You’re not the only one who feels like you’re not doing enough, even when you’re so tired doing everything, even the things that you love. I think everyone experiences Burnout of some sort, no matter what types of things you do in your life, and whether or not they’re creative, so I thought it would be a good thing to talk about! I took most of the dialogue from this essay about surviving burnout, if you’d like to read it here: http://scottberkun.com/essays/33-how-to-survive-creative-burnout/ I know some people find it easier to listen to things than to read them, so I thought that it would be helpful to make this audio! I hope you all enjoy! ~Audio Transcript Below~ Haru: The longer you work at things, whether it be creative or not, there will be days where you just don’t feel like doing it anymore. At first you may think that it’s not going to happen to you, your passion for something is just too strong or you have too good of a work ethic, but then there’s a day that it hits you, and everything seems…..grey. What was once fun and challenging and maybe like, your entire reason for being just……feels empty and pointless. Everyone’s creative energies come from different places. Reasons why I feel stuck might be different from you or even somebody else. There’s gonna be sometimes when you’re feeling low where others aren’t. Stuff like that is personal and is made of all the things that make you….you. You don’t have to like, run around screaming about how much you love what you do while other people aren’t, or like expressing it in some other way….but that doesn’t mean that you’re wrong. But you gotta honor the feelings only you feel. Burnout sometimes means that you’ve pushed yourself beyond the point of recovery. Like…..a well of water for instance….your energy replenishes itself slowly over time. Someone who’s gone to the well too many times for too long a time…..will find it empty one day. Usually by that time it’s when you notice that something’s really wrong, but you don’t have enough energy to work with. Sometimes though, it’s not just burnout. You might be dealing with a lot of things at the same time, maybe with home or family or work or any amount of other things that aren’t helping. But….burnout is entirely survivable I think, as long as you don’t try to push through and try to keep taking from the empty well. Sometimes, you just gotta talk to people. “Hey, I’m feeling really burned out right now,” will help you, and you’ll probably get more support and encouragement than you think….Even if the conversation only lasts like 25 seconds, you might end up feeling more human, and the burden of the crappy feelings won’t be on your shoulders alone….. That isn’t to say you should dump on your friends or stuff all the time, cause it can be stressful for them too, cause you don’t know what they’re going through….but you can remember, that….you don’t always have to soldier on alone….you’re allowed to tell people how ‘not ok’ you are. It’s important to express things, since it can be the only way to work through them. So plan an escape, take a day off if you can and do the most dramatically easy but fun thing you can think of, be as indulgent as you can stand, and try to drag people along if they want. Try to laugh, or scream, or even just sleep. Just get away from the thing that’s stressing you, that’s burning you out, because if you try to muscle through it, you’re at risk of crashing completely and….not being able to come back. However you choose to deal with your situation, pay attention to yourself. What works and doesn’t work for you? When did you feel most inspired in your life? Least? What things in life motivate you and influence you? Good or bad. Only you can answer these questions. It’s often harder to figure out and listen to what your own needs are than to take advice from others. The sooner you sit down and allow the truth to come out, the better off you’ll be.