Give Yourself A Break

Identifying Burnout

‘Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the care which will not withdraw from us. -Maya Angelou

Greetings Readers,

This week’s article will be short and sweet, but impactful as the message will touch many of you. Before we dive into this conversation, I want to ask you all one important question which is: how are you today? I am not looking for a quick response you’d give a person as you are walking down the street, but a response that requires you to dig deep. This is a moment for you to check in with yourself. Give yourself 3-5 minutes to check in and then respond to the question. You can respond out loud to yourself (there is nothing wrong with talking to yourself lol, I do it often) or you can do this with a friend, but I hope that you are honest with yourself.

If you are struggling with identifying your current feeling or emotion, continue to read this article as my vulnerability might trigger something inside of you.

Today was the first day in many days that I did a meaningful check-in with myself, and through this check-in, I was able to identify that I am burnt out. Now, I am sure you are reading this with the question in mind ‘what is burnout?’Allow me to educate you all on something new. According to the National Institutes of Health, burnout is defined as a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to interpersonal stressors from work or school. If you’d like to read more about this term and its causes, click this link.

Since we have defined this term, let’s get back to the check-in. I am burnt out as I have a lot on my plate and deadlines are fastly approaching. Here I am working full-time as a high school teacher, attending grad school part-time, running a business, actively engaged in committees within my sorority, and much more. All of these things have been requiring a lot of my limited time. I am grateful to be in this position as I have prayed to be here, but the truth is I’m tired! *cues Tamela Mann song*

As a Black woman, I was taught at a very young age that being ‘strong’ was through the lens of being able to manage many things all at once, and taking a break meant you were incapable of all that you have been assigned to do. But as I have grown into my womanhood and learned how to identify my current feeling of burnout, I have learned that being ‘strong’ is not all about the number of tasks you can complete at once and that being able to recognize when a break is needed amid all those tasks is what make us strong.

It took me a while to get to this point of recognizing when a break is needed, but I did it and now I am here to share this with you all; our next generation of Black women. GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK! There is nothing cute or fun about working through stress. It doesn’t matter how much work you have to get done; it will get done, but we need you healthy while knocking those tasks off your list.

If my vulnerability resonated with you, here is how I identify when a break is needed. Keep this nearby as it might help you during this process!

Step 1: Recognize that you are experiencing burnout: feeling anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, etc.

Step 2: List the things that are causing you to be burnt out: family issues, school work has become demanding, etc.

Step 3: Create a task list: Most to Least Priority

Step 4: Walk away from the list and do something for yourself!

For more self-care tips, follow @dearselfcare via Instagram and Facebook.

Love,

Sharnell James, Thee Self-Care and Mental Health Advocate