Looking for advice on how to recover from burnout.

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Canadian Freedom Lover
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16 Dec 2022, 2:35 am

Hello all,

First time poster long time reader here.

I am looking for some input on ways that I can recover from burnout. I have been dealing with horrible brain fog and exhaustion for months now and even though I have been off work for almost 2 weeks now due to winter break as I am a seasonal worker (landscaping) I still feel pooped and out of energy. Has anyone else experienced this? And if so how did you overcome it?

Looking forward to hearing all your responses.



Mountain Goat
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16 Dec 2022, 5:22 am

Offload as many responsibilities and commitments as you can as mentally resting while minimizing stress is the main way one can recover, and it takes time.

Be aware it takes twice as long as one thinks because when one starts feeling better, double the time it took before one starts to rebuild ones life. (Learned this through experience as I had quite a few of these burnout/breakdown events, and they repeated because I had not fully recovered from the one I had before and I tried to get back to work etc before I was ready.
Each event like this hit me worse than the one before, and I have not worked since september 2019 though covid stress (As I can't wear masks and felt very much "On edge" when I see others wearing masks as it reminds me of trying to wear one, so thiz whole covid stress put me back from recovery for a good while. (Actually am on the last part of recovering from catching covid just short of 4 weeks ago. Took me 4 weeks to get through it when I had it in jan 2020 which is months before they said it came to the UK, and I could not convince doctors that what I had was more serious).

But what I found with burnout is the last one I had frightened me because I once found myself standing in the middle of the carpark where I worked and I had forgotten how to walk. I did not know how to walk. I just stood there not knowing what I should do.
I saw people walking in the distance and watched them carefully and decided I needed to put one of my legs forward, and then I did not know which leg to do... And when I did try, I was like Bambi on that film. I had to learn how to walk again but a crash course in less than 20 seconds, and it was a very good job no one saw me! Had other similar issues, and also things I used to do without thinking now became difficult or impossible. Example. Used to repair or PDI or service bicycles where I worked and had been in and out the trade in various positions over a period of a good 25 years if not more (Not 25 years working as did 9 years on the railway and half a year as a postman and various years with no work waiting to recover from burnouts (Did not know what they were called back then and have not been assessed yet for autism, and cant get assessed to see if these were burnouts or mental breakdowns until after I am assessed for autism). But what I found I had difficulty on was I kept going into shutdowns if I tried to foece myself, but I lost and had to re-learn (When my mind was ready) the processes of how to do things that I used to do almost without thinking!)
So my advice is to give oneself as few stresses as possible and as much recovery time as on can. Driving or walking to nice places to relax in.


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Last edited by Mountain Goat on 16 Dec 2022, 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

skibum
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16 Dec 2022, 5:48 am

It definitely takes a lot longer than you think it does to recover. There is also a possibility that you might not recover fully. If the burnout is severe, there could be permanent damage. You also have to be careful because with every severe burnout that you have, you are more susceptible to having more. And like Mountain Goat said, you can lose basic skills temporarily and sometimes, if the burnout is severe enough, you can lose some skills permanently, so you have to take burnout very seriously. In one of my most severe burnouts, I couldn't figure out how to go to the bathroom. It was like my body had forgotten how. Sometimes I also forget how to eat or walk or speak. It's like my body can't understand what it needs to do to accomplish those tasks.

Be very aware of your sensory environment and do your best to get as much sensory rest as possible. Try to be exposed to as little sensory stimuli as you can for as long as you can. You also need to really limit your social interactions to the fewest possible and keep them as short and as uncomplicated as you can. If you have a special interest that relaxes you and relieves stress, definitely do that as much as you can. Get as much sleep as you can and stay hydrated. Also eat as healthy as you can without stressing yourself. It's better to miss some meals and sleep than to stress trying to eat. Take advantage of your break from work to rest as much as possible. If you have someone who can help you with household chores, that would be best. If you don't, only do what you can. Anything you can do to rest your mind and your body is what you need. But it can take an extremely long time. If you find that you don't recover fully, you will have to adjust to a new normal. I have had to do that a few times with my burnouts. Please keep us posted on how you are doing.


