This article will tackle a few habits that can help you in your effort to break out of burnout. Burnout is a growing issue in modern society. We have fast-paced lives, demanding jobs and endless responsibilities.
At the same time, we are overwhelmed by the expectations we place on ourselves. We have to look our best, have the perfect vacation and be perfect in our relationships.
This is a lot to ask from a mere human being. And sometimes we can lose ourselves in the maze of expectations, real or imagined.
To break out of burnout, you need to re-think the way you approach your everyday life. Changing your mindset starts with changing your habits. What you do every day makes up who you are and how you see the world.
I will teach you how to install small habits, which are easy to incorporate in your day. These habits will help you re-frame your thinking and your priorities.
Your purpose is to create breathing space and focus on your well-being. You do that through
- daily (and fun!) activities that help you re-center
- changing your mindset from stuck to empowered
- connection and a feeling of belonging
I’ll break these down for you into small habits that you can in your daily routine. They are practices that worked for me and that I still use to this day.
These habits help me stay focused on what matters and cut through the everyday noise. They helped me break out of burnout. And I hope you will try them out, because I am sure they will work for you as well.
1. Start with Gratitude
I’m sure you heard a lot of talk about the benefits of gratitude, but how does this work?
Studies have shown that practicing gratitude improves mental health, and reduces the incidence of negative emotions.
Here’s how it works:
- reserve 5 minutes every morning for this practice, before you start your day. Make it non-negotiable
- list 5 things you are grateful for in that moment.
- try to appreciate aspects of your life that your are taking for granted.
- make it specific. Instead of saying “I am grateful for my pet”, – what specifically is rewarding in your relationship with your pet? You could say “I am grateful for the cuddle session I had with my pet after I woke up”
Make this a habit, and in time you will notice you will become mentally stronger.
2. Go for a Walk
You’ve heard it a thousand times: exercise is good for your mental and physical health. But you are overworked, exhausted and busy like nobody’s business. You don’t have the energy to squeeze in an exercise routine.
But what if I told you that you can do it in a way that’s fun and relaxing?
Walking is exercise. It has actual benefits:
- it gets the blood running, which is good for your heart
- it strengthens your bones and your immune system
- it helps you sleep better, which will improve your mood
- it boosts your energy
And you don’t have to do a lot of it to see benefits. A half and hour long walk 3 times a week can do the trick. Although you will notice the benefits right away, and you’ll want to do more.
And if you think adding walks to your already busy schedule is not fun, I hear you. But the good think about walking is that you mind is free to do whatever it wants. If you can’t face the idea of letting your mind wander, I can see how that can be boring. Try listening to music that relaxes you. Or a podcast. Or an audiobook.
How do you find 30 minutes in your day? Easy: first check your app usage on your phone. My guess is there’s an app or two that take up a lot more than that every day. Could you replace scrolling with a walk every now and then?
3. Have Fun
If you are in burnout, chances are you forgot the meaning of the word fun a long time ago. You are too overwhelmed, you don’t have time for yourself because you are adulting. But this is exactly what’s going to help you break out of burnout.
Replace one of the boring activities with a pleasant one and see what happens. My guess is nothing. The world doesn’t end if you leave the dishes for tomorrow, or skip grocery shopping because you want to go out with a friend.
We make these concessions for our work all the time. We postpone daily tasks in our personal life to add more time to our work schedule. But we don’t do it for our mental health, were it matters.
You need to re-frame your thinking and re-shuffle your priorities. Your number one focus right now should be mental stability. Because without it, you won’t be able to do any of the tasks which now make up most of your day.
- Go for a meal with a friend
- Re-discover old hobbies
- Watch a comedy special
- Go on a night out, if that’s what you like
- Go on a short trip this weekend
We need time out to rest, re-calibrate and re-charge. You can’t go around that, it’s how we’re built.
4. Practice Self Compassion
Have you noticed that when something goes wrong, you put yourself down?
It’s your fault for missing that deadline. You messed up by not organizing yourself better. You’re always making the same mistakes over and over. You’re not good enough. You promised yourself you would eat healthier. You could always do better.
Except you can’t do everything and do it perfectly. We compare ourselves with the best in everybody else and we find ourselves lacking. But success in one area does not mean success across the board. We keep ourselves to impossible standards.
Try practicing self compassion instead. Whenever the critical voice comes up, try to focus on the practical reasons why you are not perfect.
Make sure you talk to yourself the same way you would a good friend or a child. You will realise that you have been bullying yourself for years, or your whole life. We tend to see the mitigating circumstances in the people we love, but seldom in ourselves.
Give yourself a break. Remind yourself that you too are someone that you love. Be patient, be compassionate.
5. Connect with Others
You can’t do it all on your own. Also, you don’t have to.
Human beings are social animals, we evolved in communities and we need each other to survive. Studies have shown that loneliness raises your stress level, increases the risk for heart disease and dementia. Not only that, but social isolation is linked to early death.
- Reach out to your friends and don’t feel ashamed to talk about your issues.
- Get involved in your community. Volunteer, meet new people.
- Talk to your neighbors
- Call your loved ones more often
- Schedule playtime and activities with your kids, if you have them
Take this seriously, because you can’t heal from anything without a support system. Make sure yours is a strong as possible.
Conclusion:
You can break out of burnout by starting with a few quick and easy changes to your everyday routine. You don’t have to turn your life upside down to be effective. Start focusing on your self care, one small step at a time.
Change your mindset, try to have some fun, cultivate relationships and the weight you are feeling will start to lift off.
Do these habits feel easy to implement in your daily life? Let me know in the comment section which one you would apply first.