As youths, our exhaustion is often dismissed. You have no permission to feel exhausted since all you do is school, scroll, protest, sleep, and the lucky few, work, right? Wrong! We all experience fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout. I understand we grew up seeing our parents work from dawn to dusk never complaining but since change starts with us, then a resting culture must also start with us.
Dealing with burnout starts with self-awareness — acknowledging exhaustion and your energy levels. Perhaps you prefer morning hours and by 4 pm you are dog tired. Or perhaps the week before your periods you barely move and breathing feels like a chore. Self-awareness around burnout helps us curb harmful ways of dealing with it such as excessive drinking.
Types of Burnout
Burnout manifests in different forms depending on the person’s goals and societal expectations.
Intrinsic burnout
There is a form of fatigue we experience while in pursuit of greatness. This fatigue is often brushed off as “if you want it so bad then you’ll keep at it, till you find it.” Doddy a Gen Z lawyer explained the kind of burnout he is facing is because of this. “I am struggling with burnout because my burnout is from my internal motivations of shit I want to do. At least ingekuwa ya job pekee ni easier to manage but outside work sasa stuff ni mob and I feel sad when I slack off.” Explained Doddy.
External burnout
This type of burnout is because of expectations from jobs, family, friends, and social media. How do you know you have spent too long on TikTok? For me, when a 5’6 coach appears on my screen shouting. These videos are meant to remind us to work hard and to stop wasting our potential, because just like he did, if we worked hard enough (and bought his course) in three months we would be swimming in cash.
So, how do we remedy this?
Intentional rest
To understand how different people recuperate I posed a question. How do you deal with burnout? Gitau a cyber security expert, responded he sets aside time to do nothing, “Setting time aside to time to do nothing. I just eat, watch, and sleep.” Ginger a content creator shared similar sentiments with a twist: Sleep all day and complain. Complaining about burnout, in my books, is a form of rest. It signals you understand what is happening to your body.
Intentional rest does not just happen, you must make it happen. Put your phone on DND and nap. Set aside an hour to stretch or go meditate and no matter what, show up for yourself.
Intentionally delegate duties. I know Supergirl and Superman were probably your favourite shows growing up. Place your hand on your chest and repeat after me; I cannot save everyone, I can only save me. Doddy has mastered delegation. When facing burnout he pays to have his clothes cleaned. This way, he has more time to rest.
Intentional career
When we start new jobs, we are often excited but months later, we slowly start hating the job. Leaving company A because of burnout requires that you only accept job offers from places that have better working conditions. Or leaving when these conditions are no longer met. Since this is easier said than done, perhaps utilize your sick days, and leave days, and only do that which is under your docket.
Intentional goals
As mentioned, it requires self-awareness for us to notice we are exhausted. Break down your goals into manageable steps and start from there. Maybe reduce the amount of time spent online and you will not compare your growth. As for family and friends, man, learn to validate your growth. I admit it takes strength and courage to follow your path and respect the unfolding of your life. But, rest is paramount.
Rome was not built in a day and what good is wealth that you can not enjoy?
“And if you do have everything it is also easier to understand that those are not the important things. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t get to that point. They spend their lives striving and still don’t learn those lessons. Other people figure it out at age twenty and they’re completely balanced and together and understand how to keep things in check from an early age.
Tom Ford
Read: Consent as seen in Sex.
