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Everyone knows what it's like to feel burned out. The holiday season doesn't make dealing with the consequences any easier. In this episode, Tori shares her own story about pushing past burnout and gives tips you can use to breakthrough it in your own life.
Contagious Victories is a community for individuals to share positive perspectives, artistic endeavors and miraculous moments with others. Whether it is through storytelling, art, music or word, the members of Contagious Victories create space for vulnerability and act as an audience for support in creative works. We all have something to courageously celebrate- and even small victories are contagious!
Welcome back to the Contagious Victories Podcast, a show that boldly celebrates kind and creative spirits. Tori here - along with my Pekingese dog, Daisy. The two of us are determined to bring you a show that makes you smile!
It is early December at the time of this recording and I am bubbling over with Christmas spirit. I'm feeling super happy, bold and abundant. In short, I'm having a superb day! Hopefully, that will rub off on you. How are you doing?
I was reading through comments on the Contagious Victories Facebook group community and I noticed there are some people who are struggling with burnout. I'm here to help you with that issue! Like I said before, Daisy and I are here with tips. We are armed with confidence today on this episode of the Contagious Victories Podcast. We have some pointers for you on how to pull through that burnout phase, so you can end 2021 in the best way possible. Then, you can start 2022 with a BANG baby!!
Let's get to those tips. Before we dive into that, I want us to open our hearts up, open ourselves up and clear our minds. The way we do that here on the Contagious Victories Podcast is with a quick meditation. Then we will talk burnout.
Meditation:
Since I am feeling overwhelmed with Christmas cheer I thought, "Why not make this meditation different from any other meditation we've done on the podcast?"
Instead of closing your eyes and deepening your breath like we would normally do, I invite you to jump up... head over to the nearest mirror... lock-eyes with your reflection and repeat these affirmations after me:
"I allow the joy of this season to fill my heart."
"I welcome a prosperous new year!"
"I show others that I care."
"I keep the faith and trust that all is well."
"I put LOVE into ALL of my deeds."
"I am brave."
"I live out my best self today."
"I live out my best self everyday!"
"I welcome change with hope and optimism."
"I invite gratitude into my heart and REJOICE!"
That wasn't the typical mediation that we have on the show, however, I am feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to take on this new knowledge. How about you? That's what it's all about!
Now let's talk ways to push through burnout.
According to the World Health Organization, "occupational burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic work-related stress with symptoms characterized by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one's job, or negative feelings toward your job and the workplace, and a heaping amount of reduced professional efficiency. *ooof.*
We don't want that! Especially if we are creative individuals who rely on feeling good, being in a relaxed environment. Not only that, but we as artists want to love the work that we do. That's really the biggest hangup here in my opinion! When I feel burned out, it's not that I'm dragging ... I mean that is a big part of it, but it's more-or-less, I don't like the work that I'm doing. It feels wrong! And I can't do a good job if it feels wrong.
Do you relate with that in any way?
The first ting you have to do if you are feeling that way is- you have to sit down with yourself. You have to do some meditating, some journaling or some prayer. You have to go inward for this one. That is the first thing I would recommend doing. For me, I was feeling this way a few years ago when I was working at the TV station. I try not to paint that time of my life as a bad time because it wasn't. I had a great time working at the TV station. But from my heart if I am being honest with myself and with you, I got burnt out really quick because the fast-paced environment kept coming. It kept coming and coming and coming until 2020 and COVID happened and then I couldn't take it anymore.
You have to take a look at yourself and ask yourself, who am I as a person? Do I fit in this puzzle?
Imagine a puzzle with all of the pieces put together. Usually, it makes a beautiful photo or sometimes it tells a story or says a quote. So, let's say you have a puzzle and it has a picture of a waterfall on it. Maybe, you also found a loose piece somewhere else and it belonged to a puzzle that had flowers on it. Well, if you take the piece with the flowers on it and try to put it with the puzzle with the waterfall puzzle...not only will it not fit, but the color scheme, the picture all-together doesn't fit! So, even if you did find a space where the shape of the puzzle kinda-worked, then the picture that it makes still isn't whole. It's not complete! It's not harmonious.
What I am getting to is, you have to find a fit. The first tip I would give to push past burnout is to really sit down and ask yourself if what you are doing is working. Sometimes the answer is going to be no.
I've been there. I've had my dream fulfilled. I always wanted to be on TV and I was on TV and it was working! It was working in the sense of... I had a job, I was working in a professional atmosphere, I was getting paid to do something that I loved... I got to LIVE my dream! It was a really really really tough realization to realize it wasn't working for me. My dream had changed into something bigger than what I originally thought it would be.
So, with all of that said... I do not regret anything. I feel like I overcame this and I pushed past burnout. But sometimes doing so doesn't look the way you think it does.
Sit down and ask yourself some of these questions:
- Is what I am doing serving God?
- Do I see myself in the same place 3 years from now? 5 years from now?
- How am I evolving this role that I am in?