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timf
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16 Dec 2022, 7:15 am

You might want to look into diet and nutrition aspects as well. Less exposure to sunlight may mean a drop in vitamin D. Hopefully it isn't something like Lyme disease. It may be something as common as the dreaded disease AGE.



skibum
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16 Dec 2022, 9:39 am

timf wrote:
You might want to look into diet and nutrition aspects as well. Less exposure to sunlight may mean a drop in vitamin D. Hopefully it isn't something like Lyme disease. It may be something as common as the dreaded disease AGE.
That' s not age but since you are a landscaper, I would definitely look into Lyme's.


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Canadian Freedom Lover
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16 Dec 2022, 8:48 pm

skibum wrote:
timf wrote:
You might want to look into diet and nutrition aspects as well. Less exposure to sunlight may mean a drop in vitamin D. Hopefully it isn't something like Lyme disease. It may be something as common as the dreaded disease AGE.
That' s not age but since you are a landscaper, I would definitely look into Lyme's.


Lyme's disease is pretty rare where I live, but thanks for the input.



Canadian Freedom Lover
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16 Dec 2022, 8:54 pm

Mountain Goat wrote:
Offload as many responsibilities and commitments as you can as mentally resting while minimizing stress is the main way one can recover, and it takes time.

Be aware it takes twice as long as one thinks because when one starts feeling better, double the time it took before one starts to rebuild ones life. (Learned this through experience as I had quite a few of these burnout/breakdown events, and they repeated because I had not fully recovered from the one I had before and I tried to get back to work etc before I was ready.
Each event like this hit me worse than the one before, and I have not worked since september 2019 though covid stress (As I can't wear masks and felt very much "On edge" when I see others wearing masks as it reminds me of trying to wear one, so thiz whole covid stress put me back from recovery for a good while. (Actually am on the last part of recovering from catching covid just short of 4 weeks ago. Took me 4 weeks to get through it when I had it in jan 2020 which is months before they said it came to the UK, and I could not convince doctors that what I had was more serious).

But what I found with burnout is the last one I had frightened me because I once found myself standing in the middle of the carpark where I worked and I had forgotten how to walk. I did not know how to walk. I just stood there not knowing what I should do.
I saw people walking in the distance and watched them carefully and decided I needed to put one of my legs forward, and then I did not know which leg to do... And when I did try, I was like Bambi on that film. I had to learn how to walk again but a crash course in less than 20 seconds, and it was a very good job no one saw me! Had other similar issues, and also things I used to do without thinking now became difficult or impossible. Example. Used to repair or PDI or service bicycles where I worked and had been in and out the trade in various positions over a period of a good 25 years if not more (Not 25 years working as did 9 years on the railway and half a year as a postman and various years with no work waiting to recover from burnouts (Did not know what they were called back then and have not been assessed yet for autism, and cant get assessed to see if these were burnouts or mental breakdowns until after I am assessed for autism). But what I found I had difficulty on was I kept going into shutdowns if I tried to foece myself, but I lost and had to re-learn (When my mind was ready) the processes of how to do things that I used to do almost without thinking!)
So my advice is to give oneself as few stresses as possible and as much recovery time as on can. Driving or walking to nice places to relax in.


Thanks for your reply Mountain Goat, I have been trying to get out for walks more as you suggested I also frequent a local coffee shop in my neighborhood almost every day which gives me some semblance of routine and a reason to not be a hermit.



Canadian Freedom Lover
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16 Dec 2022, 9:03 pm

skibum wrote:
It definitely takes a lot longer than you think it does to recover. There is also a possibility that you might not recover fully. If the burnout is severe, there could be permanent damage. You also have to be careful because with every severe burnout that you have, you are more susceptible to having more. And like Mountain Goat said, you can lose basic skills temporarily and sometimes, if the burnout is severe enough, you can lose some skills permanently, so you have to take burnout very seriously. In one of my most severe burnouts, I couldn't figure out how to go to the bathroom. It was like my body had forgotten how. Sometimes I also forget how to eat or walk or speak. It's like my body can't understand what it needs to do to accomplish those tasks.

