How to Reduce Burnout: Taking Care of Your Emotional Climate
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Self Care and Earth Care
April brings spring, sunshine, and Earth Day. We admit, this Earth Day is going to feel a little different since we probably won’t be having large group outings and the usual environmental events, but we can still do our part to learn and make small steps for big changes.
This year we celebrate 50 years of Earth Day, and the theme of 2020 is climate change.
Climate Change Affects Us All
Climate change is the term used to describe the changes to our global climate and environment including increasing temperatures, increased gas emissions, rising sea levels, acidifying oceans, and loss of glaciers and ice at the North and South poles. These changes affect the food chain, global weather patterns, and even public health.
It’s important for communities to make changes to the way they address emissions and waste, so that our societies can become more sustainable. You can read a list of 47 ways to help protect the environment from the Earth Day website, including:
Switching to energy efficient appliances, light bulbs, and fixtures in your home
Carpooling, walking, or using public transportation to reduce car emissions
Switching to online billing to avoid the waste of paper mail
How to Avoid Burnout
Every little act of sustainability adds up and helps our world, so do what you can and encourage others to do the same. However, when you spend a lot of energy focusing on activism and being conscious about your impact on the global community, you can lose sight of yourself as an individual in the big picture.
We want you to take steps to reduce your impact on the global climate, but it’s also okay to make sure you take care of your own personal climate too.
You’ve heard of the three Rs: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
But we’ve got three more for you: Rest, relax, recover.
Rest
Make sure you get enough sleep to be fully functional. If you’re always reaching for caffeine in the morning and you hit a wall mid-afternoon, you’re probably not getting enough rest. Shoot for at least 7.5 hours a night.
If you’re having trouble sleeping, try a white noise machine or fan, experiment with different levels of ambient light, and make sure you have supportive pillows. If your sleep issues don’t subside after trying a few adjustments, talk to your doctor about looking into any sleep-related health issues.
Healthy sleep is what we need to provide deep rest to support immune function, mood, and creativity.
Relax:
Embrace hobbies or rituals that help you get out of “work mode” or “parent mode” and back into “you mode” for a while. This could be anything from watching a movie or playing a game, meditating, caring for your indoor plants, gardening outside, or taking a bath. It could mean doing something that makes you laugh, or it could mean listening to six hours of true crime podcasts. Every person is different.
Maybe your relaxing looks like:
Getting a massage
Taking a hot bath
Reading a book
Playing games with friends
Baking
Having a regular date night with a partner
Writing
Painting or drawing
Knitting
Whatever it is, try to find a way to turn yourself off and back on again with one of your personal relaxation techniques.
Many of us are observing social distancing for public health purposes this spring, so it’s not as simple as planning a date night or game night with friends. So get creative - can you find a way to play a board game online and video chat a few friends to play? If you live with your partner, order delivery or put together a picnic you can eat on the living room floor with a picnic blanket.
For introverts and extroverts alike, not being able to be close to friends and family can be extremely stressful, so it’s even more important to rest, relax, and recover.
Recover:
You’ve figured out how to sleep better, you’ve done things that relax you, now it’s time to show up and do the hard work of becoming the best version of yourself.
Take the time to process the things you go through on a regular basis. This can include gratitude journaling as well as journaling about negative experiences like a breakup or a loss. Write down any negative thoughts you have, fears you are facing, and concerns you’re worried about. The act of journaling helps you process negative emotions and start to resolve them. Plus, getting your worries out of your head and onto the paper can help you sleep better, which helps you rest and relax without as much anxiety.
Recovery is important to prevent burnout and cascades of negative feelings and anxiety.
Here are some things you can do to make regular recovery part of your routine:
Journal about the positive and negative things in your life
Schedule a regular call with a loved one to talk about what’s going on in your life so you have a positive outlet to talk about things
See a therapist and set goals for topics you want to handle in a healthier way
Read motivational or self-help books, if you feel like they’d help you
Right now, we’re all adjusting to new levels of what’s normal. It is a stressful time and it’s okay to be stressed, worried, and uncertain about the future. You don’t have to use this time to clean your whole house, write a book, and master a craft you’ve always wanted to learn. You can just use this time to rest, relax, and recover for whatever happens next.