Discussion on: Preventing burnout 😴

Over the years, and through a bit of trial and error, I found my own way of doing self-care in the form of addressing one root causes of burnout: expectation - like you point out, it's the element of "too much".

I am in the fortunate position that my past couple of managers have actually been very open and receptive to talking about personal mental health, and my first ever manager when I was new to the professional world was excellent as well, referring me to the company's help and counselling programme which did wonders.

Bad workplace

I do also know that I've worked for absolute expletives 🤬 in other jobs, with whom I never would expose my vulnerable side to. For people coming to burnout from that kind of situation... it's probably worth re-evaluating the workplace.

My own (very biased) take is, a low-paid job in an unrelated field (for me, that would be bar staffing) but with time to re-assess one's options can (👉 possibly, maybe 👈) be more productive than staying in the rut with no time for self-reflection, let alone healing. If you have some asset (an extra room for a lodger, for example) you can help tide yourself over with, even better.

If you must leave a bad workplace without a new job in place, and you are concerned this may look bad on the CV (and you're not comfortable listing "Sabbatical" or "Re-orientation period" in your employment timeline), consider also volunteering. It's still "being productive" but so long as you set your commitments upfront (one, two, three, four days a week) and stay committed to them, there is growth, there is experience... and there is breathing space.

And starting with a space to breathe is what you're after, ultimately.