Burnout can get the best of us. Whether it’s due to your job, personal life, or a combination of the two, having too much piled up on you will leave you emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted.
While getting rid of that stress isn’t easy—especially with how much there is and how long it’s been weighing your down—there are some ways you can start to feel better again. During a recent virtual webinar, Imogen Dall, a writer and the author of Creative Breakdown Insurance, broke down a list of six questions to ask yourself when you’re feeling miserable.
While Dall is the first to admit that these questions are silly, she says it’s really important to ask yourself them before moving onto anything else. Because when you’re caught-up in burnout-mode, you’re in a mindset where you probably don’t even realize you’re not taking care of yourself in the first place.
- When did you last drink water?
- When did you last eat a healthy meal?
- When did you last get outside?
- When did you last exercise or stretch?
- When did you last bathe?
- When did you last get a good night’s sleep?
Dall says if you can check at least four of those off the list, you can move on to analyze why you’re not feeling great. But if you can’t, she says she knows you’re doing what many people do when they’re experiencing burnout.
“You’ve sat hunched over in front of your screen for hours, chucking a box of crackers down your throat and neurotically checking your social media and wondering why you feel like crap,” she says. “It’s a bit like dumping garbage in the garden and wondering why the flowers won’t grow.”
If you know you’re burned out, you need to get out of it. Dall says you can do so by letting out your stress in a healthy way, even if that’s just taking the time to watch a TV show. You can allow yourself to be angry or turn your worries into a checklist. Everyone is different, but as long as you start taking these steps, you’ll feel a lot better.
