very beautiful article that you have got here. I love your take on alcohol, it is indeed a depressant. And I happened to see a lot of people that take alcohol as a medium to relieve burnout of which the result has always been the opposite. Your way out of burnout is splendid and encouraging to adhere to.
Thanks for sharing this with me.
Hi Stevie,
I also see a lot of people who use alcohol as a way to calm down, and I guess it is ok occasionally, but not always. Alcohol does not provide a solution….
Thank you for your comment!
Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. It can occur when you experience long-term stress in your job, or when you have worked in a physically draining role for a long time. You can also experience burnout when your efforts at work have failed to produce the results that you expected. Amazing read! Looking forward to hearing more from you!
Thank you, David! Hope to see you again here soon 🙂
Oh My God! I so needed to read this article of yours! I feel I’ve got all the burnt out symptoms. I am looking forward to reading your upcoming posts too. I’ve booked marked your website to come back to.
Thank you so much!
Habib
Hi Habib,
I’m really happy that you find this helpful. I hope to help as many people as I can. My new blog post will be out this week.
Thank you for bookmarking my website! 🙂
Thank you so much for your post. I suffer from burnout from time to time, or maybe I just never heal from it. And yes, it’s not just about work but about other stresses of life as well. Most people feel they don’t have the luxury to take time off, but to be able to rejuvenate and even be good at what you do, you need that time out. Thanks for the timely reminder.
Hi Martin,
Maybe you have not fully healed from it if it keeps on coming back …? I hope you can find some time for yourself, even if you can’t take time off work, go for walks in nature, meditate, eat healthy, … Last week I made two lists, a to do and a do not do list for burnout, they are printable. I hope that perhaps they can help a little 😉
Thank you for your comment!
Hi Christine,
It’s a red alarm to me when you mentioned that the money I earned would go into my recovery, which reminds me that I need to take my burnout seriously. I’ve been working in a job and not get the promotion that I desire for 5 years now. I might need to use my annual leaves to walk into the forest or on the beach to bring myself back. Maybe I will get a whole new idea for my career path with some insights from nature. 🙂
Thanks for sharing. It’s a nice read.
Matt
Hi Matt,
We definitely have to take burnout more seriously. It can have harsh consequences if we don’t. Please take care of yourself. Walks in the forest or on the beach will help to find some peace, we all need to have those moments for ourselves once in a while.