Burnout: What it is teaching us as one year ends and another begins

If you are like many of us, you may be experiencing burnout during this time of year. 

The end of the year demands a lot of us. Holidays, wrapping up loose ends, travel, winter, getting ready for the new year....It can be a lot to handle. When you add into that work, family, service, perhaps a business or art your also nurturing and all of the tasks each involve, it is easy to see that burnout and exhaustion can hit hard at the end of the year.

In fact, it's rare to really and truly relax and rest during the holiday season and to feel fully caught up before the new year is upon us!

You may be heading for burn out or you may be avoiding it at all costs. Either way, the concept of burn out has a lot to teach us as one year ends and another begins. 

What burnout & the fear of burnout have to teach us is incredibly valuable.

1. Burnout may be showing us that we are not super skilled at managing our daily calendars.

This is a lesson hard learned. But one I have come face to face with many a time. Scheduling your day so that you get your most important work done FIRST can often be the key to success in this area. Don't put it off until the very last bit of the day when your energy is waning. 

Also, scheduling your day without building in time to drive from one place to the next can have us constantly 15-30 minutes behind schedule ALL DAY LONG! 

Don't do it to yourself. You'll carry stress into each activity, meeting, and social gathering of the day if you are constantly running behind because you didn't build in enough time for travel or for nourishing your body through food.

2. Burnout may be showing up to let you know you need to value your sleep a little more.

It's hard to show up for your family, your job, your creative work without getting the much needed Zzzzzs. Compound that with weeks or months of lack of sleep and you are racking up a serious sleep debt. As someone who has struggled to get a healthy sleep schedule, I now know how valuable it is in my life. It keeps me fully present during the day when I have classes to teach, e-mails to write, and creative projects to focus on...I'm not much fun and my work doesn't shine (let alone my interactions with others!) if I don't get some Zzzs.

3. Burnout may be showing up to let you know that you need to re-prioritize your daily activities.

In my 1-on-1 coaching sessions, a theme that comes up for many of my clients (and also me too!!!) is the feeling of not having any time. In many cases, when we dig deeper we can turn up some time by reclaiming it from activities that are not in line with the priorities stated. We can also reclaim it from periods of time that have been plagued with inaction. 

If you find yourself running from one activity to the next that does not actually line up with your deeper purpose and your individual set of priorities, you will be experiencing burnout.

Burnout is a great opportunity to re-prioritize your day-to -day.

4. Burnout may be showing up to let you know that you are not aware how your daily activities DO in fact serve your priorities.

Most of us have activities we must do out of obligation, like get our drivers license renewed at the DMV. We could easily consider that activity draining, especially to our creative energy, but when we take a closer look at that activity, we can see that being able to drive a car is in fact a privilege. That particular privilege allows you to do many other things that do feed you and your priorities and making certain you have all of the paper work in order to do such a thing is really serving your greater purpose! No need to let it drain you and burn you out at all! Just an opportunity to become more aware and take control of your energy by shifting your perspective. 

5. Burnout may be showing up to let you know that you don't really know how to say 'Yes' and how to say 'No'!

This has been a HUGE one for me. I have worked on this for years and I work with my creativity cultivation clients on this regularly. We have to realize that, when it comes to honing our creative energy, every time we say 'Yes' to something we are voting for it to have a place in our life. Every time we say 'No' to something, we are voting against it having space in our life. These are two very powerful words and they work internally and externally, though they are often hard to get a handle on, they can change your art and your life.

Burnout may be something you go through only once before you learn to make a change or, if you are anything like me, you have to go through it 20+ times to learn to make some healthy changes! 

A lot of folks put off change of any kind during this time of year. They say, 'I'm not going to change now. 
I'll change January 1st.' 

But the truth is, now is the perfect time to tune in and listen to yourself. 

Check in with yourself and you can ease those burnout symptoms before they get out of control. 

Plus, how are you going to start all your amazing creative projects on January 1st of this year if you are suffering from serious burnout? 

It'll be March before you know what hit you!

p.s. These same concepts apply to the ending of one project or season of creation 
and beginning of another. 

Take some time to honor the efforts and slow down. 

Rest. 

Be grateful for all that you have accomplished already. 

Be gracious towards yourself as a person. 

Be joyful as you move forward.

Now it's your turn! Has burnout taught you a valuable lesson?

If so, I would love to hear it! Please share in the comments below.

If you are loving this, please share it with those you believe would love it too.

Art Nurture is about being fully alive and living life with the soul of an artist. A life filled with passion, intention, and purpose. Thanks so much for your time and your presence.
 
Cultivate & Nurture, 
Court McCracken

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