Burn Out

Well hey!!!

Long time no blog?! Haha… I know. I’m so sorry! Like literally a year came and left. But let me be the first to say I’ve missed this pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard relationship.

I want to first start by saying that I hope all is well with each and everyone of you. I hope that you all are in good health, surrounded by people who love you & pushing through each and every day. All that each day requires from us is effort and I have to constantly remind myself of that. Even if it’s 5% effort or 100% effort, all we need to do is give effort.

I was having a conversation with one of my crewmates the other day about when I reached my peak of burn out. And not like just burnt out from work but just literally everything tied together with work, and with your social life, and with your personal life and with your family. Like when did it just become a moment of “I’m burnt out”?.

Something about work and especially working through a “panorama”, and being available to people and not having as much time to just be available and present for yourself can cause you to feel a little stagnant in your life.

I had to make adjustments quickly because I am the type of person, once I feel it I don’t want that feeling. I don’t want that feeling of complacency, I don’t want that feeling of depression, I don’t want that feeling of not knowing, so I am quick to act on whatever it is that’s having me feel like I’m burnt out.

You have to start evaluating the areas of your life where you’re giving too much, or you are not given enough. You have to evaluate the areas of your life where work has outworked you and what can you do to make a more suitable work life balance. You have to evaluate the areas of your life where you take on different emotions, and take in different types of energy every single day and how do you not carry that weight home with you. You have to evaluate the areas of your life where you protect your peace - and with social media and our phones and being so easily accessible it has made it to where people don’t respect you in your absence or your privacy. That was my indication of my season of burn out because I experienced all of that and it made me think—-OK you’re feeling this, what are we going do to get out of this feeling?

Everyone handles their seasons of burn out differently, but I want to remind you that you’re not alone in that season.

We are all coping with life in our own individual ways. We are all dealing with our own trials. But don’t let your season of burn out take you out. Really use that time to learn yourself and unlearn habits and emotions and feelings that will break you in your burn out season.

I scaled back on working a little bit. Fortunately I was able to make decisions regarding my work schedule and having that flexibility to be able to spend more time with my friends and family because I needed that. I felt like I was absent from friendships. I felt like I wasn’t available for emotional connection. I felt like I wasn’t listening and hearing people and present in conversation because I was so tuned in to my own thoughts. And if you aren’t careful you won’t even realize that that could be a sign of burn out.

I just want to remind you that it’s OK to step back and reevaluate, and reset, reconnect and disconnect. Because if you keep at the rate that you’re going without having a moment where you feel like—wait, I need to scale back just a little bit, then you’re going to miss the lesson.

I was fortunate enough to experience a lot of the things that I felt like I was missing this year. I reconnected with friends. I listened to my thoughts and understood my needs. I listened to my friends and family and vowed to understand and hear their needs from me. I wrote down my ideas. I wrote down where I felt I was falling short. I hugged on people that I haven’t hugged on in a long time. You never really think about how many opportunities we’ve missed to readjust until we miss them.

I haven’t really thought about a lack of communication until I was able to communicate more. I never thoroughly understood a lot of things until I reached my peak of my burnout season and I am fortunate enough to serve a God who allows me to get somewhere in my life and he is still present enough to tell me to slow down and evaluate.

So my friends, at the wrapping up of this year, just take a moment to remind yourself you are doing the best that you can every day. Even in the midst of your burn out season, you have given effort and that’s all that life really requires from us daily.

-Yours Purely