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Journal SolemnDragon's Journal: Burnout fog [UPDATED] 22

Journal by SolemnDragon

How do you get back your spark?

You. Yeah, you.

Assuming you've ever been in a position where you knew burnout was on its way, and were unsuccessful in avoiding it, what did you do then, when something in your will finally snapped, and you couldn't pretend to be there any more?

When you don't know what else you want to do, don't know what you're capable of, and don't know where to begin?

I'm spending all of my energy on trying to stay well enough, and haven't had energy to spare for creative in awhile, as my website shows. (though i did finish a short episode that should be up this sunday, FINALLY.)

We won't talk about the work- i need revitalising from other sources before i can change anything there. Plus, there's a lot there i can't/won't talk about, but it's the biggest factor. That will need change but how is another question. I'm not fit for it yet. I need to go to school, but i'm definitely not healthy enough for that yet.

I need goals, etc., but before ANY of that- so don't lecture me on it- i need to get back in touch with the fire that drives me.

What do YOU do when it's all ashen? i don't mean for a day. I mean the career-changing, life-changing, job-changing, serious kind. Not the kind that will lift in a day- or a week. I appreciate all the one-day fixes i've gotten, but they aren't what this question is about.

And i think i need some new music, too, something intriguing enough to get me out of the leaden exhaustion and back into reclaiming my outer life. NOT as a fix, or even a coping tool- just as something to listen to while i start the journey that this is going to be. C'mon, music freaks. No power music, i don't have the energy for rage. I need... i need the fog to lift... hell, i don't know what i need. Bring it on.

Whatcha got?

This discussion was created by SolemnDragon (593956) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Burnout fog [UPDATED] More

Burnout fog [UPDATED]

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  • About the only thing that keeps me going is inertia. If I stopped, I'd never be able to get going again, so I just plod along doing the same thing week in, week out.

    When I can afford it, some retail therapy seems to help though. My latest purchase should keep me entertained for a while, but then I'll be back to the same ol', same old...
    • no, i mean what you do when the same old has become categorically impossible to continue, and you just can't bring yourself to, because it makes you miserable and you don't want it extending its black-hole enthusiasm-sucking powers into the rest of your daily life.

      • Re:no (Score:1)

        by arb ( 452787 )
        I just plod along on auto-pilot. Not exactly the most rewarding way to spend your time, but it gets me through...

  • When I am burned out and fed up with everything, I take my refuge in the kitchen. Working on a lump of bread dough is about as therapeutic as anything I have found, and I get to enjoy the results of my labors when it's done. When I am done I feel like I have accomplished something worthwhile and I can get back into whatever was busying me before then.

    Lacking the time and ingredients for bread making, I turn to the computer and write code. I have a friend who told me one time that I am the only person he h

  • THe only thing that has ever worked for me is time. Trial work is so all consuming that every ounce of creativity is wicked away like so much- crap I can't even come up with something for that.

    Between a couple trials last month and helping my wife run her first big event, I have been totally burned out. I have been trying to get my computer doing what i want it to do because it requires technical as opposed to creative skills. I've been avoiding python because my ideas for it stem from the same creativ

  • When I'm down, I typically go for the down music... Damien Rice with a sub-woofer can be very nice.

    I've been on a big Toad the Wet Sprocket kick lately, so I'll throw them out. Not too hard and ranging from somber to sad. Good stuff, though.

    Hmmm, it may be a bit hard, but I like Comedown by Bush when I'm sluggish and trying to get back up. Sixteen Stone as a whole is pretty decent for that... but perhaps too hard for the moment.

    Mir... the Hard Candy album by Counting Crows has some ups and downs... but I fe
  • Normally I hate driving, but long distance road trips (especially while driving here in the southwest) with good music or a good audio book really do it for me, especially if I am by myself. Not only do I get some much needed space, but I get plenty of time to just let my mind wander without a million interruptions. By the time I get back home I have a million new ideas for things :-) Plus it feels like I am driving away from all my problems; just leaving them behind. Considering the last time I took a trip

  • ... the first thing is to tell yourself its okay to feel burned out. ... and it's okay to let a few things slide, or slack, or be completely ignored.

    Part of the problem with burnout is that you end up worrying about all the things that you're not "getting done" because you're too burned out to do them ... which sucks.

    Procrastination can be your friend ... if you put something off long enough, sometimes, it eventually turns out it doesn't need to be done :-)

    I know, not much help, but the guilt part ab

  • A while back someone pointed me to http://music.download.com [download.com]. All free stuff, downloadable right now without exposing a credit card or anything, and in just about every genre you might want. The catch is that it's almost all independent stuff, so you won't find any top-40 stuff (thankfully). You can experiment with a lot of styles you don't know, or you can stick to what you do know. Give it a look; you might find what you need there.

