Self Care to Prevent Burnout
In the last two years a lot of us had our mental batteries shrink by not being able to do a lot and living in constant bad news. Thatβs why I wanted to give you a couple tips on self care to prevent burnout now that some things are going back to how they were before all of this chaos.
Work Boundaries
You need to set a boundary or two with work to be able to not overload yourself with work and know when itβs free time. I know this is hard if you work in a field where everyone expects you to become exponentially more productive, but I guarantee you that your health will always be more important than another work project. Also set boundaries about work emails and phone calls. If your job doesnβt accept those boundaries and you can, you should look for better opportunities, because no healthy work environment would judge you for not working on emails on weekends.
Social Life Limits
This might be unexpected on this list, but overdoing your social interactions in your free time can add to your exhaustion. Be very mindful about when you meet friends and what your topics of conversation are. This will probably apply to introverts a lot more than extroverts. I personally would only schedule in one longer meeting with a friend a week or every two weeks, because otherwise Iβd be drained from it too often. Everyone is different, find your balance with it.
Mindfulness
Iβve talked about mindfulness during your workday before on this blog right HERE. Taking mini-breaks to just take several deep breaths or going on a little walk in your lunch break can make a big difference in your inner balance. Being present takes you away from the stress you are feeling for a bit. This is also why you might wanna meditate in the evenings for better sleep.
Healthy amounts of escapism
Escapism isnβt always bad. We sometimes simply canβt deal with an emotion all at once and need a little bit of distraction. I often use the example of grief when explaining this to others. When you are grieving you arenβt constantly crying, because your body needs distraction from inner pain to recharge. I made a post about forms of healthy escapism HERE. You need a bit of self-awareness to know when you are escaping too much, but the act in itself can be helpful.
Mindset Work on toxic productivity
In the world we currently live in it has become normal to shame ourselves for resting or not working at top capacity. It has the neat name of toxic productivity. You canβt work on a perfect level of productivity and rest is very much needed to stay productive. That is why you should work on internalized beliefs about productivity. I made a little podcast episode going a little bit deeper into this HERE, because I myself have struggled with this a lot and still do every now and then.
Keep track of your moods
Tracking your mood and what you do every day can be a major help. You will notice what contributes to good days and bad days. You will notice that having more self care activities in your day will help your mood and you will notice that days with a lot of work done and no rest might feel like a big accomplishment but without much of the happiness. Iβve been tracking my mood for half a decade now in an app called Daylio.
Those were my tips on self care to prevent burnout. Another thing you wanna keep in mind is your needs and how fulfilled they are. If you havenβt done a deep dive into that topic yet I recommend you check out my freebie all about your needs. You can get it by joining my newsletter squad below. Itβll make it so much easier to name your emotions and what you need to feel better:
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Self Care to prevent burnout by Rabea
