How to deal with burnout

Sharing my tips on dealing with burnout.

Hi friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful morning. We have a couple of appointments today, and it’s back to school and the *real world* after a glorious winter break. We slept in almost every day, watched a ton of movies, played Tucson tourists, ate takeout, got together with friends and family, and just enjoyed our time together. I hardly touched my laptop, but I’m excited to be back at it today!

For today’s post, I wanted to talk a bit about burnout, which is a little bit of a triggering topic. So many of us know exactly what burnout feels like, and it’s horrible. I picture myself in full burnout mode, and how exhausted and utterly depleted I felt, and I just want to give my past self a hug.

I was a Type A, super anxious child, who spent my childhood into my 20s in flight or fight. Then, I got married, started this wild adventure of a military life (we’re almost done!!) and became a mom. It was such a beautiful time, but it was a hard time — I feel like I missed a lot of the girls’ baby years because I was dealing with postpartum depression/anxiety, and completely burned out.

I know that this is what led me down the path towards mystery health issues and autoimmune symptoms.

While I’m not *fully* recovered from burnout, I’m now symptom-free and feel a million times better. I’m always a work in progress and learning as much as I can, but wanted to share some of the things that helped in today’s post. As always, this is not medical advice! Just sharing my experience, and if you’re dealing with burnout, please reach out to someone who can help you on a path to wellness and peace; you deserve to feel amazing <3

How to deal with burnout

Let yourself be a little more Type B

This was a huge one for me, and has also been the hardest one. I just learned that I can’t be everything to everyone all the time. I can’t do everything, I can’t be perfect, I can’t have a perfectly clean house 24/7, wear makeup and look cute all the time, and say yes to the millions of social activities and kid events.

Sometimes now I’ll leave the dishes in the sink until the morning, I’ll leave laundry on the chair for an extra, day, I’ll go out in public looking like a hot.mess, and will say no to events and invitations. I also used to work 24/7, but I stopped answering emails after hours and try to close my computer at a reasonable time.

The messy house is a stressor for me, so I still try to clean every day, but I’ll set a timer. When it goes off, that’s it. Also, the kids are older now and can help more!

Incorporate things in your day that you enjoy, that are just for you

This is SO important. It’s so easy to feel burned out when your entire day is consumed with tasks for other people. You *have* to take a little time for something you enjoy each day, whether it’s a walk outside, a bath, time in the sauna blanket, reading a book, a phone call with a friend, a juice from your favorite spot, anything that brings you a little bit of joy. Even if it’s just 5-10 minutes, it’s worth it.

Set your future self up for success

Try to do little acts of care for your future self, like taking time to put leftovers away to enjoy for lunch the next day, booking something to look forward to (like a facial or massage), ordering something you use reguarly before you run out, filling your water bottle for the next morning, etc. Sometimes the only person looking out for you is YOU, so take care of yourself. <3

Outsource where you can

I’m a huge believer in outsourcing anything that’s worth it to you that would make life easier that your budget and life allows. We have a house cleaner that comes every two weeks and saves my life. I would get rid of a ton of things in the budget before I would get rid of that lol. Maybe order some healthy meals, like Sakara, have groceries delivered, laundry service, car cleaning, mobile pet grooming, anything to make your life easier.

Make a list of things you like to do, and a list of things you HATE to do, and try to outsource some of those!

One of the biggest components of burnout is feeling like you’re drowing, so find some people who can help you feel like you’re caught up on things.

Focus on the basics

The basics are fresh air, exericse, nutritious food, clean air/water, and stress reduction. Try to get in a little bit of these things each day. I haven’t been walking nearly as much over the break and I can feel it. I feel more balanced and energized when I do these things each day.

Functional testing

Functional testing was a gamechanger for me. When you’re burned out, you’re also likely nutrient depleted (stress burns through nutrients!) and dealing with toxicities, which can impact gut health (affects neurotransmitter function which impacts mood!) and how we absorb nutrients.

When I did functional lab testing, I was able to see the toll that stress has had on my body and work on replenishing from a foundtional level. If you’re interested in testing, email me gina@fitnessista.com subject TESTING. My new program launches in February, which will include functional testing, too! To get first access, make sure you’re on my newsletter.

So, tell me, friends: what has helped you with burnout? Any books or resources you love??

xoxo

Gina

More: how to recover from mom burnout