Coping with burn out

natch, originally uploaded by emdot.

Let me just say right up front: I really do love/like my job. Not only that, I love my employer, my co-workers, the location, the hours. There is a lot to love, and love it I do. Not only that, but I feel real gratitude about having this job. Not only do I get to be creative, I get to be creative AND have killer perks. Try finding that in other places. Very hard to come by.

But I was starting to get burned out.

Burn out is something that I am really familiar with, but is not something I have a successful track record with. Me? I'm the one who gets burned out and thinks I can muscle through it. Maybe you are someone who has the wearwithall to succeed with that strategy, but I'm not.

So my surgery was actually a huge blessing. It required me to a.) stay home for two weeks and b.) do nothing. Two things I would have loved to have done but would never have given myself permission. Those two weeks of nothingness fed my soul. Sleeping. Resting. Resting. Sleeping. Reading. Resting. Sleeping. Knitting. Resting. Sleeping.

In the second week I took up embroidery, which was a great addition, because besides the hands moving and the fingers avoiding puncture wounds, embroidery is almost sleeping. :) It's definitely resting.

But I digress.

This is the month of November and the month of November is about regaining energy. And my second tip to share with you came handily today in the form of a web page: Dealing with Professional Burnout without Quitting Your Job.

First piece of advice: take a vacation as soon as possible.