SPRING SPARKLE
Sometimes we find ourselves in a rut. Between work and life-maintenance tasks like eating, sleeping, cooking, and cleaning there is not much excitement, enthusiasm, or joie de vivre. We wake up, we do the same old things every day, we go to sleep. Lather, rinse, and repeat. An endless loop that keeps us alive and our lives functioning but does not make us feel like we are truly living.
The experience of ennui can both be the cause and effect of burnout. While Overload Burnout, i.e. doing and caring too much, is the most common type of burnout, Under-Challenged Burnout arises when work is tedious, uninspiring, and one lacks a deep connection to colleagues, clients, or purpose. Once burnout arises for any reason, burnout is characterized by increased apathy and emotional detachment. And in a cruel turn of events, the exhaustion of burnout limits our ability to have energy to do things that are actually fun and fulfilling.
So if we are stuck in a rut of weariness and bored dissatisfaction, how do we rejoin the world of the living? How do we bring back the spark and sparkle back to our lives?
BREAK THE RULES
Matthew McConaughey’s character in Dazed in Confused says, “Let me tell you this, the older you get the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’ man, L-I-V-I-N.” Sage advice? I think so. Some rules keep us safe and allow for a functioning society, e.g. seat belt and traffic laws. Other rules seem silly, e.g. no wearing white after labor day, and some are downright harmful, e.g. boys don’t cry. Many “rules” we operate by are internalized beliefs and entirely self imposed, e.g. “I’m not the kind of person who does [fill in the blank.]” These are the most insidious rules, often gone unseen and uninterrogated.
What rules constrain your life? What beliefs shape your life? What script are you following? Who wrote the script (e.g. your parents, society, and older version of yourself?) Which of these rules are no longer serving you?
MIX IT UP
We have entered full blown spring in the northern hemisphere. The flowers are blooming, it’s light out past 8:00 pm at my latitude, and the days are warming. How do we invite the energy of spring, fertility and possibility, bloom in our lives? Well, spring is the perfect time to rototill, to loosen the soil and mix in fertilizer. To encourage new growth and fresh starts, we must step off our well worn path. Try a new hobby, go a different way home from work, or develop a new friendship. Adding novelty in one area of your life may allow you to gain fresh perspectives in other parts of your life.
Brainstorm new things to do to get out of the rut. Write a list of everything, even wild things. The more improbable the better.
INCUBATE
Have you ever worked hard on solving a problem all day and then had a flash of insight as soon as you shifted your focus to something else? These aha moments, often called Eureka moments, often happen in the shower, on a walk, or as you’re drifting off to sleep. Problems that feel too big to solve–not unlike the problem of burnout–are often best solved by combining a period of sustained effort and, crucially, a period of relaxation. When we relax our unconscious mind has an opportunity to keep mulling over the problem. Our minds can relax their grip on the “solutions” we’ve been unsuccessfully trying to make work. As our minds are allowed to wander, new thought patterns have an opportunity to emerge. A 2009 study demonstrated that participants that were distracted for a period of time came up with more creative ideas. Researche dubbed this period of time, an “incubation period.”
You’ve likely been trying to think of solutions to burnout or a persistent sense of ennui for a long time. Now is the time to relax. Schedule time throughout your day to take a walk, daydream, or chit chat. Schedule longer stretches of time off, like a vacation or a sabbatical. Allow yourself to incubate like a little egg waiting to become a fresh, new spring chicken.