Living with Burnout: How to Combat What Stops us from Succeeding

Our bodies give us many messages throughout the day. Whether it’s scattered headaches or bursts of uneasy energy, it’s important to take heed in what we learn from our subconscious. Having a healthy body, mind, and spirit is what allows our imagination to take hold in the best way possible. If a scattered mind is too all over the place, it is near impossible to create something coherent out of it. 

Burnout and Recovery

Sometimes, when there isn’t much I can do to fight it, my writing session ends up being a page full of bullet points, loose thoughts fired at will. At the end, when there’s nothing left to write down, I stare at the document and wonder what the hell was going on in my brain? None of it ever had to make sense, at least something was done after the session. Afterwards, when I think about everything I had done, I can’t help but let the disappointment take over. 

Why couldn’t I write?

Where was all the excitement, all the passion I started with?

What happened to the insatiable need to write?

Am I truly a writer if I can’t write?

None of this takes the title of “author” away from me. It’s easy to just say that to myself, but truly difficult to actually mean it. I struggle with this mindset constantly. The burnout from working an active full-time job, and coming home to have a full-time mentally demanding side hustle drains the energy right out of me. Despite wanting to spend every second writing on all the stories trapped within my head, this wall created from overworking myself becomes impenetrable. 

We cannot excel in passion projects if the rest of our life strangles the creativity out of us. When I write my ‘to-do’ list in the morning, and it keeps going on and on, the motivation to write slowly seeps out of me. After publishing The Halls of Valhalla, writing became apart of my life in a way I wasn’t planning. Rather than getting to write whatever I wanted every day, there was marketing and social media management that I had to devote more time to. No matter what, every morning I have to ask myself: how can I talk about my book today that’ll get readers hooked? 

After the first few months of being published, this new ‘job’ I had taken up really brought me down. If I posted a fun graphic on social media, I really got harsh with myself if it didn’t get enough likes, or enough shares. If the sales didn’t shoot up I felt the depression take hold of me. 

Why am I doing all this extra work when it seems like nothing is changing?

This is the effect of being burnt out! 

When we do all that we can to the best of our ability, but our brains tell us that it doesn’t matter because there is no visible rise, the negativity can take over in the matter of seconds. Suddenly, we aren’t good writers. Suddenly, our work is unimportant. Suddenly, the entire world and universe is against us, and there’s nothing we can do except deal with it. 

I’ve been published for around five months now, and I struggle with this concept on a daily basis. Working at a restaurant was originally a way to make ends meet while I wrote my first manuscript, but it has become something so much more over the past few years. The bustling environment, the rush of adrenaline when the business hits, the constant running around. Something about the restaurant environment pulled me in, and I can’t seem to want to escape it. 

That being said, juggling working this full-time job while trying to publish a planned four-book fantasy series is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. Trying not to let the job burn me out so I still have the passion for Valhalla is my top priority, and I still struggle on a day-to-day basis to make it work.

What I have discovered that makes it easier is this: support. 

Support can mean many different things for different people, and that is what makes it such a good tool for excelling in your passions. For me, I have a massive support system at home as well as at work that helps me feel more at ease with everything I have on my shoulders. At work, my friends are interested in the writing I do, and show their support through constant love and kindness. At home, my family is there with anything I do, and are the first ones to be in line for whatever project I’ve got going on.

One thing I have struggled with the most is having the confidence and willpower to constantly post on social media about my book. A coworker of mine, George Aste, has also been trying to work on a few passion projects of his own through posting regularly on TikTok, and featuring his adorable dog, Kuzy! While I’m also trying to push The Halls of Valhalla through the forever changing ‘BookTok’, it has been so encouraging to see someone else I know do the same thing. When we work together, we always see how the other is progressing in their endeavors, and are always on the lookout to help the other succeed. 

If you’re on social media at all, check out Life with Kuzy! (You won’t be disappointed!)

If there’s anything for you readers to get out of this blog post, it’s this: don’t let burnout ruin the passion you have. 

It’s so easy to let the stress and everything going on in our lives disrupt the projects we have going on inside. The best ways to not let this happen is through finding a support system, and letting yourself work on your passion projects. Don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game! 

Thanks for tuning in today. See you soon :)