- How am I growing as a person in both my personal and professional career?
Because people want to hire others who strive to grow and keep reaching for bigger things.
If you are in a position where you can't do that, you are you going to reach a glass ceiling... or you will be taking up someone else's seat. For me, that's what it felt like. It felt like someone else could serve the company better.
With all of that said, journal on some of these questions, pray to God about it and sit with yourself and the answers.
One thing I read this past week in my daily devotional, The Purpose Driven Life, is that God doesn't care about your career. He cares about your character! So, whenever you are going through a situation, or if you're burnt out or feel like you are being stretched or pulled or whatever...whenever you feel that way.. you are GROWING! It's growing pains! That tug is there for a reason.
Find out if it's a good tug or a bad tug. If it's a good tug you will feel like you can see the other side if the situation. If its a bad tug, that means some of those questions you asked yourself earlier (do I see myself in this place 3 years, 5 years, 10 years from now?) that means you do NOT see yourself there. It's not a bad tug, it's a painful tug.
It just means change is coming. Now what?
That's usually the scariest, most painful part. In my case, I made the leap. This year has been extremely tough and challenging. At the same time, it has been the most rewarding year. It's been the best year! I know I am going to look back on this year in decades to come and say "I am so proud of her. That girl... that is who I am proud of."
Take it from me that sometimes the unknown is scary. And when you ask yourself, "Am I burned out? Do I see myself here in 5 years? 10 years?" ...When you find out the answers are no... just get excited. Get excited because change is coming.
There is a silver lining and that is, we are not alone in our feelings of burnout!
According to Influence Weekly, Vibely has partnered with influencer marketing pioneer and investor Ian Borthwick to produce a research report focused on influencer burnout. The team surveyed 150 creators in the fall of 2021 and asked participants to identify sources of burnout, how often they post, and rate their satisfaction with a platform on a scale of 10.
So what did they find out? Well, the research revealed 90% of creators have experienced burnout (nearly all of them!) and 71% of creators have considered quitting social media.
I want to take a moment to interrupt... I'm not telling you to quit. Just because this survey said 71% of creators think about quitting, doesn't mean they all do. In fact, when I first decided I was burnt out and needed a change.. I didn't quit. I held on for about 2 more years. I got nitty gritty on who I was, what I stood for, what I wanted. You have to really go inward and get to know yourself. Otherwise, the next thing that comes along is just going to burn you out too.
If you are in a position where you are on the edge of burnout and you are trying to power through... you can use burnout to your advantage. That's what I did during those two years.
Instead of feeling disconnected I challenge you to look at this as an opportunity. You have an opportunity to connect to the your audience and the people at your workplace and at your job in a way you've never done so before. By opening up about what you are going through, you're giving others the gift of a good example. You're giving others the gift of something that worked out... blemishes and all.
Let's recap:
First, we are going to do a gut-check and find out if where we are is working. Are we in the wrong place? Are we in the wrong space? Are we in someone else's chair?
If the answer is yes, then we are going to change our live immediately in some way, shape or form. We need a change. This burn out is telling us something. This pain-point is here for a good reason and that is to communicate to ourselves that it is not working.
If the answer is no, and we do feel like we are in the right place but still need something to power through.. then we can use burnout to our advantage by opening up to our friends, peers, audience, fans and followers... the people in our lives and let them know what we are going through. By doing so, we are creating new content, something new, a new space, a new relationship. By doing that... there is a change in your life. See where I am going with this? Burn out does lead to change, whether it's a big change or a little change.
The last tip I have for overcoming burnout is time batching your work.
If the answer is no, and we do feel lioke we are in the right place but still need something to power through.. then we can use burnout to our advantage by opening up to our friends, peers, audience, fans and followers... the people in our lives and let them know what we are going through. By doing so, we are creating new content, something new, a new space, a new relationship. By doing that... there is a change in your life. See where I am going with this? Burn out does lead to change, whether it's a big change or a little chaynge.
The final tip I have on how to power-through burnout is to time batch your work. This goes for any kind of work that you might get burnt out on...Creating content... writing captions... publishing articles and newsletters. Anything!
Time batching means compartmentalizing. It's structuring specific times slots for specific tasks. The reason this helps with burnout is because once it's done, it's done. You don't have to worry about it anymore.
I've had tremendous success with this method in recent times with social media posting. If you just knock them out at once ... then you don't have to worry about it for a few weeks! And you come back and you can schedule two more weeks of content.
So, batching is a hot phrase in the creative space but it can be applied to anything in your life. It really will help with burnout if your burnout is because of one specific task. That is just one more little bonus tip for ya!
I hope this episode has been helpful for you if you are dealing with burnout on the occupation level or on the personal level. My intentions with this podcast are to motivate you to put your best self out there. Thank you so much for letting me catch up with you today! You can always reach me by emailing Tori@ToriBlackmon.com or by connecting on Instagram @ContagiousVictories.
My name is Victoria Blackmon and I hope you spread only love and victories this holiday season. Until next time!