I also go between bursts of productivity and periods of burnout. In my case, I recognize that the restlessness comes from a feeling of “not being enough” and the practice of self-compassion is helpful in that. Though there is the trap of being hard on yourself for not being self-compassionate enough when I am struggling with that practice.
I feel like the discussion of how increased human productivity has led to shoving more into our days is pretty central here. Enough is never enough, not for long. And so it seems like we have to not just figure out standards that are enough, but enforce them in the face of headwinds such as office culture, social media, and economic pressures. I’m not sure that most individuals are capable of that and it requires a group of similarly minded people. Would be curious for your thoughts on that topic.
I strongly relate with the struggle to be self-compassionate. And I think you're spot on about community, I do have friends who are always there for me to be open about my own fails, or what I perceive as failure and they'd be there to support me, holding space for me to practice self compassion.
The evolution of tech and rise of productivity tools claiming to help us manage our time better is for sure one of the main driving force that tells us that we need to do better. And I guess we can take a step back to listen to ourselves, asking ourselves if X is indeed something we want to optimise. Or do we not care about X that much, but rather Y? Picking our battles based on what is important to us could be one way. In other words, having this clear idea of what is enough in a very concrete manner. Not easy, I admit. I definitely have not found my clear definitions but working towards it by doing A Manifesto exercise. Asking myself what am I striving towards? What do I want to be?
Oh Alana, once again I resonate so strongly. I feel as though burnout has made me lose my sense of self because for so long I attached it to productivity and achievement. I also cannot sit still and actually have a post coming out later about the fidget toys I recently bought that are helping me find mental stillness in kinetic movement! But I hate to sit and stare and do nothing so I crochet, knit, sew, write, and read whenever there’s a spare moment that begins to loom with its emptiness. One thing that’s helping me lately is realising that I don’t need to optimise myself or my good moments. I now know that even though the good days may seem like the perfect opportunity to up my productivity, because I’m in a burnout cycle they only make me crash harder as a result of pushing when I thought I could (and turned out I couldn’t). But I feel you, deeply. It is so hard to figure out how exist in a way that is sustainable for your energy and mental health 🫠
I have heard about this, somewhere. That if we stack on things on days we feel good, it's sort of punishing ourselves for feeling good. So there's really a fine balance of leveraging on our energies to get better outputs vs trying to keep it sustainable :(
Really hope we can find out how to exist sustainably hahaha.
I also go between bursts of productivity and periods of burnout. In my case, I recognize that the restlessness comes from a feeling of “not being enough” and the practice of self-compassion is helpful in that. Though there is the trap of being hard on yourself for not being self-compassionate enough when I am struggling with that practice.
I feel like the discussion of how increased human productivity has led to shoving more into our days is pretty central here. Enough is never enough, not for long. And so it seems like we have to not just figure out standards that are enough, but enforce them in the face of headwinds such as office culture, social media, and economic pressures. I’m not sure that most individuals are capable of that and it requires a group of similarly minded people. Would be curious for your thoughts on that topic.
I strongly relate with the struggle to be self-compassionate. And I think you're spot on about community, I do have friends who are always there for me to be open about my own fails, or what I perceive as failure and they'd be there to support me, holding space for me to practice self compassion.
The evolution of tech and rise of productivity tools claiming to help us manage our time better is for sure one of the main driving force that tells us that we need to do better. And I guess we can take a step back to listen to ourselves, asking ourselves if X is indeed something we want to optimise. Or do we not care about X that much, but rather Y? Picking our battles based on what is important to us could be one way. In other words, having this clear idea of what is enough in a very concrete manner. Not easy, I admit. I definitely have not found my clear definitions but working towards it by doing A Manifesto exercise. Asking myself what am I striving towards? What do I want to be?
Oh Alana, once again I resonate so strongly. I feel as though burnout has made me lose my sense of self because for so long I attached it to productivity and achievement. I also cannot sit still and actually have a post coming out later about the fidget toys I recently bought that are helping me find mental stillness in kinetic movement! But I hate to sit and stare and do nothing so I crochet, knit, sew, write, and read whenever there’s a spare moment that begins to loom with its emptiness. One thing that’s helping me lately is realising that I don’t need to optimise myself or my good moments. I now know that even though the good days may seem like the perfect opportunity to up my productivity, because I’m in a burnout cycle they only make me crash harder as a result of pushing when I thought I could (and turned out I couldn’t). But I feel you, deeply. It is so hard to figure out how exist in a way that is sustainable for your energy and mental health 🫠
Ahhhhh yes, why are we so similar!! hahahaha
I have heard about this, somewhere. That if we stack on things on days we feel good, it's sort of punishing ourselves for feeling good. So there's really a fine balance of leveraging on our energies to get better outputs vs trying to keep it sustainable :(
Really hope we can find out how to exist sustainably hahaha.
That’s such a good way to explain it!! Just because you feel good doesn’t mean you suddenly have to make up for when you didn’t feel good!