The "funny" thing about burnout is that it tends to sneak up on you. Like the proverbial frog in slowly gradually heating water, we're rarely consciously aware that we're slowly burning out. Or burning our candles at both ends.
Some years back — when @cosmictriage and I still had our brick-and-mortar gallery/store here in town, I remember chatting with one of our fellow shopkeepers, and he allowed as how there had been a period in his life some 10-12 years previously where where he actually hadn't had a day off in 4 1/2 years.
It was a time of financial hardship, but he had his store to tend to so in order to make ends meet he cut back to having a single part-time helper. When the lease on his apartment ended, he even decided that he could help himself rebuild financially by not moving to a new apartment for about 8 months... so he slept on a cot in his office and showered at the gym he went to.
Eventually, he recognized that he was totally burned out on everything: Keeping a store, struggling financially, being alive.
SO one day, he put a sign on the front door of his store that he would be "gone for a nationwide buying trip" for two weeks, packed his van and drove to Sedona, Arizona and spent 10 days hiking and sitting among the famous "red rocks" pretty much doing nothing at all.
When he came back, he substantially changed his approach to life, and eventually ended up selling his store, realizing that there comes a time when you have to "break state" and call it quits because no matter what you do, and how patient you might be... some dreams will just not come true.
Today, I found myself needing to break state — even if on a much smaller scale. I've been working 12-14 hour days since December to raise cash for the outrageous property tax payment that comes due in a few days.
Pretty much everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong... from repeated financial disasters to weakness in the crypto markets, to inflation causing my business earnings to tank... at exactly the wrong moment.
So, I stepped away from the "burning building," and Mrs. Denmarkguy and I (and our visiting friend) went out in the yard and pulled out a bunch of noxious weeds along the driveway that have been "begging" to be removed since last summer.
Did it help?
Well, at least I feel like I won't be starting the day cross-eyed, when I return to the task at hand tomorrow morning! So that's a good thing!
I guess the primary takeaway here is that when you feel like saying "I just can't DO anymore of this," the best thing you can do for yourself is to actually step away and take a break... rather that try to force yourself to keep going.
On that light note, I'm going to try to get some sleep before resuming work tomorrow morning.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!
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Created at 2023-03-28 01:26 PST
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