This is my personal experience and I do not pretend to be an expert opinion, moreover, I have never been a psychologist at all, so take this into account when reading this article. This is just a guide on how everything happened for me, and not a call for some working methods, in your case they may not help at all 🙂
I shared my little story in the previous article, which I advise you to read before you start this one. Here I will continue the story on the topic of what happened next in my life after my burnout.
As I concluded the previous article, I had a burnout. I didn't care at all about all my previous tasks or what other people thought of me. Fortunately, I thought of taking an urgent day off from work for 3 weeks and turned into a lying vegetable on the bed. The order of my problems was serious, I had to get money on time, which I didn’t have, I had to make a bunch of presentations, be an active coordinator of complex processes, and it was impossible to make mistakes almost anywhere, since the price of a mistake would be a failed project, and also study, which runs in parallel.
But in these moments, somehow it was completely indifferent to all this. Moreover, I did not want to communicate with anyone or do anything. The only functioning mechanism I had was to lie on the bed, watch movies, eat something sweet or unhealthy and drink alcohol (in small doses, in the style of a couple of bottles of cider). I forgot about physical activity in general.
So I spent probably about a week. Still, my family took notice. Paradoxically, I demanded that they not touch me and leave me alone, because at that time it seemed to me extremely important, but noble relatives and close people did not stand aside. It is important to say that at that time I lived alone in an apartment, I had no wife, no children, no parents nearby.
Relatives are my first source of combating burnout
My parents insisted on my coming to them and then I somehow gave up. In fact, I didn’t care about everything, so why sit at home and burn through life, if this can be done within my own walls? Then my close friends and the other half also began to help with all sorts of little things, joint trips, pleasant surprises, extra attention, although at that moment it even infuriated me in some way, but now after a while I realized how important it was for me. If you are in a similar situation, then I would recommend letting loved ones take care of you a little more than usual and not resist it. All this seems like trifles, but over time they add up to such a rich motivational cutlet, which at some point will begin to act positively.
Time and positive news
There is a lot of any information that you need to eat right, take time to sleep, do regular physical activity, visualize your progress and some other obvious things. But they didn't work in my case :)
What worked? Again, it is much easier to analyze yourself through time, but I can definitely say that it had a positive effect on me TIME. With its course, many different and positive news come into life, and not just one shit that you had to deal with before. It turned out that at work they are waiting and want to see me much earlier and I am in great demand. Somehow the money was found, the issues were resolved, damn it by itself! Yes, there were many problems and everything was waiting for my return, a miracle in this regard did not happen. BUT! Time and some good news gradually gave little pushes to motivate me to start doing something.
Small changes, step by step
Another thing that helped me get out of bed was the list of things I did during the day. Changed prioritization and split tasks into smaller ones. They were kind of funny in the beginning. In style: helped relatives to do something. I repaired the computer or solved their problem with the router, but during the day there were quite a few of them and a feeling of satisfaction appeared, which was cultivated over time and helped me move on. Later, I got down to real problems, solving one after another, although not as fast as I did before.
Magic mark, burnout passed!
It is gone 🙂 what happened now is with you forever and you know your limits. I can't even tell when I noticed that I recovered. I'm probably even ready to say that - never! 🙂 Reason? I don't want to go back to the pace of work that I did before. I realized that concentration is needed and multitasking works, but to some limited extent.
When did I first feel that I was normal and returned to work? I returned to work after 3 weeks, as agreed, but in fact, I probably felt changes or a certain surge of strength only after 3 months, the complete elimination of the consequences probably took me from six months to a year, if not more. Helped speed up the recovery process extra vacation, change of scenery and support of loved ones.
What didn't help me?
- Antidepressants didn't work for me
My doctor fortunately determined that my request for a vacation was due to my complete exhaustion at work and even insisted on antidepressants. I tried them and, as in the classics, the doctor said that they should be taken regularly and not skipped, even if it seems that they do not work. In my case, I took 7 days and I did not receive anything worthwhile from them. I know that there are a lot of examples with those whom they helped, but alas, not in mine. So I just stopped drinking them and threw them in the trash.
- Sports, visualization, meditation and other iron arguments of doctors did not help
Maybe they have some kind of medical background, but in my case I wanted something quick and clear. To take a pill and help. None of the above worked. Maybe this has its effect, but in this case it requires a long time period, and help is needed here and now.
- Alcohol is taboo?
You can probably always discuss the dangers of alcohol and that it should be excluded, but in my case, refusing it would probably be more harmful. I'm not talking about those cases when there is a desire to drink a liter of wine, whiskey or stronger drinks, this is another sore, but I'm talking about those cases when there is a desire to drink beer or cider for several days in order to brighten up everyday life. In my case, complete denial was more depressing than allowing me to drink one or two beers a night.
Here's a little digression into my experience. I would appreciate feedback and comments if you have come across something similar and are interested in what worked in your case.