Do you want to understand burnout and recognize if you are experiencing some signs? Read on to learn how
you can reflect on how you're feeling and ways you can set boundaries to prevent burnout!
This post will focus on getting to know your limits, setting boundaries for yourself, learning how to say no, and prioritizing your self care to avoid experiencing burnout. Burnout can occur in many contexts such as work, athletics so that you can apply helpful techniques to any aspect of your life.
What defines burnout is, exhaustion of physical and emotional motivation usually as a result from prolonged stress. Throughout this post we will discuss how to assess how you are feeling and make the best choices for you.
Understanding your Limits:
Everyone has different capacities for how much energy they can expend. To understand what your own limits are, you need to be able to access some self-awareness. Start to pay attention to your energy levels, your mood, concentration etc. during different parts of the day. Note it down, witness these things as well as the routines you engage in. How long can you work on something before you start to feel lethargic, grumpy or lose concentration?
Stop the comparing! Like we said, everyone has different limits. It is important to understand that the society we live in encourages comparison, competition etc. which is a recipe for burnout. Be truthful and kind with yourself as you navigate what your limits are
Setting Boundaries to avoid burnout:
Here’s a breakdown of some areas that you can reflect upon to create the best boundaries for you to overcome burnout.
- Understanding your capacity
Once you have a better understanding of your own capacity, stick to it by setting boundaries for yourself. For instance, if you know you get tired after work and need time to yourself schedule in some me time to decompress before socializing with friends or family.
- Planning time to recharge
If you know you are going to be working with clients for 7hrs in a row leaving you exhausted or having a busy day ahead of you in your schedule, plan times for breaks throughout the day or adjust your schedule to accommodate less people.
- Working on ourselves
If we don’t take care of ourselves first and foremost, it can be a disservice to our clients, colleagues or product of work as they won’t be getting our best selves.
- Planning and respecting our time
Setting boundaries with yourself means respecting your own time. If you find yourself saying “yes” to every opportunity that comes your way, you may be very familiar with burnout via over-committing yourself. Although your intentions may be genuine and ideally you would love to engage in all the opportunities you are presented with, there is only so much of you to go around and now that you know your limits, hold yourself accountable and stick to them!
How and when to say No?
Hold off on saying yes right away, you could say something like “I have a lot of commitments at the moment, and I would prefer to hold off and take a look at my schedule to ensure I have the time to give this opportunity my full attention and energy.” Further, this allows you the opportunity and time to reflect and see if you could take on that extra task or project which gives you a sense of organization to determine what you do have time for verses what you don’t
Additionally, if it fits within your schedule then great, you can get back to them with a yes. If it doesn’t look like it will work, no problem. You can acknowledge that you don’t have the time to give the opportunity your best effort given your other commitments and would love to stay in the loop for future opportunities. We promise that the world will keep turning if you say no to an opportunity, and the person offering you the opportunity will probably respect you more for being transparent with them.
Being honest with what you can be responsible for:
Furthermore, saying yes to everything right away and then realizing you have to cut down and “let someone down” is much harder than holding off, having a check in with yourself and being transparent from the get go!
Prioritizing your Self-Care:
What is self care? Self care is respecting your own time, setting boundaries, holding yourself accountable, resting when needed, paying attention to how you feel, genuinely checking in with yourself and listening to your body. Also, an fun and healthy way to carve out some me time is exercising and moving outdoors! Check out our blog post here to see how you can form a healthy relationship with exercise.
Ask yourself the following question to reflect:
- When do you feel the most dialed in or energetic?
- How much sleep do you need to feel rested/energized?
- What foods help you feel nourished and energized?
- What times of the day does eating help you feel your best?
- How often do you need to nourish yourself?
- What activities generally make me feel positive/energized?
- Which activities make me feel drained/negative?
- Who or what kind of people help me feel my best?
- Who do I generally feel positive/energized after being with?
- Who do I generally feel negative/exhausted after being with?
- What content am I consuming (social media, books, media etc.) that makes me feel positive?
- What content makes me feel drained/negative?
Note all of these down. Genuinely checking in with you and your body can give you a lot of answers if you’re willing to listen.
What's next?
Some seasons of life will require you to expend more energy and resources than others and that’s okay. Overall, at the end of the day we hope you are able to see the value in your own time and energy, and are better able to check in with yourself to avoid total burnout in the future!
Additional resources and information on burnout, workplace burnout how to recognize signs and symptoms, and more questions you can reflect on to determine if you are experiencing burnout in your life can be found here.
