Your mileage may vary, but regarding effective life management, I found the Mark Manson's book The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F: Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life to have more truth in than the title may say.
There Is No Cure for Burnout
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Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#12What great writing this was.
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#13Loads of psilocybin and a strict daily regime containing both low-stress & high-rest did wonders for me.
Having a budget of hours for when "allowed" to crunch and burn at things even returned most of my eagernes and enjoyment within a short timeframe.
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#14I think I had a burnout at home. It was just too much: 90% to 100% job, 3 kids, house, and the constant feel of (self?) pressure to make it all better, always be prepared and such at home.
My wife and me separated almost a year ago, and since then share the care of our kids by 50/50. She works a lot (80%), I work a lot (90%). It only works because the kids go to school, I can work from home 2 days and we have grand parents that help when in need.
I just feel so free and unleashed. She too. And the kids are fine as well.
Finally no one is putting any pressure on me at home except for myself. I have such a great time with the kids and I really enjoy it. And I still love my job, as I always did, working more or less 8.5h a day.
Anyway what I wanted to say is, that you can also have a burnout at home. I was such an emotionless dead guy. I'm not sure there is no cure, and I agree that whenever I feel this "pressure" again in a new relationship (not that I had many), I feel like I'd like to run away and stay single. Which makes me sad. But on the other hand I rarely was as happy and free as I am now.
Edit: Bookmarked this article and will certainly read it. Thanks for sharing such stories.
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#15I’m sure the job was terrible in any number of ways. But I don’t think this person is giving the proper weight to social media’s contribution to their predicament.
I hope things get better over time.
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#16I think the cure just takes a long time, maybe years, if we assume work place burnout is basically the same as athlete burnout from years/decades of overtraining: you develop terrible endocrine imbalances from habitually frying your system.
The "cure" is to take it easy and pay attention to sleep, nutrition, stress levels, and perform easy exercise... and know it could take a really long time to change your endocrine profile.
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#17Why is the link to Helen Peterson's article a mailto?
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#18Spot on, the best cure for burnout isn't a cure at all, it's prevention.
But preventative means limit my potential
If you think that to invest more time in planning & rest will limit your potential, you're likely to be wrong.
A proper life balance tends to support you achieving your full potential. The balancing act has a positive return on investment.
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#19I left my job as a physician 5 years ago. Of course it was a hectic life, but the hours and pressure wasn't as bad as my lack of control over my life. Everyone thought I was crazy to leave without something else lined up already, but I knew if I stayed I would die. Just as she says in this article; not suicidality, but rather some odd sense of existential doom.
I'm still angry. Angry at every imposition anyone dares to make on me. Angry I essentially wasted 13 years of my life following a societal program rather than being brave enough to figure out what I actually wanted from the start.
Like the author, I'm also not sure if there's a cure for burnout. Five years on, I'm still living a sub-poverty lifestyle off of odd jobs and creative pursuits. Whenever I get an urge to do something more involved, I get exposed a bit again to the world of registrations and resumes, licenses and HR departments...and I lose all motivation again.
But I don't think it's a problem. I don't think of my burnout as a defect. More as a wizening up to the view that most of what I hussled myself over was bullshit, and it was right to leave and not look back. I'm just sorry it took me so long to start living for myself.
I'm sure I sound spoiled and selfish. I don't care. Just be glad I left before you or a loved one had the unfortune of having me as your doc.
Re: There Is No Cure for Burnout
#20I'm in consulting. And I can't count the times where I told people to say no to the client! (learn to say no)
But they can't... Some just can't say no to save there life.
Some just want to work looong hours.
And some are just too nice and avoid conflict.
Its frustrating, especially they could work on long term valuable stuff..