You’re successful. Congratulations! After years of hard work and planning, you’ve finally achieved that promotion you dreamed about for so long. You now have a new title and an important seat at the executive meeting room table.
The future seems bright as you look forward to the opportunity to make your mark on your organization or company. But after some time has passed, you start feeling as if something is missing. Your old friends from college invite you out for drinks after work, but these events no longer excite you like they used to.
Your life feels bland and unsatisfying—and it didn’t used to be this way! What happened?
You’ve just suffered from success burnout. But you can fight off this feeling and get your old life back.
Here’s How:
Do Not Worry About Things Out Of Your Control
A common mental ailment that affects many people is worrying about the future. However, the future is never promised to anyone – no one knows what will happen in even just one hour from now! Focusing on something you have no control over only serves to stress you out and lower your quality of life. Try to focus on all of the good things in your life right here, right now instead.
Take care of yourself
Many people do not take proper care of their bodies. Eating poorly, for example, has been shown to cause all sorts of mental ailments like anxiety and depression (and by this point, people should know that all physical ailments have mental causes, too, like heart disease). So make sure to eat properly – don’t skip meals if possible!
Exercise regularly (but not excessively) and get plenty of sleep! It would also be a good idea to partake in activities that make you happy, whether it is painting, opting for a therapeutic massage — you can look for “Spa near me in in Lakewood, CO” or a similar phrase on the Web to find a facility — or going for a long walk. Remember, taking good care of yourself will make it much easier to deal with any mental problems you might have.
Many people do not take proper care of their bodies. Eating poorly, for example, has been shown to cause all sorts of mental ailments like anxiety and depression (and by this point, people should know that all physical ailments have mental causes, too, like heart disease). So make sure to eat properly – don’t skip meals if possible!
Exercise regularly (but not excessively) and get plenty of sleep! Knowing that you are taking good care of yourself will make it much easier to deal with any mental problems you might have.
Let Go Of The Past
If there is something that happened in your past that is still haunting you, try to figure out why it would do so – what about it haunts you? What can you learn from this experience? Once you have figured out what lessons to take away, let the rest of it go! Dwelling on the past will not make your problems disappear; focusing on them will only make them worse.
Take Care Of Your Home
Your living space reflects how much care and effort you put into making yourself feel at home (hence ‘home’ = ‘you’). On top of looking nice aesthetically, everything should be organized neatly. Keeping things clean prevents bacteria growth which could lead to infections or worse.
Be Grateful For What You Have
Just like worrying about the future is unproductive, so too is focusing on what you don’t have. So if you’re reading this article right now, be grateful that you can read it! There are many people who work just as hard as anyone else does to try and feed their families but cannot succeed due to factors outside of their control.
Try thinking of 3 things that you are grateful for each day, no matter how small they might seem – this will not only make you feel better, it will keep your mind focused on positivity and prevent depression and anxiety from setting in.
Find A Healthy Outlet Before Your Emotions Eat Away At Your Sanity
Sometimes problems become too much for people to deal with, and releasing their pent-up emotions through unhealthy habits like drinking or smoking becomes tempting. Instead, let your emotions out – just do so in a healthy way! Find someone you trust at drug rehab, for example, to open up to about your problems. Chances are there’s at least one other person who will understand exactly what you’re going through.
Spend Time With People Who Make You Truly Happy
If something specific makes you feel worse about yourself (e.g., if someone says something racist/sexist/homophobic), avoid spending more time around them in the future. You don’t have to put in considerable effort to maintain friendships with people who drag you down – these relationships are toxic and consuming, not healthy.
Social media can be a useful tool, but it also brings out the worst in people (cyberbullying). It’s often hard to distinguish between meaningful exchanges and attention-seeking behavior on social media, so do not make the mistake of comparing yourself with others and remember that lots of people will put up what they think is their ‘ideal’ self online.
Remain Calm During Stressful Times
Everyone has experienced it before: when you’re in the middle of an argument, your mind literally goes blank. Try to stay calm, even when things around you are slipping out of control – by staying calm, you can prevent a lot of damage from being done. Remember that any problems that arise will eventually pass after a while!
Enjoy Life!
Just because you have things going on right now doesn’t mean your life has to be miserable 24/7. Some people deal with mental health problems by immersing themselves in work or school so much so that they forget how to relax and play – this might help people temporarily get rid of whatever is bothering them.
Still, it’s not a healthy long-term solution. Instead, make sure to do something you enjoy every day. Humans were not built to sit in one place all day; they require human interaction and physical activity to stay healthy! Try mixing things up by walking, cycling, or dancing (whatever suits your personal taste).
14 Comments
Dani
These are great tips for avoiding burn out, and such a great reminder as we head into a new year. I know for me, I can absolutely get burnt out at work and then start looking for change (like a different job), when really I need to address the root causes that you have on this list.
Heather Castillo
These are excellent tips. I have found myself guilty of a number of these over the years.
Gervin Khan
These are great and helpful tips to avoid burnout. One of my favorite from these lists is to lessen your time in Social Media.
I’ll keep this in mind and thank you for sharing this with us.
Christian Foremost
I’ve totally felt success burnout before and I agree with a lot of the tips that you’ve listed here. U gotta check in with yourself from time to time and take good care!
Beth Pierce
These are excellent tips. I can only relate to them. Burnout is real even if you’ve reached success.
Elizabeth O
We need to avoid burnout as much as possible. And your tips are helpful. I find spending with the right people helpful
Dominique
Self care is SO important! Thank you for highlighting all of these!
Rosey
You think you will never get burn out but it does happen. It’s good to be proactive about it.
khoingn | The Broad Life
These are surely the great tips! I especially like to spend time with people who make me happy and understand what I can say. For sure it’s true now I can see it clear.
Clarice
I agree with you that gratitude is very important. Being grateful can make a huge impact and difference on how we view life. It will certainly help us stay positive.
Caroline
You have compiled a great list. I like the take care of yourself point. It’s so important yet some people take care of everything and everyone around forgetting about themselves which leaves them burnt out. It’s good to be kind to self too
Emman Damian
These tips are so valuable. I agree on all points. We need to slow if down a little and be more realistic.
Thena
Great tips! Burnout is real so these are actually things that people can use to avoid this from happening.
Alexis
Yes, all of this! Not worrying about things out of our control and taking care of ourselves outside of work is crucial.