Everything I learned from an excessive burnout

You are not your work. Let that sink in.

Me on a road trip after my burnout peak.

Let’s start with how did I end up in a rut with an excessive burnout. It goes back to the time I was a 16 year old enthu cutlet at a not-for-profit student organisation. I was just out of high school and wanted to experience new things and find my place in the world. Everything was rainbows and unicorns.

I used to work tirelessly, with immense passion. Showing up at every meeting, despite the odds and lack of appreciation/reward. —my first mistake. But we’ll come to that later. I found my ikigai. (something I love doing, I’m good at and will get paid for as well) Graphic Design.

Next stop, college life. I constantly worked on something and interned every year. In my final year internship, I made a transition to UI design. I had to travel 2 hours one way, change 2 trains and a metro to get to the other side of the city. And this was after 4–5 hours of morning lectures. I used to come back home at 11 pm and get ready by 7 am next morning again. I did my homework and assignments in the train. I bragged about the hustle for a long time saying how it was worth it. It was all the adrenaline that kept me going.

Part 3 is the adulthood trap. I got a job right after college. It wasn’t that hectic to be honest. I learned a lot and work was fun. Spent almost 2 years there and left because my learning curve got flat. I got another job and kept working without any breaks and didn’t have a lot of social or family life to pull me back to relax and rejuvenate.

I burned out in November 2019. It affected my mental and physical health. No doubt. I took a 2 month break where I moved in with my grandma, took road trips with friends and still kept designing a bit here and there to have fun. ONLY to have fun. Then what? I started working again. I thought I can finally bounce back and get back to normal. Little I knew, the burnout had changed me completely as a person. I became cynical and passively restless. I no longer had the drive in me that I had 4 years ago.

Now this is not a story of how I recovered from that burnout. In some ways, I’m still recovering (after 16 months) I had plenty time to reflect and realise how did it all go wrong. Once I knew where I went wrong, I started to heal. I started finding that lost drive.

Change is very difficult. If the burnout changed me as a person, it was not all bad. It made me cautious and conscious about my life decisions. Big and small. And not to forget, how depression followed with the burnout.

Don’t learn things the hard way; few tips to avoid a burnout:

1. Even if you love working, take some time out. And when you do, don’t think about work AT ALL.
2. Learn to say no. Especially when its tempting. Don’t take up more than what you can chew.
3. TRAVEL. Solo trips or with a few friends. Nothing fancy, 3 hours of road trip to some outskirts for a few days.
4. Personal health: Do a skin care routine every weekend, pamper yourself with pedicures and retail therapy (if you can afford it)
5. Dress up for it. Especially in the pandemic. Not going out? No problem. Ditch the PJs, look pretty and feel pretty.

How to bounce back and recover from a burnout:

1. Give yourself time. Sometimes its days, weeks or even months. Its a slow process so don’t rush it.
2. What they say is true: Meditation after workout helps.
3. Create small time routines. Morning, evening, night. In them, do things that make you feel good about yourself. For example: cleaning your room, a skin care routine or an evening walk with some chai.
4. Travel. I cannot stress enough on this one. But be careful about who you travel with.
5. Surround yourself with people with positive and productive energies. Make new connections and re-connect with old ones.
6. Indulge in small happiness: Charity, volunteer and community service. This will help you with gratefulness as well.
7. Adopt a pet. If you can, this will be the best thing ever! I got my cat, Niko in the recovery phase and 😻
8. Eat a lot of fruits. Just like that!
9. Design a new life:
   - Make a list of mistakes you made —so that you don’t repeat them. Absolutely guilt free. (it’s difficult, I know)
   - Make a list of things that went wrong and you had no control over. You’ll have to get over them (if you’re not)
   - Make a list of things you REALLY want. Without any reasoning. You know you deserve them. This can be as simple as “I want a loving partner”
   - Be patient. Start working small on your goals and steadily they will come to you.

Little Niko

Things I learned from a burnout:

1. You are not your work
2. Start accepting challenges
3. Expect adversities at every single step
4. Take better care of your health
5. Invest in the right people and places
6. You can always start afresh, with a clean slate. It is actually exciting, the possibilities.

I came up with the best of ideas for my career during my 2 month recovery period. If you’re facing a burnout, I wish you all the very best and hope this article helped you.

If you have faced burnout before, let me know in comments what all did you learn from it.