Digging Your Way Out of Burnout

You’re feeling helpless, frustrated, and stressed at work, which bleeds into your daily life. It’s becoming harder to be productive, and you find yourself procrastinating more than normal, losing focus, and generally not getting anywhere. Activities that used to make you happy no longer have the same impact, and you’re starting to feel like nothing you do matters.

This phenomenon is called burnout, and it’s incredibly common in working adults. It can be challenging to work through burnout, but when you don’t it can become near impossible to do much of anything or find joy in your life.

Burnout doesn’t just happen with work — you can get creative burnout, too. When you start losing interest in hobbies you used to love, it can be disheartening.

It may not be easy, but it’s completely possible to overcome burnout and reignite your joy again, both at work and in your creative practices. Understand how to identify burnout, why it happens, how to overcome it, and best practices for avoiding it going forward.

What Does Burnout Feel Like?

Burnout can be hard to identify at first. Especially during winter months when seasonal affective disorder is at its peak or if you’re particularly used to feeling stressed, you may not notice you’ve burnt out right away.