11 Steps To Cultivating Internal Harmony

An Emotional First Aid Kit For Preventing Burnout

If you’ve convinced yourself that your brain is invincible, you’re going to have a bad time

Looks fade and accomplishments lose context. That’s a given. So if we perceive ourselves as somewhat enlightened individuals, we’re not too likely to use such temporary external features as measurements of our worth as human beings. We instead choose to take pride in our brains and our minds.

We invest time and energy in obtaining quality education, we read books, we get certified, and specialize in a number of areas that are intended to broaden our horizons and enrich our general outlook on life, knowledge, and skills.

We believe that the one possession we have of seemingly timeless value is our mind. Ironically, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Just like our bodies, if we push our brains beyond their limits, they’re likely to give up on us. And that’s a scary, scary experience.

We’ve become accustomed to raping our brains with ruthless multitasking, heavy psychological and emotional overload, and diverse sets of responsibilities, obligations, and creative tasks. And we love it! Because it makes us feel productive and thus — useful. What a load of crap.

We get high by switching gears at high speed, seemingly without any consequences. We accomplish all kinds of results that prove us that we’re on fire and that our brains are practically capable of anything. We keep pushing and pushing. Until our bodies pull the plug.

What a burnout feels like

Last year I experienced what felt like my brain misfiring. In the midst of an extremely tense period, my brain literally refused to follow my commands. I was not behind the wheel. I was a bystander and the autopilot was misbehaving.

I was supposed to get to work and go about my day, just like I had done thousands of times before. But I couldn’t. And that is an experience you never forget but can’t really understand until (God forbid) you go through it yourself.

Feeling your mind completely paralyzed and unable to process a simple task like getting off a car and getting on the subway is no joke. You become an external witness to your confused body and you feel much like you do when getting out of general anesthesia.

In moments like this, you know something’s terribly wrong. In my case, it was a classic case of burnout. The problem with burnout is that it’s not always triggered by work overload only.

Our own expectations and the demands that we have of ourselves can be stressors of dangerous magnitude.

Insomnia, shortness of breath, panic attacks, hair loss, dramatically decreased or increased appetite, inability to complete simple daily tasks, hyper sensitivity and tendencies to overreact to things that usually wouldn’t bother you much — if that’s what your days look and feel like, you know it’s no fun. And hitting the breaks is a must at this point. Otherwise, the consequences get way out of hand.

How to prevent a burnout

It took me a long time to realize I could have prevented my burnout episode. And even though many people get extremely annoyed by the apparent recent outburst of the burnout phenomenon, overwhelming ourselves is not something we as a society have just recently started experiencing.

The lethal cocktail, however, started getting concocted more and more often, when we simultaneously started experiencing the combined impact of general work and family overload, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, impaired sleep, anxiety, social media addiction, and our decreased ability to unplug and rest when we’re not actually at work.

The good news is that there’s something we can do. And it’s not necessarily quitting our jobs (although that’s what I did as my crisis management was long overdue) or leaving our families and all other obligations.

Here are a few simple things you can do before it gets too late so that you can work toward restoring your internal harmony:

1. Take 10 minutes for meditation in the morning.

Choose your preferred method — guided or not, cross — legged or just sitting with your legs straight, just put your tush on the cush and take whatever you can get.

2. Practice gratitude.

Starting the day with a couple (literally 2) mindful minutes of thinking about stuff you’re grateful about already sets you up for a positive day. Don’t use the same stuff every day. Throw in some context-sensitive elements in the mix, such as your upcoming catch-up with your college roommate or the trip to Amsterdam you’ve planned for months.

3. Don’t compare yesterday to today.

Some days will suck and that’s a given. But being trapped in the past or terrified by the future is a recipe for disaster. It prevents you from inhabiting the current moment and deprives you from ever being present to any experience, negative or positive.

4. Be kind to yourself.

Beating yourself up for feeling stressed out, anxious, or challenged in any way just won’t make it better. At all. Acknowledging the situation you’re at and treating yourself like you’d treat a friend, who’s struggling, is the only way to unstuck your mind and generate any meaningful strategies for coping with whatever you’re experiencing.

5. Ask for help when you need it.

That was my biggest mistake. I was afraid that admitting that I needed help would make me seem weak or unworthy, or that it would change people’s opinion of me. I put more and more on my plate in times of extreme psychological challenges and it broke the camel’s back. If you need help — you better say it early as sooner or later it’s going to become apparent one way or another.

6. Learn how to breathe properly.

This used to sound so silly to me until I realized my breath had become so shallow that I literally had to remind myself to breathe. Learn a simple breathing technique that will oxygenate your brain and body better. You’ll be surprised how big of a difference this can make.

7. Find time for your hobbies.

This is non-negotiable. Even though it sounds like indulging, especially when you have all kinds of stuff to take care of, scheduling time to do the things you love recharges you in ways that make you refreshed, more productive, and cleansed — stuff that you can transfer to all areas of your life.

8. Schedule regular social media detoxes.

This is also a must. Try to do it over the weekend or at least from an hour and a half before bed until an hour after waking up. You’ll see the difference almost immediately.

9. If possible, go to bed earlier.

I’m still struggling with that and I know it’s a matter of planning. Good sleep is extremely important for your overall health, not to mention for your mental health and your brain performance.

10. Nourish your mind and body.

Eat. Good. Food. For God’s sake, stop binging on crap and wondering why you feel like shit. It’s not just your body, your brain needs good nutrition to function properly.

11. Whenever possible, simplify.

Try to eliminate decision fatigue whenever possible. Pick out your clothes for the following day before you go to bed. Plan out your meals for the week and prepare a shopping list that’s always in your purse. Pick out three favorite restaurants that you can quickly choose from whenever trying to decide where to eat. If possible, automate your morning and evening routines and take out as much of the unnecessary daily decisions as possible. That way, there’s going to be much more RAM available for the truly important things.