Burnout

Burnout happens when we don’t stop to rest. It’s that feeling when our mind and body shuts down after an exhausting day of work. It can happen to anyone in any profession, and when the burnout is bad, it makes us want to quit–plain and simple.

Burnout is mental fatigue–a drain on the emotional and the physical. It wears us down little by little until we’re broken. It starts off slow–gnawing away at our psyche: why am I doing this? Why does this matter? When the burnout reaches a pinnacle, we might say: I can’t stand it anymore. Why am I here?

It has happened to me more than once while I was writing. After pushing through a story for countless days, the burnout set in, and it was no longer fun to write. Writing felt more like a chore than something I wanted to pursue. Day by day, I lost motivation, and soon, I no longer looked forward to writing.

But burnouts are temporary. They’re a sign that we need a break, that we need to refuel.

Thoughts run through my mind such as: get up and go for a walk. Relax for a day or two and then return to the project. Don’t force yourself to finish fast, but take your time with it–let it be fun.

There’s no point in fighting burnout because it’ll eventually take over. The mind and body can only take so much. Overworking destroys us. It saps the joy from creative work.

Burnout is like an engine that’s overheating. Once it overheats, it can’t operate for awhile. It needs time to cool off. That’s what burnout does to us. We have to know our limits and give ourselves a breather.