Feeling the burn

The unfortunate but familiar feeling of burn out is starting to come back. I’ve been battling bouts of burnout for the last few years and for better or worse have gotten familiar with the signs.

For me, it’s an obvious sign when it’s difficult to get out of bed and get going on a work day. It’s beyond just feeling tired though. We are all tired, but I can usually power through tiredness especially if I’m excited about work. But when I’m starting to feel burnout, the excitement is muted or just not there.

Whenever I get the feeling, I try to reflect back and figure out the root cause. This time around, I believe it’s simply just not taking enough time to rest and recover. I’ve taken a day or two off for long weekends the last couple of months, but that is usually due to travel for a weekend event.

I took a few days off to go to Hawaii in February and that was nice, but it’s been over 2 months and perhaps it wasn’t enough. Last year I took a week staycation to just recover and recharge. I think a few days to a week off to recharge is exactly what I need right now and I’m going to try to find sometime in the next couple of weeks to do just that.