Why Recovering from Burnout Isn't Always About Relaxing

person holding white ceramic mug with lemon near book and sliced bread on white comforter

I had an interesting conversation the other day with a person interested in beginning her burnout recovery journey.

I was tabling as a vendor at a wellness event and got a chance to speak with her one-on-one. She was so excited about learning what burnout recover and self-care was and was eager to learn more.

"Tell me more about your blog!" she exclaimed. "I'm always looking for new ways to relax!"

She shared with me that her idea of recovering from burnout was getting a manicure, buying herself treats and taking naps. I would agree, these are definitely different ways of practicing self-care right? Right. When I spoke with her about some of my blogs about boundaries, relationships and mental health, she scratched her head. "Huh? What does that have to do with recovering from burnout? That's not relaxing."

My conversation with her led me to writing this here blog post -- the truth is: recovering from burnout is most definitely not always about relaxing.

As we address the myths and trends with self-care that come up in our media messages, there's an idea floating around that taking breaks, getting enough sleep and resting is recovering from burnout in its entirety. And for some folks, this is truly an essential part of their burnout recovery and stress relief journey (raises hand). But, I want to gently clarify that recovering from burnout includes more than finding the space and time to relax.

And this is so important for us to recognize because, for us to show up as our favorite version of ourselves every day, there's more that comes with healing from the exhaustion, disconnection and ineffectiveness that comes from experiencing burnout.

Recovering from burnout isn't always fun, comfortable or even easy. Recovering from burnout includes doing, planning, organizing and maintaining several parts of our lives. It also includes learning about the causes of your experience of burnout and unlearning that habits, narratives and practices that fuel burnout.

When recovering from burnout, it helps to be mindful of what your needs are on a regular basis. And some of these needs include:

• Learning your nutrition needs

• Scheduling your medical care visits

• Receiving mental health care

• Creating boundaries with your coworkers

• Holding yourself accountable

• Managing your time

• Advocating for yourself

person holding pen and planner

When reflecting on your burnout recovery journey, try thinking about what your current needs are and if your burnout recovery plan includes ways to meet those needs. Sometimes you may need to update your burnout recovery plan or start from scratch and create a new plan to take care of yourself better.

Be mindful that your burnout recovery plan includes taking a look at your whole self and taking care of your individual and relational needs as much as you can. While relaxing is certainly part of recovering from burnout, so is taking care of your needs, maintaining boundaries and making sure you're managing your stress. I'm so glad I had this conversation with the young lady I met. Because the more we discuss recovering from burnout, the more accessible it can be for all of us.

Do you think recovering from burnout isn't always about relaxing?

Learn a variety of practices to help you recover from burnout with our 30-day burnout recovery and self-care journaling challenge by clicking here!