Observations about burnout

As tragic as it may sound, I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that there are individuals who don’t experience burnout. Perhaps it’s because I’ve experienced it so much to the point to which I’ve learned to push through it (which in turn usually results in an even bigger, harder-to-get-through burnout).

So what is burnout? It’s a state of mental and physical (though usually mental) exhaustion. Common signs of burnout are feeling overwhelmed all the time, tending to procrastinate everything, feeling detached and even helpless, doubting yourself or experiencing negative, intrusive thoughts. It can often be confused with depression since both are forms of extreme exhaustion to the point to which nothing can be done anymore (of course, these are the rather extreme stages, but some form of exhaustion and inability to get out of bed is usually present in all). I tend to experience burnout when I put pressure on myself to establish consistency.

For example, the reason why I haven’t written to the blog for a long time though I usually try to update it weekly is because I’ve been experiencing this long-spread burnout. When I think about it now, I think to myself “You couldn’t write a blog post a week?” and feel ashamed of my procrastination, of my “laziness”. However, whenever you experience such thoughts, it’s incredibly important to remember that oftentimes, trying to overlook burnout and trying to “push your way through it” will not work out, and will indeed result in you trying to get yourself out of what you will call a “slump” for quite a long time. So sometimes, you should embrace the slump, and embrace the fact that humans are not machines, they’re humans. Though we have been raised to believe so (especially Gen-Z teenagers), it’s not normal to be able to work like a machine, to do every single order perfectly, to satisfy everybody all the time.

So because I haven’t put pressure on myself to keep writing my blog post, I am writing this one while actually enjoying it. Because the entire reason why I opened this blog was so that I would be able to keep practicing my writing while also talking about things I enjoy talking about. And if I were to try to force myself to establish consistency, to keep writing and writing regardless of whether or not I enjoyed it or not; I would not have been able to keep writing at all after one point.

What lessons can we derive from my experiences with burnout? The important thing to know is that rather than trying to push through it, embrace it. Do not extend it to the point to which it becomes mere procrastination, but do let yourself rest, do let yourself pursue other interests. For example, in the time in which I haven’t been writing in my blog, I have been reading, programming, and organizing school activities! 🙂 I have read “Supermarket”, a novel which I wish to talk about in one of my other blog posts, for example. Or, I have been mastering Java, as well as thinking about an idea for a website. I have also began to organize SpringFest, an activity which has not been conducted in my school for almost 3 years due to the pandemic.

There is productivity that can come out of procrastination. There is beauty that can come from burnout. There is ying in the yang. It’s important to remember that.