4 Ways To Avoid Burnout In Your Life During the Pandemic

Here are 4 ways to help you avoid burnout in your life during the pandemic and in general.

Even though most of us are home and it’s nice, it’s still possible to end up in this scenario due to the sheer repetitiveness and lack of variety right now.

What Does a Burnout Feel Like?

You know that feeling when it’s the beginning of the week but you’re already wishing for Friday even though you just finished a weekend?

This is one of the classic signs of an approaching burnout in addition to not feeling engaged with anything and just wanting to lie down all the time.

How to Deal With Burnout

The answer to this is simple – slow down, de-stress, and say “no” to overcommitting and “yes” to taking time for yourself.

However, it’s not always easy to practice this philosophy. Been there, done that. It took me a long time to get to that place.

It’s a process you have to learn and train yourself to default to. Here are 4 of the best ways to train yourself to avoid burnout.

How to Avoid Burnout

1. Learn to Take Care of Yourself

Everyone knows if you use your car without servicing it or taking care of it, it will eventually become a sorry piece of junk that won’t be going anywhere.

So if we take good care of our cars, why don’t humans stop and refill up our energy stores a lot more often than once or twice a week?

A solution to de-stressing from a busy schedule is the concept of not over-committing yourself.

Cutting back on unneeded areas in your life that just add more baggage or dead weight. And learning the use of time management is a very necessary tool.

2. Start with Just One Hour

If you have a crammed life, start with just one hour a week. If you think you can manage an hour a day, even better.

In that hour, pick up a magazine, pour yourself a glass of something cold, and sit down. Yes, please take a seat.

See how long you can stay that way within the hour without answering the door, the phone, your recent Facebook notifications, or even the dog.

What you are attempting to do right then is called something very weird but wonderful–it’s called relaxing.

As strange a concept as it may seem, simply sitting down and breathing is really healthy for you. No TV, though. TV can raise your blood pressure.

Grab your favorite piece of literature, sip your drink, play some music in the background, and repeat this at least three times a week.

You’ll find yourself looking forward to your hour of “me time” and also de-stressing a fraction more and more every time.

3. Be Able To Just Say, “No, thanks.”

Everything may seem like a good idea, but you’re not Superman. So don’t “super commit” to even recreational activities.

Keep your schedule basic. If you work long hours, don’t plan on long nights out or elaborate plans.

Even if you feel like time is crucial to keeping your social life interesting, keeping your body going is a lot more important.

Physical fatigue isn’t the only symptom of “stressing too hard.”

Mental fatigue, which drains you much more than physical, is very demanding on your brain, your body, and your mind.

As long as you keep in mind that you can say “no” to friends and family, you will definitely thank yourself later when your feet and head is throbbing after work or class.

Related Content: How to Avoid and Protect Yourself from Energy Vampires

4. Find Something to Do That’s Satisfying

A lot of people are restless. They flit like butterflies from place to event to home to games to hobbies in a heartbeat, not realizing it only fuels our fast-paced lifestyle habits all the more.

Whatever happened to relaxation?

Now that most of us are stuck in quarantine, a lot of this fast-paced existence takes place at home and online. Not much has changed really.

Find something simple that you like doing (such as a basic inexpensive hobby or an exercise class) and try your hardest to practice it twice a week.

I have taken up a few extra hobbies since the pandemic started and I’m loving every second of it.

With your “me hours” and your “satisfaction times,” you’ll need to sift out somethings your life doesn’t need.

Even if it’s volunteer work or going to every event (yes, that’s admirable, but one must be realistic).

Or volunteering to take another shift when your body is already screaming no, you must let it go.

Learn to say no, take some time for yourself, and do something you enjoy.

Life is a beautiful thing. As long as we don’t let the clock rule our lives (to a certain extent), it can always stay that way.

Even though there are ups and downs, we will be better able to enjoy our lives in the long run and come out in top shape at the end of all this.

Stay awesome!

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