“Almost everything will work again if you unplug is for a few minutes… Including you”
-Anne Lamott
Do you have days where you do you feel burnt out? I am sure you do. For the past 3-4 days, I have been in a low mood. I did not put out my blog yesterday as I did not feel it was right to guide you. I felt a little burnt out and tired. I didn’t have the motivation/will to write my blog or to go exercise or do anything at all. I realised that I needed to let loose a little and not think about any of the things I have to do. I told myself I needed to give my mind a break.
I recovered since then, and I am now in a better mindset than I was before. No matter how many times I feel burnt out, it always makes me feel bad. It makes me feel weak and pathetic. But what I realised this time was that even the most talented and prepared people in life need a break. I mean, how can you not? We work, think, play, listen, process, and who knows what else. It gets exhausting. If you don’t pull back and rest to heal, recover, and learn, you’re never going to be the best.
How to handle them?
The first thing you need to do is realise that you are in a slump or feeling down. If you keep going while you’re burnt out or feeling down, you will not be at your peak performance. This is just like going to the gym and building your muscles. Every time you work out, you’re breaking down your muscles. The food you eat, the protein, is what builds the muscle up again. But while the food is building the muscle, you need to rest because if you continue to train while your body is making them, you’ll end up going back on your progress. This is the same principle you should apply. Your brain and body need rest after continually thinking and working.
The next thing you need to do is limit stress or any other kinds of worries while you’re resting. This rest is so your mind can ease up and not have to overthink. Instead, you could read books, practice mindful mediation (it helps with the stress and worrying), or watch Netflix. You have to do this without any guilt. You have to tell yourself that you have to do this to be at your peak performance.
Towards the end of this well-deserved rest, you will not want to go back to your regular routine or whatever it was you were doing or wanted to do. Trust me on this. But there are ways you can do this. The easiest one is usually having deadlines to meet. If you don’t have any deadlines, then the other way is to write down why you were in a low mood, why it happened, and what you did about it. This way, you’ll have a record of everything, and this event will be off your mind now. After this, you have to do one thing that you like doing. In my case, it was cleaning up my room and table. I immediately felt a lot better and started writing this blog.
These are the 3 steps to identify, manage and come out of a low mood successfully without beating yourself about it. They happen to everyone. A bad day/days are very normal. All you have to do is learn how to deal with them, and you will feel fantastic. It might take a day or two for your energy to return, so just don’t worry. Be happy and live your life the way you wanted to.
“Rest and self care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve other from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel”
— Eleanor Brownn