SeekingAfrica
Diamond Member
What are your best tips for coping with work burnout (assuming that you can't just take a week off, because lets face it, that is rarely something you can do on a whim)? By a burnout I mean you're not directly having panic or anxiety at that exact moment, you're not super depressed, but you're just beyond exhausted. You've gotten to that moment of exhaustion where you need an hour or two or a morning or a day or whatever it is when you can't feel like you can take it. When you need a break so badly that all priorities seem to fade on the background because of that need of a break. When you wake up in the morning with a whole day planned and you just CAN'T? Not in a lazy way, not in an I-don't-care way, but waking up and being so beyond exhausted that any attempt at anything is unproductive, things need to be repeated over and over because you can't concentrate and you feel like you're sleepwalking?
I kind of should have seen that coming. The usual holiday craziness around NY for me was combined with rushing around to get important documents. I also didn't take any break around these days. Then there was more rushing for documents and some mental health hurdles, and then an unplanned trip(again document related) that set me back in work terms. And then few stressors this week, that made me feel like I should only concentrate on work to keep up. So for 3 or 4 days I only did mostly that. I forgot my morning routine, I ignored any goals or other tasks or socializing or going outside, I pretty much worked, did very light housework and had my meals. And I am still behind on work(and because of ignoring other things, starting to feel behind in everything). This naturally resulted in this crash in what I can handle. So yesterday I kept worrying about deadlines and started dissociating, but pushed working through that. Didn't manage all needed, but managed more work hours than ever before in that state.
I finished so late that evening, I pretty much had dinner and went to bed(that is never good because I'm still in work mode). I gave myself plenty of hours to sleep. But still today I woke up, and I just CAN'T. That particularly applies to the work project I am most behind on and on which I worked for the last 4 days non-stop whenever I was working. I think any other work job(I work with different clients not connected to each other) I can probably do some work today. I made a breakdown of the work I expect to do today in smaller tasks, but I can't even say if I can do that. The last 2 hours passed and I didn't really do much. My concentration is waaaay off. I don't know whether to take the day off and do completely non-work stuff, or just work different work project for few hours or if to take some time to do some cleaning and organizing. I have no clue what to do. But I am so waaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond exhausted mentally and emotionally for solving problem after problem the last month, that I don't even know if I can follow a schedule today. I found myself seeking solutions on youtube. I just feel like I need to decompress from that project somehow or I'll blow up like a timebomb. But then again my anxiety tells me I can't allow time off, like it's not an option, like it would kill me. I haven't taken a weekend of a day off in months(or year, not sure), with the exception of the days I traveled for documents(7-8h in a bus in each direction) and the first day after the trip. Or anxious days when I don't work as many hours, but was working in between anxiety attacks before I started taking meds. But I am behind on tasks and taking a day off feels like luxary. Doing anything but work feels like rest and like a luxary I can't afford. Literally doing dishes yesterday felt relaxing, I'm that out of sync with everything else in my life right now. But my body doesn't really care about that. I'm sorry this came out so long, I don't have the capacity to edit right now.
I think maybe I'll take few hours today to try to regain balance between personal and work tasks.
If anyone has experienced this and have any useful tips please share.
I kind of should have seen that coming. The usual holiday craziness around NY for me was combined with rushing around to get important documents. I also didn't take any break around these days. Then there was more rushing for documents and some mental health hurdles, and then an unplanned trip(again document related) that set me back in work terms. And then few stressors this week, that made me feel like I should only concentrate on work to keep up. So for 3 or 4 days I only did mostly that. I forgot my morning routine, I ignored any goals or other tasks or socializing or going outside, I pretty much worked, did very light housework and had my meals. And I am still behind on work(and because of ignoring other things, starting to feel behind in everything). This naturally resulted in this crash in what I can handle. So yesterday I kept worrying about deadlines and started dissociating, but pushed working through that. Didn't manage all needed, but managed more work hours than ever before in that state.
I finished so late that evening, I pretty much had dinner and went to bed(that is never good because I'm still in work mode). I gave myself plenty of hours to sleep. But still today I woke up, and I just CAN'T. That particularly applies to the work project I am most behind on and on which I worked for the last 4 days non-stop whenever I was working. I think any other work job(I work with different clients not connected to each other) I can probably do some work today. I made a breakdown of the work I expect to do today in smaller tasks, but I can't even say if I can do that. The last 2 hours passed and I didn't really do much. My concentration is waaaay off. I don't know whether to take the day off and do completely non-work stuff, or just work different work project for few hours or if to take some time to do some cleaning and organizing. I have no clue what to do. But I am so waaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond exhausted mentally and emotionally for solving problem after problem the last month, that I don't even know if I can follow a schedule today. I found myself seeking solutions on youtube. I just feel like I need to decompress from that project somehow or I'll blow up like a timebomb. But then again my anxiety tells me I can't allow time off, like it's not an option, like it would kill me. I haven't taken a weekend of a day off in months(or year, not sure), with the exception of the days I traveled for documents(7-8h in a bus in each direction) and the first day after the trip. Or anxious days when I don't work as many hours, but was working in between anxiety attacks before I started taking meds. But I am behind on tasks and taking a day off feels like luxary. Doing anything but work feels like rest and like a luxary I can't afford. Literally doing dishes yesterday felt relaxing, I'm that out of sync with everything else in my life right now. But my body doesn't really care about that. I'm sorry this came out so long, I don't have the capacity to edit right now.
I think maybe I'll take few hours today to try to regain balance between personal and work tasks.
If anyone has experienced this and have any useful tips please share.
