Tips for Recovering from Burnout:
Evaluate the source(s) of your burnout
Prioritize your sleep & nutrition
Ask for help not because you can’t do it without help, but because it will be easier with help
Evaluate the source(s) of your burnout-
Although it seems small, evaluating what is causing your burnout can help you tremendously. The majority of the sources of burnout cannot be cut out of your life, but if they can seek options to do so.
If you cannot cut these burnout-inducing aspects of your life, consider ways to make them better for you. For example, if work is a cause of your burnout, look for the passion that brought you there in the first place.
If the passion only lies within your paycheck, that is okay. Create little goals for yourself throughout the workweek that reward you for your efforts. Giving yourself a 30-minute break after finishing a 2-hour task, getting takeout for dinner because you had 3 meetings in one day, or buying yourself those shoes you’ve been wanting after completing a project. Whatever works for you to cut out or change your source of burnout will help you recover from burnout.
Meditate-
Meditation, especially when you first wake up, has many proven benefits. Whether your meditation is guided by audio or without, meditation can really help you. Focusing on your breath or what your body is feeling in the space around you can be crucial in moments of stress.
Meditation is very personalizable. If you only have five minutes between meetings, an hour-long lunch, and/or a twenty-minute commute to work you should definitely try out meditation to help you recover from burnout and your stress.
Journal-
Journaling is a way to express your thoughts and feelings. This can help you through burnout by releasing these thoughts and emotions at any point in time.
Again journaling is something that can be done wherever, whenever, and for as short/long of a time as you want. If writing about your thoughts and feelings isn’t for you, write down the events of your day. Perhaps even writing conversations you had with friends, family, or coworkers helps you. Journaling overall can help separate you from your present moment and allows you to destress and recover from burnout.
Don’t like writing? Video or voice memo journaling is an option as well.
Take time for yourself/Rewind-
Taking time at the end of your day to just sit and relax is crucial to recovering from burnout and even preventing it.
One thing that helps me, but is super weird is changing into my pajamas whenever I am home. This allows me to physically and mentally “clock out” as I am comfortable in my pajamas. Even if I only have two hours at home before I have to work out or run errands, at least the two hours I spent at home were hours of me unwinding.
Another way you can do this is to do relaxing activities that you enjoy. Watching movies or tv shows, reading, getting social media time, again whatever distracts you from the stress of your day and you enjoy work.
If you are at home for the rest of your day make sure to do something for yourself to wind down. Again this can be running a bath, putting on a facemask, playing video games, and/or playing with your pets.
No matter what, taking time to unwind in small ways every day can really help your recovery from burnout and prevention of burnout in the future.
Organize-
Organizing is something simple yet effective when recovering from burnout. Organizing and planning your week allows you to find time for a work-life balance. Laying out your day-to-day, weekly, and monthly goals for work and your personal life can take a lot of pressure off. Knowing what you have to do today and not worrying about what you have to do tomorrow will help you to kick burnout. Prioritizing is a huge part of organizing and can also help with burnout.
Exercise-
The benefits of exercising are extensive. However, this does not mean that you have to work out every day for two-plus hours. Finding any way to move your body is a form of exercise. Walking your dog, yoga, stretching, dancing, or even biking instead of driving are all forms of exercise.
These exercises are easily added into your daily routine without taking away from your time to unwind or your personal life. Weight lifting, HIIT workouts, and cardio are also options to consider if you have the time as these really release endorphins.
Releasing endorphins will help lower your stress levels, help you recover from burnout, and prevent future burnout.
Prioritize your sleep & nutrition-
I understand this is a boring tip and many people will not consider how effective it can be. Maintaining a healthy and consistent sleep schedule of 8+ hours of sleep every night can not only help your burnout recovery but can make you more productive.
The same thing applies to prioritizing your nutrition. When you fuel your body correctly with the right amount of hydration, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, etc you feel better and you do better. Consider downloading nutrition apps to help you out. Many free options are available as well as more in-depth options that cost only a couple of dollars.
Prioritizing your sleep and nutrition can also just be goals that you set for yourself, like going to bed every night at 10:00 and eating vegetables with every meal. These prioritizations are simple, easy, and effective ways to kick burnout.
Do things that bring you joy-
Things that bring you joy are a beyond easy way to help you recover from burnout. Spending time with friends and family, traveling, going out for drinks, going to a yummy restaurant, seeing a movie in the theaters, whatever you enjoy doing, do it.
These things can include your time to unwind activities, however, they should be more uplifting activities than relaxing. Despite feeling down and burned out, doing things that bring you joy will help tremendously.
This is also a way to inspire yourself to push through the school/work week. Making plans to grab drinks and go dancing with your friends on Saturday is something that you can look forward to starting the day you plan it. Then each task that you accomplish before then will make that activity more enjoyable.
These activities do not have to be with others. If you enjoy going to the mall, reading at a coffee shop, going to the park, or any other activity alone then do so! Doing things that bring you joy will help you recover from burnout faster and more effectively than you may think.
Podcasts-
There are multiple podcasts on the topic of burnout. There are also many youtube videos where people describe what has helped them and these are definitely something to check out.
Some podcasts to consider are FRIED-The Burnout Podcast which is the number one podcast about burnout, Burnout to Breakthrough hosted by Dr. Eric Shuemake, Talk Burnout, Burnt Out to Lit Up, The Burnout to Recovery Show with Dr. Kate: Your Journey to Recovery Burnout Starts Here, and so many more. These podcasts can be found on a wide variety of platforms. Audiobooks and youtube videos are options to consider as well.
Take the advice and knowledge from these podcasts to help you in your burnout recovery journey.
Ask for help not because you can’t do it without help, but because it will be easier with help-
This is something that I constantly struggle with, asking for help. I need to remind myself of this always and not many others think of this. Asking for help is not saying that you cannot do it without help, it is making it easier for you and possibly making the process/end result that much better. No matter what you need help with, there are many options of whom to ask, including friends, family, your boss, coworkers, a therapist, a doctor, an acquaintance, or a stranger sitting next to you on a plane.
Take the time to help yourself by asking for help. Asking for help takes a load off your shoulders whether you are conscious of it or not. It may just be asking for reassurance or it could be an aid in writing an assignment or portfolio. No matter what the situation is, asking for help will help you in the long run and especially in your burnout recovery.
These are my ten tips to kick burnout. I hope some part of this article helped you in your burnout recovery! If you are looking at this article for burnout prevention as well, I hope it helped.
