Has anyone successfully overcome burnout?

[massiveblackhole]

So i think a big part of me wanting to ctb is im so over working, doing chores, commuting, ad nauseum. but i have a fear of poverty so i keep working. iv tried cutting my hours, changing jobs, doing yoga etc. iv studied different things and changed careers but still end up being depressed and hating my job. also tried talking to counsellors who are fucking useless. starting to think the only way out is to quit working, take all the money i was saving for a house and go on like a bucket list year then when i run out of money ctb.

 

[Nymph]

Nope, I think I have permanent burnout from life since 15 yo. Or something around that. I'm sick of responsibility, work, school, jobs, interacting with people, existing. I'm sick of being here and doing what's told to me. I want to be free. Death is eternal freedom. I don't want to do anything when I'm dead, non existent

 

[ovaltinee99]

@massiveblackhole May I know what kind of work you do? If it's something you could do remotely, you could start on your bucket list at the same time?

 

[hoping to lose hope]

Spend some time free from tech and free from work etc.
Have an ascetic retreat and it will help but burnout will return.

 

[fixitinpost]

Yeah, once. It took about a year to recover. Five years later I burned out again. That was three years ago. Still haven't fully recovered.

 

[stygal]

Yes, I spend approximately a year at home after being extremely overworked/exhausted/unable to function due to a difficult work environment. After that I changed my work place and felt immediately relieved...though it took another year with focus on my (mental) health and hobbies to get back to being stable.

First thing you need is as much time for yourself/rest as possible. I know that's not always doable but (in my opinion) the only way to recover.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

The only way I've been able to get through burnout is to either get motivated out of it by an outside influence (which diminishes very quickly) or by eventually getting burnt out on the feeling of burnout. Unfortunately I can't always wait three weeks every time I need to do three hours of work forever so I'm not sure what other ways to get out of it would work.

 

[Sensei]

One thing which has helped me is to talk to my bosses. They've made changes which make my work less stressful and it has done wonders.

 

[DocNo]

as being self employed and working mostly project based with sometimes pretty tight time schedules and also a tendency to exhaust myself with sometimes 70 - 80 hour weeks i guess i had a lot of burnouts or at least mini-burnouts as i started to call them at some point. i was mainly completely braindead afterwards. with lots of sleeping and watching mindless tv and just passing time somehow without achieving anything at all, till at some point the mental engine started running again.
but i guess the first big burnout in the late 20ies with 6 months of intense work did some long term damage and it feels that some of that energy i had before never came fully back.

from my personal experience it seems that you really have to shut down your system and reduce stressful stuff to the absolut minimum. that also means to reduce your consume of media and other type of information you suck into your brain usually. sometimes its hard but trying to have one or two hours in absolute silence every day gives me then the feeling that my body and my brain can generate some energy cause this info overkill which surrounds us is a permanent stress factor.

what i lately discovered that walks in the woods or somewhere in nature where only natural noises are around also helps getting the mind a bit sorted.
also tried to have some youtube videos of nature sounds running. there are some nice videos with 10 hours of just a rainy day ambient sound and so on. but it never had this big effect on me cause it seems my brain didn't buy it somehow.

 

[waived]

It's easy to overlook routine so sometimes it's making a bunch of little things more tolerable.

 

[MichaelNomad123]

I think when you experience burnout for the first time your overall capacity and tolerance for the humdrum diminishes or even dissipates entirely. If you can bounce back you will burn out faster than before, unless you make dramatic changes to your lifestyle. I never recovered from my burnout, personally. I took a different path.

 

[massiveblackhole]

Nope, I think I have permanent burnout from life since 15 yo. Or something around that. I'm sick of responsibility, work, school, jobs, interacting with people, existing. I'm sick of being here and doing what's told to me. I want to be free. Death is eternal freedom. I don't want to do anything when I'm dead, non existent

yea that's what i want, no heaven - just sweet non-existence

@massiveblackhole May I know what kind of work you do? If it's something you could do remotely, you could start on your bucket list at the same time?

i work with people. old people. its fucking draining i hate it but the pay and hours are good and i had to do a masters degree. not sure what i could do that would earn me the same amount of money without having to study another 5 years.

Spend some time free from tech and free from work etc.
Have an ascetic retreat and it will help but burnout will return.

iv had holidays/a year off etc in the past but eventually you have to go back to work or how else are you gonna feed yourself and then i always find myself in the same spot - overworked and burnt out.

