If you do any sort of work that’s meaningful to you, I antidotes to burnout may be on your mind. Most of us who are committed to our crafts at some point will encounter it. In this short post, I will use meal leftovers as a metaphor to conceptualize burnout and a thought on beginning to address it.
Removing leftovers from the fridge the other day, I began my usual approach and considered how I would bring this meal back to life. Some dishes intensify through time. But some leftovers can seem bland and even if we hold gratitude for having food it can seem less desirable. I refuse to lower the bar in terms of savoring when a meal was originally made with care! As you warm up your leftovers, do you lament and think it’s surpassed its original freshness?
Similarly all your acquired skills may be present in your work yet something is diminishing. A vigor for your craft has slowly morphed. Maybe it now feels routine. Or you are distancing yourself from your occupation. Perhaps you begin to rely on the easiest ways to complete work, as opposed to your previously more dynamic doings. Worst yet, maybe your focus has shifted to more trivial aspects of your work. Instead of where your imagination and soul point you, you attempt to soothe some sort of fatigue or dread.
Ughh.
I don’t mean to simplify things. The world we live in—culture, expectations of fields, influences from relationships and meeting personal needs—all impact how we work. At the same time if you began your work with sincere interest it can return! Even if its return has been marinated in the above named persuasions and you decide you need a new direction.
Marinating brings us back to the leftovers! When a container emerges from the fridge I evoke what originally inspired me to make the meal. Maybe I wanted to please someone for whom I was cooking, satisfy a certain taste or nutritional need or have fun with ingredients I was fortunate to obtain. I refresh the pan with whatever the base flavors were, such as garlic olive oil, and then finish it off with a fresh sprinkle of herbs.
Or I may acknowledge that I now have a different motivation for this meal. In that case I set a new intention, and alter the taste or texture. Perhaps I’ll shape something from a mashed consistency into small discs and make cakes. What was the main part of the previous meal might become a side or compliment to the next meal.
So I will ask you, what originally brought you to the work of which you are feeling burnt out? This is where your recovery begins…
quai [at] discoverspace.me (646) 580-6634 Contact me about remote support services for burnout
