Recovering from Burnout: A depression therapist in Madison, WI offers a simple first step

As a depression therapist, I see burnout in many forms. Burnout in simple terms means that you have been stressed out for a really long time. In response to this long term stress, your body says "No more!" Many of the signs of burnout overlap with what depression feels like.

You start to shut down and feel depleted, numb, pessimistic, and insignificant.

There are many causes of burnout. Taking on too much is one thing that can lead to burnout. It might be due to the fact that you are in a job that saps your energy rather than giving you energy. Often it has to do with not being able to say no to things. It could be you feel a sense of obligation or fear negative consequences from a boss or friend.

It’s not uncommon to want a quick fix for burnout. However, if you are looking for lasting change, there are no easy fixes. When you are at the point of burnout, it's taken a long time to get there. It will take some time and energy to get back out. 

This doesn’t mean there aren’t simple things that you can do to start! Margarita Tartakovsky wrote a great article for Psych Central on ways to care for yourself when you’re feeling depleted. I was featured as a contributing author to this article. In it, I talked about a simple daily reflection as a way to soothe burnout. This short daily reflection is one you can easily add into your existing daily routine, and it can have profound effects.

Recovering from burnout starts with a simple, daily, reflection

The root of burnout often includes an underlying difficulty assessing our own limits. Without an awareness of what is too much for us, it's hard to put up clear boundaries. A simple way to gain awareness of your own limits is to start with asking yourself two questions every day:

1) What energized me and gave me joy today?

2) What made me feel depleted?

You can rephrase the questions in any number of ways that makes them more helpful to you. A couple variations:

Where were my high and low points today?

What made me smile today, and what made me irritated?

You don't even have to write down your answers. (You can if you want to! And that can be even more helpful.) Either way, the fact that you are taking the time to reflect on this has an effect on your brain. The act of introducing the question to yourself on a regular basis is powerful. It allows your brain to take notes, even when you’re not consciously thinking about it.

You can work on recovering from burnout while walking the dog

Doing this daily reflection doesn’t have to be another time-consuming task on your to-do list. You can do it while you're brushing your teeth! Find a task that you do every day anyway like showering, washing the dishes, walking the dog. Do your reflection every day during that same time.  

Tacking it on to an existing daily habit eliminates the need to set aside extra time.

If you’re Highly Sensitive, make sure the task you’re pairing it with is particularly mindless. It can be especially hard to have any amount of focus on more than one thing for HSPs. If it feels too overwhelming, simply take 1-2 minutes before or after some daily task that you are already have in your routine.

To help remind you to ask the questions for daily reflection, you can write them on a sticky-note. Post it on your bathroom mirror, or on the door, or at the kitchen sink. You could also set a reminder on your phone. Because if you're feeling exhausted all the time, you will probably forget, at least at first. It doesn't have to be fancy (although again, it can be if that helps!). You just want something that is a visual reminder. (If you want to start even smaller than this daily reflection, try adding in a quick mental health break instead.)

Support yourself in creating the habit of daily reflection to recover from burnout

When you are answering the questions, don't worry about how you can change your life to make everything rainbows. Just answer the questions with the first things that come to mind and keep noticing. Even if nothing comes to mind, that’s ok! The act of asking yourself the question prompts your brain to keep working on it. Whether you come up with profound answers or not, you will start to notice more and more what works for you and what doesn't. You will start to become more aware of what your limits are, which will prompt your brain to think of more creative ways to set limits which in turn will help get you out of burnout.

If you are reading this and feeling discouraged and wondering how doing this could have any effect, know that you are not alone in feeling that way.

Part of burnout is hopelessness, so don't let that feeling trick you into thinking there is actually no hope.

I encourage you to give it a try. It's small, it fits into your daily routine, and it doesn't cost anything. And it has the potential to make a profound impact on your life.

About the Author

If you’d like more support in recovering from burnout, therapy is a great place to get it. I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Madison, WI. I’m also licensed in Massachusetts. I love supporting women and Highly Sensitive People recover from burnout.

In addition to therapy for depression, I also provide anxiety counseling, virtual therapy in Wisconsin, telehealth therapy in Massachusetts, and therapy for HSPs.