Letters for burnout
Burnout does not always announce itself. Sometimes it shows up as not caring about things you used to love, or being unable to start anything, or crying in the car for no reason. Sometimes it is a Sunday-night dread that has stretched into Tuesday afternoon. Sometimes it is the realisation that you have been running on caffeine and adrenaline so long you cannot remember the last time you were not tired. It can come from a job, from caregiving, from parenting an under-five, from medical training, from postpartum, from any role where the demand has been unrelenting and the recovery has not. Letters in this theme are written by people who hit that wall and slowly came out the other side. They are not productivity advice and they are not self-care in the influencer sense. They are recognition that running on empty is real and that it takes real time.
I can do it. I can do it! Caring for someone you love who has a chronic pain condition is not easy! At my stage of life I’m supposed to be travelling or fishing or whatever else the rest of the retired population does. Five years ago “In sickness and in heath” was my mantra. She would do the same for me I told myself. I am a self centred addict and nothing prepared me for the last 5yrs. I love my partner but sometimes I forget to love myself. Caring for her has become more intensive. Doctor’s appointments at least once a week. Medication administration morning, noon and night. Showering her and dressing her is all part of our new love. I need to remember that firstly I am a human being. Secondly I am a male of the species and thirdly I am a recovering addict! One day at time through it all I am still recovering. Remember you are loved!
— From someone a few years on caring for a very sick partner.