When we chase a dream there is always a danger lurking in the shadows. It stalks us from within the dark, waiting for the moment to strike. When we are weary, or distracted it races forward like lightning and our desires are snuffed out and our progress grinds to a halt. The music we make no longer sounds right, the words on the page seem mismatched and the lines of our drawings seem uneven. We feel unmotivated and apathetic and struggle even harder to make the pieces fit as they once did. Burnout will sabotage our work, as we struggle in its throws the damage only grows deeper. If we thrash about to much we will crush our dreams in the act of trying to rekindle them.
Burnout is not a new idea. In fact we have known about this phenomena since the 1970’s which is when the term was first coined. It is bandied about in our culture for a variety of ailments so I looked it up on the website Phycology Today”
Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Though it’s most often caused by problems at work, it can also appear in other areas of life, such as parenting, caretaking, or romantic relationships.
Phycology today
It can be tricky to know when you have a case of burnout. For me it feels like apathy, my ADHD goes haywire and I find it hard to do almost any task well. This is especially true for my writing which can suffer for days before I realize that something has been disconnected. The first time this happened to me I fought it like hell. I had a scheduel to keep. I wanted to keep up with my writing regimen of thirty minutes each day. So I would force myself to come up with words and peck at the keyboard sluggishly. Eventally the slog replaced the joy of creating new and interesting things. Instead of fun my writing became dull and tedious. It nearly broke me as a writer. I put my pen down for nearly a year. I had to rest and let my dreams come back naturally before I could harness my focus again. Eventually my stories came back and writing became fun again.
I tell this story because I think that one of the worst things you can do for creative burnout is to try and force it back. You cannot force burnout to go away, doing so only feeds it. It may be temporarily be held at bay, but it will take more and more effort to keep it from crashing back. Burnout will weaken your desire to complete your dream. Dimming the flame of desire until there is just a flicker left. If you push it to hard that tiny last ember could be snuffed out. If you feel like you are suffering from burnout put the pen down. Relax. Take a week off. Meditate. Listen to music. Do something that inspires you. The important thing is to remember that you are not alone. Almost everyone has experienced burnout at some point in their life. The important thing to know is that experiencing a case of burnout is ok. There is nothing wrong with you or your desire to complete your dream. This month we will be looking at burnout, what causes it and how to recover from it. For now though, just breathe. Take a moment to relax and just be. You will know when the time is right to pick up your pen again.