Author: @marinastathakis
I’m the type of person that always needs to be working and accomplishing my next task.
Due to my heavy-work load recently and this pressure to perform at my best, I never had the chance to actually check in with my emotions to see how I have been feeling.
I was so busy with my work-life that my body forced me to check in with emotions, because I failed to do so myself.
This week, I faced burn-out to the extreme.
I never realized how exhausted I was mentally and physically, until I had a week of panic attacks and breakdowns; and I’m not ashamed to admit that’s what I’ve been going through.
I think this idea of “grind” culture that we live in that influences us to keep working and achieving our next task, can only last for so long; because as humans, we all have limits.
After the most emotional week I’ve had in a long time, I decided to take a break.
Here Are Some Things That Burnout Has Taught Me:
-
- I learned that it’s okay to take a break. That it’s okay to not always be focusing on my next goal and my next task.
- I learned that it’s okay to not always meet a deadline, reply to a text, or be there for everyone else, when in that time I needed myself the most.
- learned that it’s okay to feel like everything has fallen apart, because it was only temporary state of being.
- I learned that stress is temporary; at the end of the week I did end up pulling myself together, it just took some time.
- I learned that it’s okay to reach out for help and to let people know that I wasn’t doing okay. The thing is, people never know how you’re feeling if you’re always internalizing it.
- I learned to communicate the dark feeling I was experiencing, and by doing so, I received the support and the comfort I needed.
- I came to the understanding that we all break, and sometimes we need to just rest and not to feel guilty about it.
- I overcame this difficult week but resting and not feeling guilty about it. I learned that it’s okay to be weak by expressing to my close friends and family that I was truly struggling.
Moving forward, I’m going to keep checking in with my emotions and my energy levels.
It can be difficult at times to take a break, but resting is required and we shouldn’t feel guilty about it.
Overall, I will continue learning through my experiences to aim for a more balanced life, balancing working and resting equally.
I hope people that read this and remember that it’s okay to not always be on your grind, and it’s okay to take a break.