    As for long-term burnout resolution, I am still hoping to dump IT and go

  • First, I gather my friends around me... Oh. Wait. I don't have friends. I have a friend. It's kind of hard to gather a single person around me, though. I'm bigger than he is.

    OK. Next then. Shopping. Shopping for fun, not for necessity. Um... Nope. Not enough money left for shopping. Skip that one.

    Reading. Yup. There you go. Pull myself a nice book, bury myself in the pages, and don't come out until I feel better. Hmmm. This may take a while.

    Last but not least... Live. Just keep on living.

  • For what you are describing, nothing helps but (1) changing the situation, and (2) time. Note that I said and. I still have effects from a burnout situation at work more than ten years ago. It's infrequent, but I recognize the feelings and have learned how to deal with them.

    For changing the situation, that may mean getting out, or it may mean fixing the problems. From what you have said, I would guess that either a job or career change is necessary. Not an easy thing. Career change was not an option f
  • When life gives you ashes, it's high time to kick some ash!

    At those junctures in my life, which have ALWAYS been doorways of a sort (and sometimes one-way), I've frequently taken some time to myself-- by myself-- for reflection, usually far away, sometimes by way of a looooong walk, or a long sit. It's not uncommon to take a fast (for as long as it takes for the answers to some); for me, since I don't eat that regularly anyway, I take a fast from sleep-- I unplug my phone, make things so I can be undisturb
  • The first thing I tend to do when I hit that completely burned out point is to get outside and start examining nature. I check out the different types and shapes of clouds, study the new buds on the trees around me, get fascinated by how every blade of grass is unique, delight in the antics of the wildlife (even those dangerous squirrels), and when possible stargaze.

    I also have mental exercises I do - nothing I was taught, just something like meditating but thinking and doing things. I like to imagine shr

  • Music (Score:2)

    by Tet ( 2721 )
    C'mon, music freaks. No power music, i don't have the energy for rage. I need... i need the fog to lift...

    As the person around here with probably more "power music" than anyone else, it's probably surprising that I wouldn't recommend it. I tend to find that something a little more soothing works in situations like this[1]. I recommend:

    1. Duran Duran - "Winter marches on"
    2. Duran Duran - "Save a prayer"
    3. Ultravox - "Lament"
    4. Ultravox - "Man of two worlds"
    5. Depeche Mode - "Blasphemous rumours"[2]
    6. Depeche Mode -
  • Center. Ground. Pet HMtK. Repeat till you can *stay* centered. If possible, go sit with your back against a weeping willow tree, and become the tree - feel the breeze in your leaves, the birds and squirrels in your hair, the earth in your toes pushing nutrients and minerals into you as the sun turns the flow into wholesome food to nourish you. Feel your place in the cycle of life. Eventually, you'll recharge, and figure out what you need to do to go on. Right now, you're disconnected, floating free l
  • i don't like the same music as most people. here's what i consider some interesting stuff.

    for an interesting hybrid of jazz and electronica with hip hoppish beats, check out the latest from meat beat manifesto, at the center [amazon.com]

    here are a few available on http://bleep.com/ [bleep.com], where you can also listen to previews to see if i'm full of shit. bleep pauses songs every 30 seconds, but you can listen to the whole thing in any 30 second chunks you want.

    amon tobin supermodified [bleep.com]. i especially love the song "four ton m
  • I have definitely been there. A year ago, I realized that there was no way my health would permit me to continue working, and that I was gonna crash whether I liked it or not. And with the loss of job came loss of independence, loss of financial security, and a host of other issues over which I had no control. Taken as a whole, quite overwhelming.

    And that was the problem. I was seeing all the catastrophes at the same time, and I couldn't move out from under the mountain of burden. It appeared as a nightmare

  • What I do. Well, first off without a goal, my funk lasts. I need a goal before I can dig my way out. Sometimes (usually) this is a long term goal. Most of the things that really, really burn me out are measured in years anyway.

    In October of 1999, I wrecked my car... totalled. I didn't have the necessary credit, or the necessary cash to get another car. My wife (gf at the time), needed her car, so we shared. I got into a funk then, and quickly realized that my goal was to have a car. I didn't get

  • I just find inspiration in other ways. If I'm totally creatively ... OUT of gas, I do something mindless. Play the gamecube, knit something mindless (although the concept of "Mindful knitting" is one that has gained popularity recently), watch tv, curl up on the couch with the husband, or the dog, or the cat, or the other cat...

    I was in a fit of knitting ennui because I HATE PINK and this month's Project Spectrum colors are red and pink, and I just can't deal. I just can't. You don't understand. It's... ugh
  • There has been exactly one time when I had that sort of feeling. At the time, my solution was to drop out of all responsibilities for a semester and get some serious therapy, then come back after a summer in a entirely new major (I used to be in Aerospace Engineering, don'tcha know, now it's the operations and systems management life for me.)

    Complete course change, but not abrupt--leaving plenty of time to think about it. That's how I did it.

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