“Pre-Pandemic” as I like to say, feels like a lifetime ago. I feel as though in this fast-paced world, it becomes very important to work hard for survival and your future by sacrificing all your efforts to achieve your goals. However, amidst all the go-go-go and stress, you forget to take time to yourself and breathe. Clearing your mind helps you to think better and perform better, further pushing you towards your goals. Taking a break can you understand yourself better and your dreams deeper. Through this blog post, I hope that I can inspire you to understand the importance of taking a break from work, relationships, family, and pressure to relax and unwind.

After experiencing severe burnout when I should have been taking this pandemic as a much-needed time off, I began to think about how to rekindle my energy and passions by taking a break. I googled all the tips and tricks and trialed what worked for me, kept me grounded, and allowed me to come back to myself. I want to share with you what worked for me and the tips that I will be taking with me throughout the rest of my life. I plan to be a hard worker for the rest of my life. However, I never want to lose sight of my needs ever again. And neither should you

Not to be cliche, but my first practice was to connect with my body - yoga and pilates. I not only overworked my brain and soul but I did the same to my body. I made sure to practice zero excuses and hold myself accountable to my rigorous strength and resistance training routine. My disciplined mindset can become toxic at times and I forget the simplest of motions such as resting, stretching, and giving my body the movements it craves. At first, I found yoga boring, unproductive, and stagnant. As I began to really relish in the deep breathing and focusing on the mind-muscle connection., I began to see the true beauty in being in-tune with your body. My body is my temple and I feel at ease when I can connect to every little muscle, ligament, and breath. Yoga and Pilates have become my vessel for this and I have now incorporated this into my weekly routine

“ Rest? What’s rest? Rest is for the weak. “

That is how I would have sounded to you a few years ago, or even now at times. I was stubborn and thought that I was building the mindset I needed to succeed and achieve my mountain top goals. Never once did I stop to think about how toxic this mindset would become. Propelling me to burn out and eventually lose sense of my “WHY”.

WHY do I want to succeed and WHY do I work so hard.

Peace in — MORNING RITUALS

I feel like a lot of people think of a morning routine as “work” or difficult to implement. I disagree. I believe that we are in such a rush to blast through our days and agendas that we forget to take the morning to ourselves, our bodies, and our minds. A ritual is not the same thing as a routine. A morning routine might involve exercising, showering, dressing, reading the paper and eating breakfast. ... A ritual may involve these same mundane chores, but a ritual takes on a meaning beyond getting a task completed.

Morning Rituals🤎 @stronger⠀
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🤞🏽Some common morning rituals include meditation, exercise, journaling, yoga, reciting affirmations, and setting daily intentions, such as remaining patient with what is going on in the world, experimenting with a different kind of coffee, or even just making a promise to yourself to stretch and get up just a tad earlier.⠀
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🌤My Morning Rituals:⠀
📃Affirmations ⠀
💪🏽Stretch⠀
🚶🏽‍♀️Morning Walk⠀
☕️Coffee / Hydration💧⠀
🍞Breakfast ⠀
📝Plan out my day/ week⠀

Take a break, enjoy the sun, and drink some coffee or whatever your heart desires. Maybe it is a matcha latte, a refresher, or perhaps it’s a tall glass of water. Ensure that you treat yourself and take a break to be mindful and fulfill your needs. Attached here is a moment in time where I took a moment to enjoy my favourite iced americano with oat milk 🤍

Spend quality time with your friends or family. I chose to share this moment with one of my best friends. We both experienced burnout and I believe the moment was that much more powerful with the accountability of one another. - The importance of surrounding yourself with like-minded people. The people that will push you to be better, do better, and even rest.

And spoil yourself!!! We enjoyed our moments at the A-Ok Cafe so much that we decided to come back and take another much-needed break. We tried something cute, and aesthetic “honey lavender iced tea plz”💗

Perhaps treating yourself looks like getting your favourite bottle of wine, ordering your fav pizza, or visiting your favourite winery. Whatever it is, make sure you give that to yourself. These moments of rejuvenation will allow you to persevere and be more productive in your day-to-day life and tasks. - “A refresher”

Take up a hobby

For me, it’s baking. I love spending the time to construct recipes, try them, tamper with them, and then share them with my followers when I approve. You can check out my approved recipes in the “Recipe” portion of this blog! Hobbies help reduce or eradicate boredom. They give you something to do when you find yourself with nothing to fill your time. They also give you an activity that you can look forward to and get excited about. It helps you develop new skills. Not only do they help boredom, but they allow you to take a break. Something that does not create stress but rather relieves it. Maybe try a new hobby!

