We’ve all felt burnout before. You’ve been working so hard, taking on more than you can manage, working hard day and night with no breaks until you’ve completed your tasks but then after you’re done there’s this feeling of just wanting to lay in bed all day and smaller tasks seem like a huge burden. 

When this happens, your next course of action should be taking a break. Maybe take a step back from all the chaos of work, meetings, the stress and breathe. I’m not saying you should forget about those things completely, since there are things that are still important and need to get done; but if you’re ever in a place where all of the things going on in your life become too overwhelming it’s good to pause, let yourself take a break, and then begin getting back to your schedule with healthier habits that’ll prevent this from happening. 

Let’s walk through the steps together. Right now, you feel like you’re at rock bottom, you don’t want to go anywhere, a shower is the last thing on your mind and doing anything seems like a taxing chore. This is completely fine. We don’t have to get up and run a marathon or anything; we’ll start small, baby steps. Start by getting out of bed, brushing your teeth and take a shower. Not too bad. Then, maybe go to the kitchen and make some breakfast even if its just some cereal or a sandwich and a coffee, anything you want. You just completed four major tasks, and the rest of the day is yours. 

Now, it’s the next day, and maybe try to do one extra productive thing that you haven’t done the previous day. You could practice a hobby that maybe you’ve put on the back burner because you’ve been so busy with your work. You could exercise, try journaling by just writing about what you’re feeling, what goals you’ve set for yourself, anything. Another thing that I’ve personally found to be helpful when I’m in this spot is talking to some of my friends. You don’t have to if you don’t think you can socialize at the moment but based off of my experiences I just feel a lot better after I’ve talked to a friend. It helps me realize that this is just a bump in the road. I know I’m feeling unproductive and haven’t been able to muster the energy to do much but speaking to someone can help you anchor yourself and bring you back to reality.

Slowly ease yourself back into your daily routine with studying more frequently, taking on responsibilities at work, what ever a routine means to you. One important thing to remember is that this isn’t an easy process, and it looks different for everyone. The important thing is to never accidentally dig yourself into a deeper hole by not doing anything about it. I understand it’s hard, and takes lots of will power to get through but in the end you’re benefiting yourself

 To ensure that you don’t fall back into the same cycle of working yourself too hard with no time for yourself, set up some realistic ground rules. This could include: making time to meet with your friends sometime during the week, making time for relaxing activities that you enjoy, getting more sleep (try not to stay up too late into the night), and the list goes on. 

The point is: take care of yourself! Feeling this way is not a picnic and I know that this isn’t an intentional feeling, it isn’t just laziness, but there are still ways that you can come back up again and I hope this gave you the push you needed to get out there and start feeling like yourself again. 

Written By: Poorvi Deshpande, Mental H2O Youth Resource Writer