What's the Holiday Burnout Crash, and why it happens - and excerpt from The Holiday Guide to Burnout

I started my first blog 20 years ago, when I was 8. It was a (pretty bad) Harry Potter fan fiction. I then wrote fan fiction for my favourite TV show at the time (Magda M., which I still blame for making me want to become a lawyer ??). Then came Twilight, and Gossip Girl. And then my own (in no way publishable) novel. In between that, there was a school newspaper, a job as a content marketer, and the hundreds of thousands of words of VAT advice that I penned in my time in the industry.

I've been writing something since I learnt to string words into sentences, and I was never the sort of writer that creates things only to put them in a drawer, for nobody to see. I'm a sharer. Not because I think I'm God's gift to the writing profession, but because I just can't do it any other way. I love writing, and I believe I'm pretty good at it (as confirmed by my boyfriend and best friend, two of the most objective judges, obviously ??).

So when I realised the holidays were near, and remembered how hard they can be when you're at the height of burnout, I thought 'maybe I should create something to help people with that'.

And in two weeks, I wrote, edited and published The Holiday Guide to Burnout. I was never one to wait around for the right time. I just do things.

But, despite the very quick turnaround, this e-book slaps. Seriously. It's just really good. It's focused on being useful and filled with advice that you can put into action ASAP. And it's even kinda funny at times. ?? (The fun is in the footnotes, let's just say that)

But you don't have to just take my word for it. So below is an excerpt from chapter 1 The Holiday Crash, explaining what the Holiday Burnout Crash is, and why it happens.

The Holiday Crash

When you’re living with burnout that’s not addressed, it is not hard to find yourself crashing. But there’s a specific type of crashing, which is the Holiday Crash, and I’m here to tell you what it is, how it happens, and how to prepare for it.

‘Crash’ is a very informal word, I agree, and I doubt it has any good definition. BUT it is descriptive, and we all know what I mean when I say you might crash, right? I doubt you’re imagining bursts of positive energy when I say it! A burnout crash can happen at any time, once your body has had enough of the pressure it’s been under. But a specific type of crash happens around the holidays, and that’s what I’m here to tell you about.[1]

What’s The Holiday Crash?

It sounds like something that would happen when we vastly over-plan and then crash because our list just isn’t doable, doesn’t it? But the Holiday Crash is sneakier than that, and attacks when the exact opposite is true.

When you’re living with burnout, you are on high alert, and on high battery use, 24/7. I know it feels like you’re a lazy blob, but you’re actually expending?a lot?of energy keeping yourself going. What would normally have taken you a bit of energy, in burnout, takes a lot. And you’re still trying to live your normal life, aren’t you?[2]

Well, what you’re doing is basically borrowing from your body. Going beyond what your body is really willing to give on a given day. But, as with any borrowing, there is interest to pay. The more you borrow, the more of an unreliable borrower you become to your body, and the higher the interest it charges you is.?

And The Holiday Crash is your body coming for the interest.?

When The Holiday Crash comes, you?will?feel it, although what it manifests as might differ from person to person. Some will get even more tired than they already were. Some might struggle to sleep or, conversely, to stay awake. Others might catch a cold, have a migraine, muscle pains, or an upset stomach. Others still will feel anxious because their bodies are so wired that a few days away from work creates a massive amount of guilt that just pents up in their chest/stomach.?

Whatever case of Holiday Crash you end up getting, know this: it sucks, but it’s normal.?

In the state that you are currently in, fighting with burnout, trying to stay afloat, often struggling to sleep and experiencing somatic symptoms, the first reaction of your body to a bit of rest will often be to start?actuallyresting. It will rest?hard.?That this is not the sort of rest you are after is immaterial to your body. At this point, you are so deep in your overdraft that you started borrowing money from the mafia.?

And the mafia is not subtle in its methods.?

Why does it happen, though?

First of all, you likely haven’t been sleeping well for?a while. Meaning you’re in a sleep deficit. Meaning that as soon as your body spots that the morning alarm is off, its reaction is ‘yes, finally, let’s have a never-ending slumber party!’.?

I may have exaggerated a little on that never-ending…

But the fact is, if you’ve been sleep deprived for a while, your body is craving sleep. And if you let it, it will get it.[3]?My advice? Do let it.?

But, what else??

Well, being stressed a lot means a lot of cortisol is released[4]. Which in turn does things to your body. One of those things is messing up with your immune system. Which means you’re more susceptible to infections. Hence the colds that randomly appear as soon as you set your out of office on. Quite simply, your body is finally ‘allowed’ to be unwell, and it takes ‘advantage’[5]?of that. By take advantage, I mean it let’s go a little of holding the fort to infections. Is it mean of it? Yeah. But it kinda has a point.?

Because what better time for illness than when you’re not working?

Add to that the stress of seeing your loved ones (no matter how much we love them, our parents do get on our nerves sometimes…), the holiday prep stress, the alcohol, eating more randomly (apple pie for breakfast? Why not!)[6], sleeping in a place you’ve not slept in a while… All that, while fun, puts stress on your body, and can make the Crash more likely. To put simply, we just have a lot going on before and during the holidays. And our bodies are tired as all hell!

Does it mean you should skip the holiday altogether??

Hell no.?

Life is hard already. Don’t deprive yourself of holiday fun! (Unless you bloody hate holidays. Then just skip it, buy a few new books, a lot of tea, and bury yourself under a blanket until it’s done.) But it makes sense to try to prepare for it, even if just a little.?

[1]?Which kinda makes sense, given that this is an e-book about the holidays…

[2]?a.k.a. you’re trying to watch a Marvel movie when your laptop battery is dying. Bit of a fool’s errand, isn’t it?

[3]?It is worth noting that getting yourself sleep deprived and then catching up on sleep is?not?an effective strategy for a healthy life. You can’t?actually?catch up on sleep (hence why I’m not using this term). The sleep that you lost is lost forever. The body is just trying to win a little by alleviating the existing exhaustion. Same as with watering plants - you can’t catch up on not watering them for weeks by watering them a lot one day. That ain’t gonna work, and you know it.?

[4]?Cortisol is the hormone that regulates your body’s response to stress (it actually does many other things, but we’re talking about burnout and stress here).?

[5]?Let’s not think of our bodies as some evil geniuses, though. Your body is hardly a villain. It’s just taking what it needs.?

[6]?This reminded me I had my mum’s apple pie in the fridge… So I took an apple pie break from writing.?

If you've enjoyed this excerpt from Chapter 1 of The Holiday Guide to Burnout, you can get the whole thing for just ￡10 here: https://gabygrzywacz.podia.com/holiday-guide-to-burnout. I promise, it's totally worth it!

To give you more of an idea of just how worth it it is, here are the chapter names:

1. The Holiday Crash?
2. Explaining burnout to your parents (and Uncle Dave who thinks you should just get it together)
3. Holiday boundaries?
4. Do less, rest more
5. Dealing with the no money guilt
6. Store bought is not an ugly word (no matter what your mum says)

Run, don't walk, to get your own copy!