Burn Out
the step after Productivity guilt.
Burnout rarely feels dramatic at first: It feels like forgetting what excitement used to feel like.
Burnout is an emotional, physical and creative depletion. Hustle Culture has taught us that exhaustion is something to celebrate. Now that i’ve been doing WFH Freelance for the past 15 years, I have gathered that i have a finite amount of spoons, and I work at great lengths on working self care into my artist process. We all fear that unsettling feeling of becoming disconnected with yourself. It’s the stuff they make movies about.
“Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged, unmanaged stress, typically stemming from work or demanding responsibilities. It goes beyond typical fatigue, characterized by chronic exhaustion, cynicism or detachment, and reduced professional efficacy or accomplishment.”
National institutes of Health
Tired is temporary. Burnout changes you.
The difference between mundane stress and burnout is one may require hospitalization if it is severe enough. Stress is overload, while burnout is emptiness and detachment. Are you emotionally numb? Are you creatively paralyzed? Maybe you’re a cynic who is hopeless. Too much stress will cause burnout, so keep the stress level as low as possible.
Well, i’m here to help you identify the signs before collapse.
Has rest stopped working on replenishing your spoons? Are you constantly exhausted, no matter how much rest you get? And you still feel guilt that you aren’t working? Then you feel anxiety over productivity. This terrible loop is quintessential psychological burnout. One of burnout’s cruelest tricks is convincing people they simply aren’t trying hard enough.
Are you super irritable over minor issues? Do mundane, trivial things set you off? Take a diaphragm-centered 7 second breath.
Do you suffer brain fog and poor concentration?
Perhaps you’ve grown distant from your family, and you don’t much care. There is a complete emotional detachment.
2020 brought on the behavior we call Doomscrolling. If you have a smart phone or a computer (otherwise how are you reading this?) you have likely doomscrolled before, whether you recognize it as such or not. Maybe it’s not doomscrolling, but you are performing some other avoidant behavior.
if you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be in burnout. You may notice that many of the symptoms imitate that of suicide watch lists. There is a reason for that. Burnout can lead to suicidal ideation, which may require professional help or even hospitalization. Stop stress at the base level, and maybe you can avert burnout altogether.
No one feels burnout the way a creative does, particularly those who have monetized their habit and do creativity as a profession. Deadlines online (like posting everyday to appease the algorithm), as well as comparison culture; both are sure fire ways to land yourself in burnout. Being an online artist makes you susceptible to your identity becoming tied to your output. You are not your work. if you think you are, perhaps it is time to reassess your relationship with productivity.
There is a saying that goes something like “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Creators often ignore burnout because they love what they do. I’ve learned that this is bull. Turning your passion into labor can take all the joy out of your hobby. As mentioned in the Productivity Guilt post, having a clock out time is integral to taking care of yourself.
Recovery without Romanticizing the Grind
Here are some tips on out to dig yourself back out into productivity land.
Self maintenance, including rest, are not rewards. It is part of the process. That means no waiting to hit a milestone before eating dinner or showering.
Rebuild your joy slowly. Create things for yourself. Keep a sketchbook for unfinished pieces: you dont have to finish everything.
You may think consuming content might be a way of turning off your brain or refueling your inspiration, but if you do too much of it, you could fry your brain instead. Watch an episode, or take the weekend to refuel or express your inspiration.
Maybe take a break offline, and enjoy life and nature for what it is.
I have learned the hard way that powering through artist block or burn out is not sustainable. Creativity comes in cycles. Very few of us have an endless tap. If you do, skip to the next tip.
Avoid the mentality that burn out is just self care on hard mode. It’s worse than that, and avoid exacerbating the stress to the point where you might find your way in the hospital.
Burnout is not weakness. It’s often the result of prolonged emotional and creative strain. A person can surviv stress for a long time. What they struggle to surivive is becoming disconnected from themselves. What does exaustion feel like to you? Tell me by replying to this article / newsletter in an email or comment below. Or message me: I’d like to hear from you.
As a present for reading through all that, here is my attempt at a Toxic dance.
My birthday is friday, and i am super looking forward to it. i might sum it up in next week’s newsletter. See you next week!