🌬️ Time for a Breather...
Last post of 2020. Thoughts on burnout and things I'm grateful for
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😌 Burn Out and Being OK
Yesterday, as I was cleaning up the war zone that is my kitchen table after my two-year-old has breakfast, my wife came up behind me and gave me a hug.
“What’s that for?” I asked, unused to such early morning affection. “I don’t know,” she said. “You just seem… bubblier. I haven’t heard you singing for a while.”
She had a point. It’s been a few weeks since I exercised the old vocal cords while cooking eggs for the family. And there I was, two days into my Christmas holiday, whipping up a mushroom frittata while belting out Wait For It as if Lin-Manuel Miranda was going to call at any minute and ask when I could get to Broadway.
I read a great newsletter by Ellen Forster the other day where I learned that the WHO has a definition of burnout. Essentially it boils down to three things:
Feelings of exhaustion;
Increased mental distance from one’s work;
And reduced professional effectiveness.
Reading it was like being woken from a fretful sleep after falling into an ice bath. Until recently, somewhat naively, I’d always assumed that “burnout” was just the word people associated with needing a break. Not something that is recognised as an actual occupational phenomenon.
And I realised right there, seeing it in black and white… I am burnt out.
This has been a terrible year for so many people and I know I am not alone in looking forward to seeing the back end of it. But amidst the negative, I have also found a number of bright spots.
I am grateful to have discovered and been welcomed into the #MarketingTwitter community, which has allowed me to meet and learn from so many amazing people across the world;
I am appreciative of the company I work for and the team I manage for continuing to push and innovate in times of uncertainty. It’s been tough not being together in person, but we’ve risen to the challenge and come out on top;
And I am proud of myself for starting (and continuing!) projects like this newsletter and my podcast, B2B Better. It’s never easy putting your ideas out there for the world to dissect and judge, but it’s been incredibly fulfilling.
Now it’s time for a breather. To rest, recharge and prepare to tackle the new year fresh. To spend time with those closest to me and enjoy each moment of my daughter discovering Christmas - in the way only a child can.
So, this is my last newsletter of 2020. I’ll be returning on the 4th January with the all the usual B2B marketing goodness.
Until then, from my family to yours, have a wonderful holiday. 🎄
🍴 Nibbles
Your Social Media Detox is a weekly newsletter from my friend Nicole with tips to help you navigate exhaustion as a content creator with self-care and wellness resources.
You know those amazing people from #MarketingTwitter I mentioned earlier? Hunter Horenstein is one of them. He did an interview on Along the Gravel Road on his journey with anxiety and depression that is an important listen.
Self Care with David Self is one of my favourite podcasts where David has candid conversations on all things millennial mental health and wellbeing with a rotating roster of co-hosts.
This was an insightful piece from Anna Laura on mental health and anxiety. To help end the stigma on mental health, more people need to share their stories so I appreciated this read.