With pumpkin spice flooding the streets again, autumn is just around the corner. August is like the Sunday of summer and it’s almost over. September is just a few sleeps away. Is it just me or have the first 8 months of 2021 absolutely flown by?
Preparing for the upcoming months and ending the year strong brings me mixed emotions—excitement coupled with uneasiness.
For me, summertime is a time to relax and spend as much time outside as possible. Due to a variety of circumstances I wasn’t able to do as much as I’d like outside this summer. Heading into another cold Utah winter already has me feeling strung out.
I’m quite excited about many things happening in my life right now, but I’m also concerned about becoming burnt out.
What is something you do when you start to feel burnt out on something you love?
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts and hopefully some new ideas.
Have a great week everyone!
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E. L. Jayne’s blog can be found here.
To avoid burnout, a small suggestion: Balance the delightful flavor of pumpkin spice with something that is the polar opposite–cranberry. I recommend having a bag of dried cranberries handy. They are lightly sweetened or you could not stand the taste. A few will clear the palate and keep you from having those lingering pumpkin memories which could eventually evolve into a serious burnout. I too had a burnout, but did not know about this technique of using opposites to balance. I could not find the polar opposite of spumoni ice cream, so I have not gone near it in 20 years. Best of luck!
Lol I love it! Thanks for the humor and wise words 😂
When I am getting burnt out I often sit down and write or draw a picture. It’s the best way to give my mind a vacation.
For me it’s writing and painting! Great ways to cleanse the mind ✨
To get rid off this burnt out feelings, I sometimes lay down in my garden and look at the sky, especially at night. It makes me feel wonder about unknown things and stimulates my mind.
Its the best feeling ever.
It’s really an interesting post. I really liked- “August is like the Sunday of the Summer”
Hi Ritish, that’s such a great practice to take for your mind! I love doing this too, I guess I don’t do it enough. I think I will now 🙂 Thanks for this reminder…
Absolutely. You should be doing that again.
It such a beautiful and kind of mysterious way to calm your mind.
There are so many things I do when feeling burnt out. I sit in my garden and talk to my plants. I pet my cat and share my thoughts with her, when she does not care enough, which happens a lot more than I would like, I do unconscious journalling for 15 minutes. If these therapeutic techniques fail and the work that had made me feel burnt out in the first place needs to be completed somehow, I take a bath, tie my hair, put on some lo-fi music and set apart chunks of time to break the task into smaller ones and get through each step at a time
Nature and animals help me too 🙂 Also unconscious journaling + freewriting helps to alleviate stress from my mind as well. It’s like dumping my thoughts/worries onto paper and forgetting about them. Thanks for sharing some of your techniques 🙂
I like to plan something that is relaxing, or something exciting to look forward to. It will keep me moving until it arrives and then I let myself mentally check out. A lot of times these things revolve around traveling. I live in a rural area. And even with all its beauty, it gets old. So I’ll plan a trip somewhere away for a couple days. A change of view. A motel with a jacuzzi, or camping somewhere close to explore a new area. I know traveling can be hard during this time, but I have found ways around it while still being safe. And this is just an example. For me getting out of my box and appreciating life from a different view point does help settle those feelings of burn out. Being at peace with yourself. Or even trying something new every once in awhile. I’m an avid reader but at times I can’t. So I’ll focus on writing or photography, or I’ll take long walks with my dog. Call a loved one and shoot the breeze. Take a break from the constant and unplug. Sometimes you have to lose yourself in something else to find the reason why you love the other.
A cup of coffee, a quite corner and a good book are the best therapy. And yes, I do feel like this year has gone by so quickly. And yet at the same time, this pandemic has made me feel like, I am stuck in time.
Have a good day!
I find when I feel I’m close to a burn out to get back to basics like getting more sleep, focusing on eating extra nutritiously and taking extra supplements for my immune system. This combination really helps me regain my physical and emotional strength and helps give me a fresh perspective! Blessings to you!
(I hibernate more in the heat of the summer and start to emerge again for walks once the weather gets cooler! I go back into some hibernation in the extreme come of winter! Of course I brave i to got to work, but those seasons don’t see me outside for walks! Got to keep the sanity on track!!)
I take a break to do something that’s farther down in my list of priorities. Sometimes, doing something entirely different gives you an untapped insight into your routine tasks, with an all-encompassing warmth and a renewed zeal.
Getting outside for a walk with Zippy does it for me. Grateful to have this opportunity almost any day. 🐴🧡
The magic medicine of a quarter horse, and even better, Zippy! <3
“The Sunday of Summer” !!! I used to dread the Sunday night drives back to campus after exhilarating weekends away. The drives were typically followed by studying in the library until it closed at midnight. Thinking back on it I often wonder how I got anything done with that approach.
A withdrawal from social media usually helps me. I don’t realize the weight of all the demands until I let go of the need to post, share, and like. The first few days are the hardest: soon, I can’t remember why I bothered. 😊
Mostly I go ride my bike. In the winter months I walk. I’m a fair weather rider and I’m not very excited about gyms in the winter. The cold is refreshing somehow.
I remain silent and divert my attention to the things I love the most. For example reading humorous memes, thought provoking quotes and trance music assist with the burnout.
I sing alot or watch something comical
What an interesting question! I love doing nothing. I’ve never felt burned out doing nothing. So it’s hard to answer 😜 But when I do feel burned out doing something I love, I switch to something else that I equally love to get a good recharge. Doing nothing, feeling nothing is literally therapeutic! 😃
PS: I was literally thinking the very same thing about both 2020 and 2021, especially 2021. It’s like this year just started. It’s bloody flying! The virus has toppled our world and our days are pretty much uneventful. But it did go unhealthily fast!
Burnt out*
Doing nothing sucks, even for loners.
Well, I’m a loner, doesn’t suck for me 😉
sure it does. you can’t honestly tell me you’re good with always being alone. if that’s the case you should apply to be flown to mars with elon fudpuppet musk.
I let myself stop doing the thing I love that I’m feeling burnt out on. In one way or another. And for a time.
If possible I like to visit some trees and water while breaking.
Letting myself leave allows me to return.
Have been (not) doing this with photography recently.
Idk man, that’s a vague question. Something I love? Hmmmm….I love coffee…even tho it makes me anxious as shit. I love that it stimulates my lower intestine to get my legs moving like a little birds legs (birds are naturally anxious creatures, thus why they run away using this little toothpicks to hustle) so I can get to the toilet before I SMP from the first four cups. Don’t normally get burnt out on it, keeps me going; wife, kid, work. Maybe I’ll drink one less cup today than I did yesterday….that’s about it though.
Nice post
I haven’t been anywhere like the beach since way before the pandemic so I’ve felt kind of sad but I just usually do the mind over matter thing. And I’ve been teaching myself French so it’s something different for me.
I don’t care for pumpkin spice or anything related to it but I’ve made ALOT of Toll House cookies since the pandemic. I like adding chopped pecans to mine. 😋
Love that photo 🙂 I too had a very busy summer that kept me from doing my usual relax things. Reading a good book, taking a long nature walk, and playing with my camera outside are all things that help me recharge 🙂