Yeah, once. It took about a year to recover. Five years later I burned out again. That was three years ago. Still haven't fully recovered.

this is the second time iv burnt out and i feel after each time my capacity to handle stuff diminishes greatly. like after the first time i was able to go back to full time work eventually but had to bascially sacrifice having a social life cos it was too exhausting. but this time i think im only gonna be able to work part time. plus have no life. like fucking ay what is even the point. im too tired to do anything so what is the point of being alive

I think when you experience burnout for the first time your overall capacity and tolerance for the humdrum diminishes or even dissipates entirely. If you can bounce back you will burn out faster than before, unless you make dramatic changes to your lifestyle. I never recovered from my burnout, personally. I took a different path.

what was your 'different path' may i ask?

 

[GoneGoneGone]

No

 

[Lotus]

I hope so. If there is no hope, then what's the point of going on. Sorry for such a depressive contribute to the thread, but I find myself to be in the same position as you. I really hope it works out for both of us in the end.

 

[muffin222]

Yes. I spent about 2 weeks only fulfilling the absolute bare minimum required to sustain my daily life. Then, I filled the rest of my time with activities that I enjoy. After 2 weeks, I found myself replenished and re-energized

 

[fixitinpost]

this is the second time iv burnt out and i feel after each time my capacity to handle stuff diminishes greatly. like after the first time i was able to go back to full time work eventually but had to bascially sacrifice having a social life cos it was too exhausting. but this time i think im only gonna be able to work part time. plus have no life. like fucking ay what is even the point. im too tired to do anything so what is the point of being alive

I can relate to all of this. Each burn-out gets successively harder to recover from.

That said, I made a lot of mistakes this time around. At my old job, I was the sole person in charge of the company's entire (IT) operations commitment to some very high-stakes customers. I pushed my bosses several times about the unsustainable nature of this arrangement, both for me and the company. There was documentation in case I would perish, but no one else at the company with the particular skillset required to make use of it. And even if they brought a contractor in, it would take at least a month until this person was up and running. I never worked insanely long weeks, but I carried this responsibility 24/7 even though it wasn't in my role to do so. But when no one else can do something, it automatically falls into your lap . I'd take calls when I was sick, calls late at night, fixing things when needed. I got overtime for those, but that was it.

My bosses understood the problem, but their hands were tied by upper management. The same upper management then sacked all but one contractor, cutting a third of our development staff and causing a small exodus of some senior staff, during a crucial phase of several projects. The company was financially stable and set to post a profit for the year - just not a big enough one to hit the target. It was a private company so with a little long-term thinking it shouldn't have mattered at all.

Some projects had to be put on hold, but not enough to sufficiently cut the workload. Instead they spread it out. I became the sole developer on one of the company's most high-profile projects, which had previously been managed by contractors and senior staff. I only had a vague understanding of how it worked. At this stage, me and few colleagues buckled under the pressure. But I was still alone on operations and couldn't leave it. So I kept at it while out sick for a while, until they finally could bring in someone else. Then I went back to work to get him up to speed, but I was completely fucked and struggled to do even the most basic tasks. I went to work far too long before quitting. What really sucked is that in the end, no one seemed to understand. Not my boss, who due to my health issues later refused to be a reference when I applied for new work, because "if there were any more issues, his credibility would be tarnished". Not my then domestic partner, but that's a story for another day. Man, this got long.

 

[solid_snake]

Burnout happens when you're doing things you do not like; for example studies that you don't care for; or a career you got into because of societal pressure. You must figure out what your path it and follow it till the end.

 

[emmarg]

I think you might be like me - I'm a soon-to-be lawyer. I'm burned out, I hate it. But, the happiest I've ever been was when I was a waitress. I loved my job, I loved my life. I think some of us are just meant for different (or no) career.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Burnout happens when you're doing things you do not like; for example studies that you don't care for; or a career you got into because of societal pressure. You must figure out what your path it and follow it till the end.

In my case I'm still burnt out even though I haven't had a job for almost the entire year and I finished school over a year ago.

 

[blueclover_.]

Nope, I think I have permanent burnout from life since 15 yo. Or something around that. I'm sick of responsibility, work, school, jobs, interacting with people, existing. I'm sick of being here and doing what's told to me. I want to be free. Death is eternal freedom. I don't want to do anything when I'm dead, non existent

Same. I want to be free. That's always been my nature. I hate school, work, people, this world sucks.

 

[BornDead]

It's easy to overlook routine so sometimes it's making a bunch of little things more tolerable.

So you think getting the vax is a chip for Satan?
Not getting burn out is different for everyone. As we all know, not a single one of us is the same. What works for me is drugs and lots of them and then once I get out of that dark hole, I can be born again