Maybe you’re aware of the signs of burnout. And maybe you’ve been seeing some of them in yourself. Still, you don’t really know how to stop it from happening. What are you supposed to do? Just stop working as hard? Maybe put in a few less hours in the office? Spend some more time at home?
Not Working Is Not Enough
There may be times when this is enough, but there are also times when spending time away from work backfires. You might end up stressing about work even when you’re at home or when you’re hanging out with friends. If work is on your mind all the time, then you’re not really taking a break even when you’re taking a break. So you might end up burning out even if you spend less hours at work.
You Have to Lose Yourself in Something
The trick is to do something which will get your mind off work. For different people, the answer is different. Some people can get lost in a book and forget about everything else that’s going on. When they get their nose out of the book an hour or two later, they remember the problem that they were dealing with before they started reading, except that their mind is fresh now and better able to cope with whatever was bothering them earlier.
Movies, Friends, Music, Comedy
Other people might find the same kind of escape in movies. You go into a dark movie theater and you get lost in the story that’s unfolding before your eyes. For some people, the answer might be hanging out with friends, listening to music or going to a comedy show. Each person knows what’s going to work for them. All they have to do is make the time for it.
Using Your Right Brain, Not Your Left Brain
In her Ted talk entitled “My Stroke of Insight,” Jill Bolte Taylor talks about the difference between the right brain and the left brain and how being in the right brain makes you feel completely connected with the universe. The right brain does not sense any difference between itself and the world around it; that’s the job of the left brain.
So whenever you feel engrossed in anything and time just seems to fade away, it’s because you’ve been using your right brain. And doing so will enable you to come back to your logical, left brain self later on with a fresher, more optimistic outlook and solve your problems more effectively.