LAUGH MORE

READ - With a cup of Coffee! or whatever your heart desires…

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.

Are you on the road to burnout?

You may be on the road to burnout if:

• Every day is a bad day.

• Caring about your work or home life seems like a total waste of energy.

• You’re exhausted all the time.

• The majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming.

• You feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated.

Dealing with burnout

Whether you recognize the warning signs of impending burnout or you’re already past the breaking point, trying to push through the exhaustion and continuing as you have been will only cause further emotional and physical damage. Now is the time to pause and change direction by learning how you can help yourself overcome burnout and feel healthy and positive again.

Dealing with burnout requires the “Three R” approach:

Recognize. Watch for the warning signs of burnout.

Reverse. Undo the damage by seeking support and managing stress.

Resilience. Build your resilience to stress by taking care of your physical and emotional health.

The following tips for preventing or dealing with burnout can help you cope with symptoms and regain your energy, focus, and sense of well-being.

Reach out to those closest to you, such as your partner, family, and friends. Opening up won’t make you a burden to others. In fact, most friends and loved ones will be flattered that you trust them enough to confide in them, and it will only strengthen your friendship. Try not to think about what’s burning you out and make the time you spend with loved ones positive and enjoyable.

Be more sociable with your coworkers. Developing friendships with people you work with can help buffer you from job burnout. When you take a break, for example, instead of directing your attention to your smartphone, try engaging your colleagues. Or schedule social events together after work.

Limit your contact with negative people. Hanging out with negative-minded people who do nothing but complain will only drag down your mood and outlook. If you have to work with a negative person, try to limit the amount of time you spend together.

Connect with a cause or a community group that is personally meaningful to you. Joining a religious, social, or support group can give you a place to talk to like-minded people about how to deal with daily stress—and to make new friends. If your line of work has a professional association, you can attend meetings and interact with others coping with the same workplace demands.

Find new friends. If you don’t feel that you have anyone to turn to, it’s never too late to build new friendships and expand your social network.

Try to find some value in your work. Even in some mundane jobs, you can often focus on how your role helps others, for example, or provides a much-needed product or service. Focus on aspects of the job that you do enjoy, even if it’s just chatting with your coworkers at lunch. Changing your attitude towards your job can help you regain a sense of purpose and control.

Find balance in your life. If you hate your job, look for meaning and satisfaction elsewhere in your life: in your family, friends, hobbies, or voluntary work. Focus on the parts of your life that bring you joy.

Make friends at work. Having strong ties in the workplace can help reduce monotony and counter the effects of burnout. Having friends to chat and joke with during the day can help relieve stress from an unfulfilling or demanding job, improve your job performance, or simply get you through a rough day.

Take time off. If burnout seems inevitable, try to take a complete break from work. Go on vacation, use up your sick days, ask for a temporary leave-of-absence, anything to remove yourself from the situation. Use the time away to recharge your batteries and pursue other methods of recovery.

Set boundaries. Don’t overextend yourself. Learn how to say “no” to requests on your time. If you find this difficult, remind yourself that saying “no” allows you to say “yes” to the commitments you want to make.

Take a daily break from technology. Set a time each day when you completely disconnect. Put away your laptop, turn off your phone, and stop checking email or social media.

Nourish your creative side. Creativity is a powerful antidote to burnout. Try something new, start a fun project, or resume a favorite hobby. Choose activities that have nothing to do with work or whatever is causing your stress.

Set aside relaxation time. Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the body’s relaxation response, a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the stress response.

Get plenty of sleep. Feeling tired can exacerbate burnout by causing you to think irrationally. Keep your cool in stressful situations by getting a good night’s sleep.

Aim to exercise for 30 minutes or more per day or break that up into short, 10-minute bursts of activity. A 10-minute walk can improve your mood for two hours.

Rhythmic exercise, where you move both your arms and legs, is a hugely effective way to lift your mood, increase energy, sharpen focus, and relax both the mind and body. Try walking, running, weight training, swimming, martial arts, or even dancing.

To maximize stress relief, instead of continuing to focus on your thoughts, focus on your body and how it feels as you move: the sensation of your feet hitting the ground, for example, or the wind on your skin.

I hope that this blog post inspired you to take a break or start a ritual. You only have one life to live. Don’t burn yourself out. Relish in the beauty of taking a break🤍

Loyally,

Imran 🤍