Reply To: How do you deal with burnout?

[Sébastien Lenaerts]

Hi Wendy, 

I’ve been there and I completely understand. 

For me it was my personal values were not matching at all with my professional and personal situation (it’s not always only work.) That caused extreme stress that kept building up as the months went by, until the moment of exhaustion where you aren’t able to function anymore (suddenly you are brushing your teath with hair gel, start being very irritable with others without noticing it, start not to notice things like red lights etc….)

2 ways to get out of it (or to prevent it):

– learn to cope with the situation by forcing you to reframe the way you look at things (difficult, but can help)

-change the situation

In my case I did a bit of both because I realized that if I didn’t change my way to look at things, I would probably be pulled back in the situation later again just because some context just cannot be changed. I granted me time to do so, because under pressure it doesn’t work. 

I started walking, granted myself moments to go just sit in a coffeebar and enjoy a coffee, basically learn back how to enjoy the small stuff. Then I looked for activities that were energy positive.  I did try to limit my screen time, because disconnecting was for me key to get back my head around. 

 Having a coach helps also, even though I’m not in burn out anymore, I’m still seeing my coach from time to time just because I feel working on yourself is a continuous process that can be equally important when things go well.

Concerning Blender, I certainly wouldn’t stop, going back to the beginning and revisiting past projects is a good way to build up confidence again. What you made up till now is really impressive & looks very good!  Just don’t pressure yourself and make sure that it doesn’t become energy negative.  If going that way, take a little break, go for a walk,… and try something else later on.

Hope this helps