You’ve experienced burnout in your animation career. How can you bounce back stronger?

- take a few a few days off if possible - talk to a friend about your feelings - try to see how to improve your position at work - do physical activity - take a course or learn something new

- Take a break. - Speak out and be listened to your mentors/friends/family.. Ask for help - Identify what makes you burnout.. (deadlines? clients? communication? physical attendance? meetings? lack of specific skill? teamwork or being individual?.. - It's normal to be burnout.. but at the same time once you identify what makes things harder, it will be easier to find a solution.

I honestly always felt my superpower was being able to take on a lot of projects and be able to keep them organized. After a debilitating episode of burnout I realized that I’m not superhuman. I felt guilty about it at first because I did this to myself, but after reducing my workload and getting help in several ways over the course of a couple years I was able to come back mentally stronger. I also now have a playbook for when things start becoming too much.

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Mainly resting the mind, disconnecting... Sometimes it seems that we have to take care of ourselves as elite athletes, rest, nutrition, sport, meditation... Maybe after two weeks of disconnection you return to 100%

-express myself in front my counselor -listen to the podcast or an interview of my role models in life -listen to Shaheen poetry by Iqbal poet. - meeting my village saint for the assistance on personal life problems

Amigo, no estás solo en esto! Habla con amigos, familia, colegas o mentores para recibir apoyo. Pueden dar consejos prácticos, emocionales o profesionales, ?o simplemente escuchar! Y si necesitas más, considera ayuda profesional de terapeutas o consejeros. Te ayudarán a lidiar con el estrés, entender el agotamiento y trazar un plan de recuperación. ?Estamos aquí para ti

Take a break. Learn new hobbies spend some time with other things that give you calm and then come back with a fresh mindset and creativity

Taking a break is definitely a must for part of burnout recovery BUT what I think can be even more important is what happens after the break. It wouldn’t be wise in my opinion to return to the same stresses, difficulties, things/people/environments which caused the initial burnout. So take some time to assess what got you in the state while you’re taking time off and try and create a new “normal” to go back to post break. It could be making a huge pivot by changing career or as simple as setting boundaries for your time and planning your day to create intentional “reboot/rest” time. No two people are the same so nobody handles burnout the same way and same goes for recovery. I hope this helps someone somewhere ??

There's no shame in taking a step back to prioritize what you want from your life and career. I've found that working in other industries during hiatuses has given me refreshing perspectives and makes me realize how much animation is my calling, even if I enjoy the other jobs. Taking a break can also help you reprioritize what you find important in your life. It can be easy to have tunnel vision and only think about your career, but a break can give you time to appreciate your social life, family, and other aspects of just...being alive.

There are actually several ways to take a break from the stress and burnout situation that has occurred. An example that can be taken into consideration is simply leaving the environment where this is happening and going to another environment where the energy and relationships are healthy. Whether it's going to a studio where the environment no longer makes sense to me, it doesn't fit with my values, going to another studio where the environment, goals and values coincide with mine, including the people, making that environment even healthier. Or simply changing projects within the studio itself. This means you can breathe better and understand what happened, being able to reflect and make decisions so that it doesn't happen again.

I can be a bit obsessive, so one of the things that really helped me over the last couple years is getting back to some old hobbies of mine like video games and adding some new ones like pizza making. It can’t be ALL about work. Best part is having interests outside of work makes you more creative overall, sorta like adding more ingredients to your pantry. ??

When burnout creeps in, it's easy to lose sight of our true selves, compromising our values and silencing our aspirations. By taking some "me time" and exploring the values that define you, you will empower yourself to set your objectives and focus on your personal growth. Gently detaching from the tasks and demands that no longer resonate with your aspirations and communicating your objectives and values, you will learn to say no, not as a rejection, but as a declaration of self-respect, an affirmation of your worth. By aligning your actions with your values and aspirations, you will attract environments that nurture your growth and honor your true potential.

One great way to set boundaries is the smiling no. What this means is that you say no, firmly and confidently. There's no need to apologise or feel bad for saying no. If you have a strong reason for saying no, then say no, and then go fulfill that reason. Saying yes to more work would mean saying no to that reason. Another way to enforce boundaries is to be consistent. If you are easily persuaded to change your mind, then your boundaries will be overstepped more often than not. Being consistent builds a reputation, and people learn to respect your needs.

set boundaries and work on my life wheel see which area needs attention and which area is over active and then achieve the right balance between all areas of life.

