Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.

  • Mittens_meow
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    7 months ago

    I’ve hit serious burnout. Can hardly function. Weekends spent resting. According to the self care podcasts I listen to, I should schedule a getaway somewhere nice to unwind for a week or two. Lol.

    No leave - new job. Too much responsibility at home to be able to walk away. What am I supposed to do? Monthly therapy isn’t helping. Mindfulness can get stuffed. Thankful for my cat.

    I’m the strong person who pushes though, and people say “you’ll be fine, you’ll work it out, you’re the smart person” etc. I just can’t.

    • Taleya
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      7 months ago

      If you find your hands are full - start dropping things.

      seriously. Just consciously dropping things because your hands are too full can be incredibly relieving. And when the world doesn’t end it releases even more.

      Just make sure you’re dropping the rubber balls and not the glass ones :P

    • Seagoon_
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      7 months ago

      take a holiday at home , pretend you are on holiday and that you will get back to thinking serious thoughts in 2 weeks time

    • Llabyrinthine
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      7 months ago

      As someone who is recovering from this I did something similar with podcasts. I also kept a spreadsheet as opposed to journaling to be brutally honest to myself about how things might be compounding and how past things were sliding to the forefront as a lot of unwanted things were taking over.

      I couldn’t bring myself to do full cold water immersion but because the majority of it was during the Winter cold water as much as I could stand (on my face) helped first thing in the morning. (If it had kept going I was going to try hands in ice water which supposed to help with stress and letting the body know you can handle it).

      As far as tasks, I just did the absolute must do at home and allowed myself space. If I didn’t pressure myself with all the shoulds and musts then I would naturally do a few more things if I was up for it.

      Some things had to change. For me I was lucky there was a temporary situation I didn’t realise was really contributing to it.

      I also forgave myself for what I was conditioned to see as failing. Anxiety Rx podcast (while not all of it appealed to me) really helped in the sense of highlighting how common it can be for people who have relied on certain tools or ways of managing things to eventually find out that those tools no longer work. That was the bit that was really hard for me. When you are in your head a lot and function a certain way, you rely on yourself, and to reach out and find nothing there is… (I mean more in relation to our own energy/strength/resilience.) Yeah, it’s hard. I wouldn’t wish it on people and it can manifest in ways that make it challenging to identify as burnout.

      • Mittens_meow
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        7 months ago

        It’s like you’re in my head…. Wow.

        I don’t ask for help in my life, always had to rely on myself. No family support. No friends asking how I’m going. Anxiety works overtime.

        Body is now keeping the score… and physically preventing me from doing things now.

    • Eagle
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      7 months ago

      Can you find just a little bit of time out just for you? A walk? A sit under a tree? Sometimes I park a street back from after school care just to have 10 minutes between work and Mum duties. Sometimes I play music while I’m parked (either very heavy or something really light and classical) Sometimes I lay the seat back and just… stop and exist in quiet. It’s not really enough but it all helps.