Here at TLE, some days we have so much inspiration we feel we can accomplish everything and more. We’ll be firing off idea after idea, blasting emails, juggling a hundred and one shoots and, more often than not, simultaneously. It’s at those times we’ll all leave on time, run life errands and just generally be social human beings. But then, sure enough, there are those moments we completely run out of steam, spend the best of the week struggling to drag our behinds our of bed and basically fret about life, the future, you know, the usual stuff.
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Let’s be real for a second – look around and there’s a lot to be stressed and anxious about. For one thing, there’s that ringing, vibrating thing, forever demanding our attention (curse you, iPhone) that, at any given time, is no more than an arm’s length away. Maybe you’re in the kind of job that sees you working late every night just to manage a ridiculous workload. Maybe you’re a freelancer juggling a million and one deadlines because you don’t feel like you can say no to work that comes your way. Oh, and if you’re anything like us, chances are you still feel as if you’re not quite doing enough despite the fact that you’re near burnout and guilt trip yourself on the rare occasions you do give yourself a break.
When I launched The Lifestyle Edit, I wrote a piece about feeling burnt out. Within hours of going live, it became clear it was resonating. To begin with, it was people I know commenting on it. Then came a string of tweets from strangers and countless emails from people I’d never met. To this day, it’s one of our most read story, clocking up tens of thousand views. I can’t lie, every writer wants to see something they’ve written have that kind of traction but ego aside, what really struck me is just how many people have felt, or still do feel, as I did. I’m no medical expert but going off the sheer volume of the response, burnout is something that seems to be killing us.
Looking back, I don’t think there’s one key thing I can put my finger on that helped me. All I can say is that it’s still a working progress
The big question I get now is how I’ve managed to come out the other side and deal with it. Even now, it’s not a question I can easily answer. It’s been nearly a year since I was in that situation – I’ve since tried to let go from that inner type A in me that works until the wee hours in the morning every day before having a breakdown over Girls and a bottle of wine when it all begins to catch up with me. In fact, I’m writing this from the office at home. It’s 2am, which isn’t particularly unusual, but that’s not the point. Looking back, I don’t think there’s one key thing I can put my finger on that helped me. All I can say is that it’s still a working progress and here are just a few of the things I’ve learnt:
Set boundaries and be realistic: Are you always agreeing to take on more work than you can manage only to work yourself and under-perform? It doesn’t take an expert to tell you you’re taking on too much. Setting boundaries and saying no can be difficult, especially if you and everyone around you, is used to hearing you say yes, but it’s always better to be realistic and do things properly. You’ll save yourself the stress, people around you will quickly get into a habit of giving you a more realistic workload. The same applies to more trivial things like emails. Now, I make a point not to answer emails after a certain time so everyone knows not to expect a response until the next morning. The moment you backtrack, you’re opening the floodgates.
Having someone to keep an eye on you: Whether it’s your other half, mum, sister of a friend, sometimes you need to have someone keeping an eye on whether you’re overdoing it. Often, they will see the warning signs before you do and, especially in those moments when you’re at your worst, you need someone to tell you how it is and put everything into perspective.
Take time out for “you”: If burnout is a thing you’re grappling with, chances are you find it hard to switch off and invest in yourself but instead of putting yourself through a guilt trip, think of how your being happy, fresh and in a good state of mind will make you even better at what you do. . Why? Simply because this means you’ll be more reliable, better prepared to take on bigger projects, and less likely to have that undercurrent of resentment from burnout. Pay attention to how your body handles stress, what it’s telling you it needs and prioritise those things that keep you healthy and happy. You might worry that not putting in extra hours to complete a project will set you back, but you’ll always do better work if you’re fresh and in a good place.