Returning to work, at a new job, after experiencing burnout, before you have had a chance to recover, is a slippery slope. It’s in your best interest to leave a positive impression in the new work environment and potentially form meaningful connections. This new setting might not align with your vision of a perfect job, but if you are underperforming and are a bad team player, it can stifle your career down the line.
Burnout usually leads to emotional exhaustion, increased cynicism, or even depression, which will affect your productivity and day-to-day life in general. To that end, it would be useful to go over a few suggestions or tips on how to come back from burnout.
Building a Safety Net
The sense of uncertainty is the main reason why leaving a job is so stressful. We start to think about how we could use some time to rest and recharge our batteries. But in the back of our mind, there is that gnawing feeling that results from the loss of job security. We can’t say with certainty how long it will take to find a new job or how strong the demand is for our skill set. Sure, we find an employer eventually, but will this new place be a step forward or a step back in our career?
So, it’s always useful to have options or some sort of feedback on whether it will be easy to find a new workplace. Having a well-polished and structured resume truly helps in this respect. This is why many hire professionals to get that well-crafted CV and cover letter that make job hunting easier. If you work as a nurse, apothecary, or physician, then the first step is to find the best healthcare resume writing service and have verified resume writers put together a glowing document. You can start sending it to potential employers to get the ball rolling, and then tell them you will be able to start in a month or two.
Knowing there is a new job waiting for you should make things easier. That means you truly get to rest without overthinking and stressing about the future.
How to Recharge After Burnout
The reason why burnout happens in the first place is that you were overwhelmed with responsibilities. You had less time to rest, you had less time for yourself, you started to hate the situation you are in, and you became more irritable. So the number one thing you should do is make up for the lost rest. Being overworked has probably caused stress to build up, so even when you had time to sleep, you couldn’t rest properly. Here are a few steps that should allow your body to recover:
- Relaxing sleep – Make sure you get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep. It would be good to get some new bedtime routines now that you have more time. This means a warm bath or a warm beverage before bedtime. You can also find some good ASMR videos if that helps, or simply sounds that help you fall asleep faster.
- Get rid of guilt for being unproductive – Don’t feel bad for being disconnected, and just doing nothing productive in particular. Go for walks, calm down, do breathing exercises, watch a new TV show, or play games. Give your brain time to reset and rediscover that feeling that just because you didn’t do anything productive, it’s not the end of the world.
- Adopt some healthy habits – Now that you have more free time, you can get into some healthy hobbies like yoga, meal prepping, joining a book club, or something similar. The goal here is to be active in a good way, to stay healthy, and to get more opportunities to socialize. It’s all about self-care, doing things that bring you joy, and removing negativity.
As time goes by, you should feel your mood improving. This means you will be more open to tackling new challenges, and you won’t be as stressed when new responsibilities come your way. The goal of recovering from work burnout is really to take your time and become more comfortable with the idea of working again. It’s not like a vacation where you get a week or so, and start to regret that it is coming to an end so fast.
Prepping for a New Job
Starting a new job is stressful, especially if you hate what it can do to you emotionally. First off, a change of mindset might be helpful. Instead of thinking about the job as a means to survive in the present, think of it as an investment in the future you. You are gaining useful experience or skills that will help you advance.
Moreover, you should remember why you picked this vocation, or what prompted you to pursue this career. Is it because it aligns with who you are, or is it just a means to an end so that you can start your own business? Whatever the case, it should reignite that drive that pushes you to build a brighter future for yourself. That said, it’s also important to pick a workplace where you can move up and where your efforts can be noticed and rewarded.
Preventing Future Burnout
To avoid creating aversions towards work, you need to reflect on your prior situation and use it to your advantage. Recall what the main causes of stress were and think about how you can prevent them from happening. Be proactive and talk to the manager about how much workload you can take daily, and establish the boundaries right from the get-go. The goal is to find a balanced space where your contributions are meaningful while not inflicting mental harm.
Now things don’t always go as planned, and occasionally you will get asked to take on extra work. So long as those situations are rare, you shouldn’t mind. But if it keeps happening, then that indicates a problem with management and workload distribution. Bear in mind, this can be a good opportunity for you to renegotiate your compensation. Say that the agreed-upon salary isn’t sufficient for the amount of responsibilities you are taking on currently, and that you’d feel more comfortable if you are adequately rewarded.
How to Recover From Burnout While Still Working
When you start to notice changes in your behaviour, such as irritability, feeling unmotivated, or other emotions that preceded your last burnout, take action. Don’t let things spiral out of control. Talk to your superior to see what the most essential tasks are and prioritize those. For tasks of lesser importance, their deadline should be moved, or they should be assigned to someone else.
This should open up your schedule, ease off the tension, and allow you to take more breaks. In essence, this is a smaller burnout, and you can recover from it more easily. If possible, try to take a few days off, do things you like, get good rest and nourishment, and enjoy your hobbies. Once you figure out how to recover from burnout at work, you will have a more positive attitude towards it and be more productive when it truly matters.
Learn From Your Experience
Always remember that coming back from burnout should be a learning experience. You aren’t doing it so that you can go through it again. The idea is to find the correct work-life balance so that it doesn’t happen again. Once you recover, you are armed with knowledge on how to recognize the signs and what your mind and body need to filter out built-up stress.
We often hear that knowing how to organize better or manage our tasks can help with productivity and reduce stress. That’s not always possible, the tasks or assignments don’t have the same complexities, and there are many external things that can throw us off schedule. A good manager or a healthy work environment recognizes these challenges. So when a productive and devoted worker requests a break, they should be met with understanding.