Be very aware of your sensory environment and do your best to get as much sensory rest as possible. Try to be exposed to as little sensory stimuli as you can for as long as you can. You also need to really limit your social interactions to the fewest possible and keep them as short and as uncomplicated as you can. If you have a special interest that relaxes you and relieves stress, definitely do that as much as you can. Get as much sleep as you can and stay hydrated. Also eat as healthy as you can without stressing yourself. It's better to miss some meals and sleep than to stress trying to eat. Take advantage of your break from work to rest as much as possible. If you have someone who can help you with household chores, that would be best. If you don't, only do what you can. Anything you can do to rest your mind and your body is what you need. But it can take an extremely long time. If you find that you don't recover fully, you will have to adjust to a new normal. I have had to do that a few times with my burnouts. Please keep us posted on how you are doing.


Thanks for your reply skibum, I haven't gotten to the point yet where I can't walk or use the bathroom but I have had moments that perplex others like when I say that sometimes it takes me 30 mins or more to make a couple sandwiches for lunch because I forget where I am in the process or cant make a simple decision that would normally take 10 seconds at most, I like to call these protocol errors lol.



Canadian Freedom Lover
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Joined: 16 Dec 2022
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Posts: 107
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16 Dec 2022, 9:09 pm

timf wrote:
You might want to look into diet and nutrition aspects as well. Less exposure to sunlight may mean a drop in vitamin D. Hopefully it isn't something like Lyme disease. It may be something as common as the dreaded disease AGE.


Thanks for your input timf, my diet leaves much to be desired as I eat out a fair bit but I don't think that is the main cause. As for AGE I'm only 26 so I think that's not an issue.



skibum
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17 Dec 2022, 11:35 pm

Canadian Freedom Lover wrote:
skibum wrote:
It definitely takes a lot longer than you think it does to recover. There is also a possibility that you might not recover fully. If the burnout is severe, there could be permanent damage. You also have to be careful because with every severe burnout that you have, you are more susceptible to having more. And like Mountain Goat said, you can lose basic skills temporarily and sometimes, if the burnout is severe enough, you can lose some skills permanently, so you have to take burnout very seriously. In one of my most severe burnouts, I couldn't figure out how to go to the bathroom. It was like my body had forgotten how. Sometimes I also forget how to eat or walk or speak. It's like my body can't understand what it needs to do to accomplish those tasks.

Be very aware of your sensory environment and do your best to get as much sensory rest as possible. Try to be exposed to as little sensory stimuli as you can for as long as you can. You also need to really limit your social interactions to the fewest possible and keep them as short and as uncomplicated as you can. If you have a special interest that relaxes you and relieves stress, definitely do that as much as you can. Get as much sleep as you can and stay hydrated. Also eat as healthy as you can without stressing yourself. It's better to miss some meals and sleep than to stress trying to eat. Take advantage of your break from work to rest as much as possible. If you have someone who can help you with household chores, that would be best. If you don't, only do what you can. Anything you can do to rest your mind and your body is what you need. But it can take an extremely long time. If you find that you don't recover fully, you will have to adjust to a new normal. I have had to do that a few times with my burnouts. Please keep us posted on how you are doing.


Thanks for your reply skibum, I haven't gotten to the point yet where I can't walk or use the bathroom but I have had moments that perplex others like when I say that sometimes it takes me 30 mins or more to make a couple sandwiches for lunch because I forget where I am in the process or cant make a simple decision that would normally take 10 seconds at most, I like to call these protocol errors lol.
Oh YES!! ! Taking forever to figure out how to make the simplest of meals!! Boy, do I know about that ! !:lol: All those times when I open the fridge, just stare into it, get completely overwhelmed with just the thought of what I need to do next, close the fridge and tell myself, "Forget this, I can't figure this out. I'll try again tomorrow!" I know the feeling mate! I would say thirty minutes to make a sandwich when you're not functioning, that's actually really good!! :heart:

Get some good rest my friend. You are in good company here! :heart:


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph