How to Recover from and Prevent Burnout

Burnout vs. Depression

Before we dive in, I want to clarify that burnout and depression often manifest with similar symptoms.  If you don’t feel a little better after a vacation or a really restful long weekend, chances are you’re struggling with depression and not burnout (or depression in combination with burnout).

While the techniques I’m going to share will be supportive of recovering from both, if you’re struggling with depression, they may not be enough.  Please seek out help from your doctor or a mental health professional.

Ok, back to the question at hand.

Having found my way out of burnout, I can testify that these techniques will not only help you avoid future burnout, but also help you begin to recover from the burnout you’re currently experiencing:

#1 Establishing and Maintaining Healthy Boundaries

Often we end up with way too much on our plates because we have unhealthy, weak, or non-existent boundaries. Learning what healthy boundaries look like and beginning to build and maintain them will help you avoid the overwhelm.

Maybe you’ve heard me mention this before, but every yes is also a no.  Are you unable to take care of yourself because you said yes to someone else’s needs or desires?

#2 Treat Self-Care as a Daily Non-Negotiable

We each have a limited supply of mental, physical, and emotional energy reserves. As we move through our day we deplete those reserves.

Self-care is how we replenish our energy. By building sufficient self-care into your daily routines as a non-negotiable, you ensure you have the mental, physical, and emotional energy you need to prevent burnout.  

Get started building a self-care routine that works for you and your life by downloading my FREE Self-Care Toolkit!

#3 Shift Your Perspective

You’re only responsible for your thoughts and action – not the thoughts and actions of anyone else.

Take a moment and let that one sink in.

You can’t control the way anyone else thinks, feels, and acts.

Be honest with yourself, how much energy do you spend trying to control the way others think of you, act, or feel? How much energy do you spend trying to control the world around you? How much energy would you stop wasting if you released the need to be in control of anyone and anything other than yourself?

#4 Getting Clear on Your Unique Priorities

This goes hand-in-hand with technique #1 and healthy boundaries.

Once you understand what’s truly important to you, you can begin to eliminate things that aren’t actually important to you from your life. When you do this, what you’re spending your energy on brings value to your life, and you aren’t spending energy on things out of a sense of obligation.

#5 Learning to Listen to Your Intuition

Deep inside, your intuition knows what’s in your best interest. And that isn’t burnout.

By learning to listen to, and trust, your intuition, you set yourself up to make decisions which help you avoid burnout.  Just a hint, these are often tied to self-care, boundaries, and your unique priorities.

Doing the work

I’ve linked to several additional blog posts and resources with more information in this post.  However, this is big work, and I know a blog post isn’t always enough.

I’d love to help support you in recovering from burnout either through my private coaching program or the NNB Formula Group Coaching program.  Get started with a no-cost Discovery Session today!

I’m sending you a great big hug – you’ve got this!