How You Can Avoid Burnout Without Taking Time off of Work

I love working hard.

But my mind doesn’t always appreciate my work ethic. A few weeks ago, I noticed myself dragging my feet-- I was headed toward burnout.

In the past, seeing a brick wall, I would speed up, put my head down and prepare to break through it.

But, I've learned there's an easier way.

Instead of pushing through burnout, I decided to avoid it altogether. I took a week off of social media to let myself recharge. I didn't stop working, but I was able to regain the mental clarity I needed.

Here's how you can too...

Anytime I feel burnt out, it’s because of 1 of these 5 things.

Rest is a funny thing.

You can feel tired from doing too little and energized from pushing yourself. But how do you know when you’ve pushed too far??This question is what makes life interesting —?but also frustrating.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with rest. From not resting enough to trying to force myself to take breaks.

What I’ve learned is the only way to give your body what it needs is by listening to it.

Any time I begin to feel burnt out, I work my way down a master list of causes. It always comes down to 1 of these 5 things:

1. Feeling trapped

Humans are incredibly adaptable. But, we’re also quite stubborn —I’m no exception.

We only want to do things we want to do. And resist what we feel obligated to do.

There’s a theory in psychology called?Brehm’s Theory of Reactance.

Essentially, the greater something poses a threat to our freedom, the stronger we will resist it.

Let’s say you start a podcast with your friend.

For the first few weeks, it’s fun. But as it grows, you begin to feel obligated to continue — this takes the joy out of it.

Anytime I feel trapped by life, it helps me to?remind myself that I’m choosing to live this way.

And if I don’t want to do something, I don’t have to. This alone, always helps me find joy in whatever I’m doing.

2. Future thinking

Life really is about smelling the roses.

The problem is,?which roses should you smell? And what if there are better roses out there? What will you do if you run out of roses?

It’s easy to get caught up in the future. For me, future thinking almost always has to do with money. I won’t get too deep into my relationship with money –?but let’s just say it’s rich in love and hate.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I’m usually worrying about something that’s out of my control.

As cliche as it sounds, all we have is the present moment. We can anticipate the future and basque in the past, but all that’s real is now.

If you have a hard time detaching yourself from the future, let go of your expectations. When we can’t return to the present, it’s because we’re weighed down with tomorrow’s baggage.

3. Isolation

I’m on the spectrum of introversion —?but I’m more of an?ambivert.

I love my alone time, but feel purposeless without interacting with others. Any time life begins to feel unmanageable or small things start bothering me, it’s usually because I’ve spent too much time inside my own head.

Spending time with family or friends always helps.

But, that’s not always an option. And sometimes, you need social interaction like… today.

What I find always helps is taking my laptop to a coffee shop or park to work.?Simply being in the proximity of humans is energizing.

Zoom calls or virtual coffees are another great way to talk to humans if you don’t feel like leaving the house.

4. Drinking too much coffee

Coffee is the best — it makes sense of life.

But just like anything that makes us feel good, there’s a roller coaster effect. I can’t drink coffee every day. Over time, my motivation will turn to anxiety and positivity into expectations.

Everyone responds to caffeine differently, but if I drink it too often I feel:

• Foggy
• Anxious
• Lethargic
• Depressed

This week, I’m on a coffee detox. I’m on day 2 and already feel much calmer.?It’s important to listen to your intuition, but sometimes your intuition is being blocked by an outside force —?like caffeine.

5. Doing things for the wrong reasons

I’ve always been someone who struggles with doing things I’m not passionate about.

This has been helpful and hindering.

It helped me quit an unfulfilling job to follow my passion for writing. But at times, hinders my ability to make money.

Part of me would love to get obsessed with writing content I know will earn me money. Another part (the overwhelming part), simply cannot. I love to write and almost exclusively write from a place of passion.

There’s another psychological theory called?cognitive dissonance: when our actions don’t line up with our values, it creates mental struggle.

Anytime I decide to do things for the wrong reasons (usually money), I struggle. My brain simply turns off.

This time, it was a combination of all 5

Burnout seems to come around every 3 months or so, for me. I'll pick up momentum, start achieving goals, and then *bam*, I lose all motivation.

So this time, when I really felt like my heart wasn't in it, I adapted. I wasn't able to take time off of work (because, money), but I could take small breaks to self-assess. Over the course of a few days, I worked my way down the list, by:

• Journaling
• Being alone
• Going for walks
• Sitting with my feelings

Once I discovered there was no one issue, but rather a combination, I plotted my escape from the big bad burnout monster.

I embraced the following 3 things...

... and it made all the difference:

1. Not being tough

I'm incredibly grateful for the momentum I've gained on social media this year. So much so, that I've felt obligated to continue to post regularly.

But, about two weeks ago, I felt myself going through the motions-- my heart wasn't in it. So, instead of toughing it out, I merely took a break. Burnout is our mind's way of telling us something is wrong.

It's a message from you to you.

I didn't need a break from everything-- just some things.

2. Exploring dead ends

I've been preaching my non-love for freelancing for a while now. But, lately, I've been curious (because again... money).

So, during my week off, I reactivated a few freelance profiles and submitted 5 stories to paying publications.

Although my feelings about freelancing haven't changed, it allowed me to tick a few tasks off of my "what if" list.

I no longer have to spend mental energy wondering.

3. Removing ALL expectations

Life's pretty simple. Yet, we make it complicated. At the start of my "creator break", I had a list of to-dos. I wanted to:

• Create 2 new digital products
• Research for a new newsletter idea
• Batch write 3 articles for this week

But, after 2 days, I felt overwhelmed-- it didn't feel like a break at all. So, I ditched my expectations and decided to do whatever the heck I wanted.

And to my elation, I wanted to write-- so, I did.

It was refreshing to return to my roots-- waking up every day and simply writing. It showed me that if I strip away everything, I still love what I do.

And that's important to me.

If you need a break but can't take one, do this instead

Perspective is only gained by taking a step back —but sometimes we don't have the luxury of taking time off work.

So, instead of beating yourself up, strip down your expectations.

Remove everything that's not absolutely necessary and focus on what your body and mind are telling you.

Sometimes, it's not the work that burns us out. It's the expectations we put on ourselves.

This was the first time in a long time I felt comfortable taking a break from social media. And I'm grateful to be part of an online community that supports self-care.

If you're feeling uninspired, burnt out, or would like to gain perspective, take a creator break. Get to the root cause of what's really going on.

Time away makes the heart (and mind) grow fonder.

If you enjoyed this story, subscribe to my newsletter. ??

When's the last time you took a break from social media? ??