Self-Care Burnout

To me, three things make up the core of self-care. These things typically need to be present before I can fully assess someone’s mental health.

1. Are you getting an appropriate amount of sleep?

2. Are you eating good foods at least 3 times a day?

3. Are you getting some light exercise throughout the week to get your heart pumping?

In an effort not to be hypocritical, I typically check in with myself so I can make sure I am practicing what I preach. I’m going to be transparent here… this was my assessment a couple weeks ago when I discovered I needed to do some work:

1. Are you getting an appropriate amount of sleep? Nope, I slept wayyy too much. I don’t need 10-11 hours of sleep per night.

2. Are you eating good foods at least 3 times a day? Nope, I had been eating a ton of meat (which my system personally doesn’t agree with), I had been having more nights where a drink with dinner sounds good, and I had been scarfing desserts like my life depended on it.

3. Are you getting exercise? Nope, I hadn’t ran, walked, done yoga, or any other physical activity in a while. Heck, I was getting winded going up the stairs.

This led me to evaluate what was going on. The answer… I was exhausted. I AM exhausted. Continually having to care for myself takes a lot of work and it can be frustrating having to focus on all of these “simple” components of human life. Add in other responsibilities (work, kids, adulting, etc.) and woof… that’s a lot.

Here’s the thing though, I am still trucking. I am still able to be a good friend, partner, daughter, and therapist. I am not clinically depressed, I do not have a drinking problem, and I would still consider myself generally in shape. This lapse doesn’t define me, it just talks about where I am currently… probably more about where we are in this world currently.

I don’t post this to advertise my crappy habits, but to normalize that self-care can be daunting and tiresome. I put this out there to let you all know that we are all humans working through things. I put this out here because if you do maintain good coping 50% of the time, you’re a rock star. I put this out here so if you’re someone working through self-care burnout, you know you’re not alone.

So here’s what we do from here…. For me, I tossed the desserts (actually I finished them and then didn’t get/make more). I started running with my dog. I started listening to guided meditations at night. I got healthier food to fill my house. I rediscovered some recipes I hadn’t made in a while. I started waking up a little earlier. And I reconnected with my love of reading again. These are the things that have been working for me. I didn’t fix everything overnight (I’m still a work in progress), but I started to look at the things that I could adjust. This is not a full overhaul. Just some tweaks to start to take me off autopilot.

We’re all on our own journey. In talking with folks all the time, it seems that this has been a trend for not only me but others as well.

Let me (and others here) know what’s helped you come out of your self-care burnout.