Life After BURNOUT| How I balance health and productivity

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Around 5 years ago, I had a burnout. After quite a long recovery period (two years), I now feel a lot better and I'm doing very well. But I also still know and feel, that I still need to pay attention and take care of myself well, in order to prevent burning out again. In today's video, I share with you what life after burnout looks like for me. How I'm trying to stay productive in work and in my life, while also staying mindful and practicing self care. I hope these healthy productivity habits will be just as helpful for you, as they are for me.

Lots of love,
🌼 Vera

LINKS I MENTIONED

VIDEO CHAPTERS
My burn-out 0:00
What is mindful productivity? 1:21
Finding balance 2:34
When to push yourself 5:57
Deep work, deep rest 9:29
Preventing bore-out 11:29
Believing and making changes 13:50
Video suggestions 16:57
My thoughts on productivity 17:42

FIRST TIME HERE? Welcome. This is a place where you can get weekly tips and inspiration for living a simpler, happier and calmer life. With this channel, I want to give everyone the opportunity to take a little break, to get inspired and to take care. We deserve to. Thank you for joining our community and subscribing, feel free to say hi if you’d like!

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DISCLAIMER. In this video, I'm sharing my own personal experiences. I am not a health care professional. If you feel like you could use medical help, please talk to a licensed health care professional.

[SimpleHappyZen]

Can you believe that the Simple Happy Zen channel will be 5 years old next month? That’s so cool! 😄

[homo_occidentalis_novus]

“Not everyone was built to work full time and also do all the other things around it”… man, I never heard anyone saying this before and this might be the sentence that will change my life for the better (after two proper burnouts)…

[amvsandedits]

“Not everyone is built to work full time and if that is you, then you are not a failure.” That made me cry 😭

[darrenpierson]

I work in a high school kitchen preparing and serving breakfast and lunch. My best time is on the register and I get to talk and know the kids, and being older I treat them like my own kids. It’s amazing that the few short seconds or minutes help me make a difference. One student told me right before graduating, “Thanks for being a good friend to me the last four years!” That brought a tear to my eye! Now when my days are stressful and that’s a lot anymore, I look forward to seeing “my kids” at lunch and it helps me get through my day! I even get kids ask me to not retire until after they graduate, even a teacher asked me the same thing.

[sookiebear]

I’m also so burnt out when I worked as a nurse during COVID in the ICU. I suffered a miscarriage and still have ptsd to this day. I work as a cashier now until I can feel better emotionally, although those around me can’t fathom why. I hope I can take on your philosophy and just rest for now. Thank you for your advice and God bless. ❤

[bollybelly]

I read somewhere, a while back… treat yourself like a house guest and ask yourself, “what do you need, what can I get for you” ☺️

[Antheaderiv]

At 33 I burned out so bad I thought I'd passed away.
3 years later I begun to feel better. Now i'm 37, I have a full time job that I love and feel great.
Do not dispaire ppl, you'll get over it ❤

[jennierollins]

Here in the states they do not recognize "burn out" as a medical problem. Take a day and you will be better. I believe most people here in the states do have burn out trying to meet corporate demands. I do listen to my body and I do try to take steps to correct problems, but it is difficult to do sometimes with all of the expectations that are placed upon us. Thank you Vera for another wonderful video! ☮️🌍🌲🤗

[susanbartlett]

I haven't even started watching yet, and I wanted you to know how much I need to hear a success story re: burnout and overwhelm. I am in the middle of it and an struggling to see my way out. Thank you for letting me know that the light at the end of the tunnel is in fact the sun and not another train.

[annacornelius]

You're not replaceable as a mother so take care of yourself to have at least energy for this lovely, best ever job!

[vritarita]

This resonates with me soooo much. Feeling more fragile, feeling that I might never recover and stay broken for a long time, or just feeling lost during the recovery period, feeling angry at those people who caused it. But recovery is happening, time is the ultimate healer, if we cooperate and don't deliberately sabotage the process.

[chrstopherblighton-sande]

This is such an important video! Your last point about not having to make productivity a main feature of your life if you don't want to, gave me goosebumps because it is so true and not something that is heard often enough. I haven't had a burnout, but I do live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which adds a lot of stress and anxiety to life so it is really important for me to find a balance between productivity and rest. Your points about when and when not to push yourself are fantastic and something I'm still learning in large part thanks to all your videos. I'm much better now at accepting what a friend of mine calls 'nope days', those days when pushing yourself doesn't help and it is better to just let go and take it easier. 

I love that you pointed out that balance is rooted in listening and understanding your mind and body's responses to the changing situations life presents us with. It doesn't mean a constant and unchanging state of balance but more the ability to manoeuvre healthily between productivity and rest/self care in the same way that mindfulness doesn't mean a constant and unchanging awareness of the present moment but more the process of returning to that awareness each time the mind is inevitably distracted.

[princedjaba]

Burnout nearly destroyed my life. I am so glad i broke the cycle and saved my life and health for good. I am very careful these days. Thanks for sharing your experience

[ellensmith]

I'm in the middle of a medical burnout. I've been told to use a walker when ever I need to move around. This comes on the heels of 11 falls in a month. During that time I couldn't mentally and physically clean my house. My mother refuses to come visit me. Or voluntary call me. I have no friends to come visit and I'm sitting here all alone. There are issues related to my moving around the apartment building that keep me stuck in myj apartment alone. I can't sit in the lobby and patio furniture. I can't get up and stand up because the furniture and the other tenants won't help if I get stuck. So for safety I have to stay alone in my apartment. I am getting angry and depressed. Nobody wants to at least come and spend any time with me. And I just get more upset so I just feel abandoned and cry. Nobody cares about me. I have been abandoned. That's my life.

[katehavers]

Thank you for discussing this issue. A went through burn out and still slowing coming out the other side. I have chosen to only work 30 hours a week and rest on days off when I need to. Hard to get over that feeling of judgement of being "lazy" but I know I am doing what's best for me and that's the most important thing 🙏

[cathylynnpietranton]

Thanks Vera for the video. Many years ago I went through something not sure if it was burn out or depression. But I was tired of everything. I didn't want to go to work. I finally quit my job after 20 years and moved back to my home state. Moving back home I met the love of my life.❤

[rosemarywilliams]

Not everyone is built to work full-time or have side jobs/incomes. I have to admit that since the pandemic I have given up on cable but become way too into YouTube. I find myself feeling less than because so many on here have multiple stream's of income and all I have is my one income from a non profit organization I've been working for since 2014. I have to remind myself that everyone is different and I have no one to impress but myself. I love having my weekends off doing nothing but seeping-in and trying to become more minimal in my 358sq foot studio. I have to remind myself of these things you say in your video's so I don't get distracted and fall apart trying to be so perfect.

[hilaryr-d]

Thank you. I needed this video to remind me of how far I have come. I think the thing I forget the most is that my capacity for stress is so much lower now. I used to thrive on the corporate energy. Even after taking time out to focus on my mental health, and consciously taking a step back in my job once I did get back to work; I find that stress at work drains me very quickly indeed. For a long time I have been judging myself by the standards old me was able to set and I find myself slipping back into the old mindsets but without the stamina. I’ve also just lost a very close friend and her very sudden passing (as well as losing my brother not that long ago) has reminded me that age is a gift not afforded to all of us. Time to reset and recharge ❤️

[martinmurphy]

Currently experiencing a massive burnout, took some time out felt better started to work again and burn out again.yes what you are saying is true, just one small task at a time.

[AmritaPBB]

What a lovely video! Giving respect to our limits means loving ourselves unconditionally