I just made it through a season where at moments I felt like I was on the verge of burnout. It just felt like a period of time when really big stuff…stuff bigger than usual was being juggled, and I was doing my best not to drop everything. Some of those things were:
- I was in an intense season of personal growth as I was participating in an 8 week online coaching program. I was also in in the midst of launching my online men’s group.
- I was training for the Dallas Marathon which was cancelled due to bad weather, but also for my first 50k Ultramarathon (which I did finish on February 23rd).
- My therapy practice was really more busy than ever.
- I was desiring to be the best husband and father to my family and was feeling like I wasn’t being the man I wanted to be.
- And spiritually speaking, I was feeling a bit disconnected.
There were a lot of strains on me physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
I have been thinking about this subject of burnout a lot, so I was intrigued this morning to see the post at 99U on The 3 Kinds of Burnout, which they describe as overload, lack of development and neglect. I think I was definitely feeling overloaded from the amount of stuff I took on at one time. Hopefully I wasn’t coping the way they described (emotionally venting), but I was definitely pretty exhausted.
It’s in moments of feeling burned out that I go back to my self-care, a topic that I find myself always talking about with my clients and the men that I work with in my online program.
If you are feeling burned out, I recommend that you ask the question: “Am I taking care of myself physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually?”
Not sure what that looks like, I recommend that you start here.