I learn new skills like new healing techniques, or read a self-help book, or work on a research project which will help me to unwind and life my true life purpose

Learning new skills can benefit you greatly as it brings back that sparkle that you may have lost in a certain project or workflow. For example trying animation in 3D as a shift from 2D animation or focusing on backgrounds painting instead of character design.

Learning new skills can benefit you greatly as it brings back that sparkle that you may have lost in a certain project or workflow. For example trying animation in 3D as a shift from 2D animation or focusing on backgrounds painting instead of character design.

Another process to get back in creativity, is to learn some new skills, this way you could learn more ways to express yourself and explore more stuff.

Bouncing back from burnout, especially in animation, means reigniting passion through continuous learning. Every new skill and technique is not just a lesson but a step towards rediscovering your creativity and confidence. It's a journey that transforms burnout into a new, vibrant chapter of your creative life.

It can be really difficult to stop for a moment and really appreciate how far you’ve come. While I don’t particularly think I’ve done anything special in my 15 year career, I know the 12 year old version of myself would be pretty damn proud and that’s a pretty cool feeling.

I have to make it a point to recognize and celebrate wins and it feels strange. Wallowing in my icky pool of self doubt and imposter syndrome comes far more naturally to me. Recently I found myself in a conversation where someone else was bringing up things I had done in my animation career to an aspiring animator. My first thought was, wow, I wish I could afford to hire them as my publicist. My second thought was, Wow, did I really do this and that? The little boy version of me would be so proud! Stop for a moment and look back at your path, you are among the few brave enough to even try. Keep going, every failed idea, bad drawing, every struggle, is another cobblestone in your path to growth. Be grateful for them! Keep going!

Burnout hits neurodivergent individuals uniquely, since it also involves sensory, social, and focus challenges. It's more than just exhaustion; imagine juggling stuff like work, life, basic needs– and then add in overwhelming stimuli or too much going on in your head. Like Richard Williams said, "animation is concentration," and that's tricky for some of us. What's helped me involves tweaking my environment and routines. I've got my workspace set up with a Pomodoro timer and fidget toys to help when my brain's buzzing too much. Plus, I take quick breaks and stretch a bit when I'm nearing my limit. That's helped immensely when I'm close to burnout. In short: find what works for you, tweak things as you go, and prioritize self-care.

Another cause of burnout can be pressure from so many deadlines with little breathing space In other words, learn to know when to say 'NO' if you discover you may not meet the deadline for some projects. Animation projects are (usually) time consuming and mind engaging which means you can't afford to have so many intersecting deadlines, it can mount pressure and burn you out. Here is what I recommend: 1. Set Priority: I Prioritize my projects well and assign corresponding timeframe depending on their complexity. 2. Be realistic: If the client insists on a very short timeframe for a very complex project, if I am certain I won't meet up, I let it out and if not approved then I politely decline. I hope these tips help someone out there.

I have been witness to a few burnouts and recoveries. In all cases, the person in question has been a hard working individual who loved and enjoyed their work. They never felt the burden of overwork. Somewhere down the line, based on external inputs (whether the work life balance blogs or videos, or pressure from family members, or disgruntled colleagues) they start avoiding the extra work they used to do. That creates a stress as they need to go against their grain and shun something they love to achieve a hypothetical balance. In the end they end up like a denied addict and things snap. The only balance in life is avoiding things you hate, not the things you love. I know it is not a one glove fits all. This was missing point so I shared.

It is important to always reconnect with the reasons you began doing what you do. Remember what inspired you then and seek out new inspiration. It may be time away from the screen drawing, it may be observing the absurdity of life and human existence, it may be simply emptying your head and not thinking or it may be travelling in space and time. Whatever it is that feeds your enthusiasm for work go and do it.

One thing I have found helpful with clients suffering from burnout, is to help them to find out what their inner dialogue is, especially negative thoughts. Next, determine how long they've had these thoughts and whose voices do they actually hear expressing these beliefs. Sometimes the negative messages are ones that they learned from others at a young age. Young minds are not fully developed to be able to discern what is true or not for them personally. So these messages end up being stored in the subconscious mind and resurface. Every second of your life, all the way back to the womb is stored. Pathways causing the false beliefs, can be scrambled and programmed to new positive messages, reviving one's passion for their work and life!