Burnout is not a time-management problem
You cannot colour-code your way out of exhaustion. What burnout is, and what recovery really asks of you.
6 min read
People who are burning out tend to respond by getting more organised. They buy the planner, wake up earlier and batch their email. It helps for about a fortnight, because burnout was never a problem of efficiency.
What it actually is
Burnout is what happens when the demands on you exceed your resources for long enough that your system stops believing rest is coming. It shows up as exhaustion, as a growing cynicism about work you used to care for, and as the sense that nothing you do makes a difference.
Rest is necessary, and not enough
A holiday will take the edge off. If you return to the same load with the same beliefs about what you owe, you will be back where you started within the month. Recovery usually involves an uncomfortable question: whose approval have I been working for, and what did I think would happen if I stopped?
Small, boring, effective
Finish work at a time you decide in the morning. Put one thing in each week that is for nothing and nobody. Tell one person the truth about how tired you are. None of this is dramatic. All of it tells your nervous system that the emergency has an end.
A note on this writing
The journal is general information, not medical advice. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the US, or go to your nearest emergency room.
Keep reading
More from the journal.
New pieces every few weeks, written by the people you would meet in the room.
Anxiety
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The 3 a.m. mind, and what to do with it
Why everything feels unsolvable in the small hours, and a kinder plan than lying there arguing with yourself.
Grief
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Grief does not move in stages
The five stages were never meant to be a staircase. A truer picture of what mourning is actually like.
Relationships
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Same fight, different day
Why couples have one argument in a hundred costumes, and how to step out of it mid-sentence.