Recently, this topic of burnout has been re-introduced to me and brought to my attention. I realized myself that I am a little burnt out and I thought I’d share my thoughts and advice with you guys. I usually feel this especially during a normal semester but surprisingly I have felt it so much during these months where I had to be home. First not being in a normal schedule or routine, I found myself wanting to be over-involved with things at home. I find at times being busy is how I keep myself sane... but I slowly realized that that was the opposite. Staying in quarantine has definitely taken a toll on me mentally, as I’m sure it has for all of us. I found myself so burnt out in trying to do extra things that I thought would be beneficial to me, only to realize that I can’t keep up with the pace I wanted to. (Shocker I know)
I think as I begin to reflect, quarantine for me was a time to slow down and focus on a few things and get good at them. I always like to have a lot on my plate to feel accomplished, but I think I truly realized that taking it slow and steady is beneficial as well. There are times where you need to be a little overwhelmed, but not all times. I focused my ideas and interests on specific things and now those have become skills of mine to only get better! Taking things at a comfortable pace was uncomfortable, so to say, but I realized the importance of doing it one step at a time even though I still feel like getting a million things done every day. I have to remind myself to stop and breathe.
Additionally I found myself not dancing as much which mentally was not good for me either but I think I needed the physical and mental break. That being said, I was able to get into my studio two weeks ago, and it felt like I never took time off... and that was such an amazing feeling. Granted that I haven’t been adamant about my stretching either... it just felt so good to move again and move however I feel to whatever song plays on my shuffle. I was able to identify smaller moments of pure joy and the things that are truly important to me that make me happy. I think I was able to find why I dance again and why it is such a big part of my life.
As I experienced this burnout, I was forced to sit back and see what I want versus what I don’t want in my life. Some parts of it have been super discouraging, but I have never felt more sense of relief and peace with where I am in life right now. It also gave me the chance to reduce my time on social media and to be at peace with my own personal circumstances. I was able to finally take charge of my life with a laser focus and focus on just myself, no one else. Through this, I have been slowly but surely finding one of my purposes in life and I am so excited to share this journey over the next few months.