Intentional Self-Care & Avoiding Burnout
The sense of relief that we all feel as the holiday season and end of the semester approaches is no coincidence. Those of us that live and work in higher education often don’t know how to turn our brains off and forget about the article submissions, proposal deadlines, or answering emails. But the truth is, if we don’t make self-care a priority we will pay (heavily) for it. As the founders of Ebonies in the Ivory, which serves as a platform for demystifying the doctoral and postgraduate process, we would be remiss if we weren’t being honest with you all about the struggle of being able to make time for self-care and to ultimately practice what we preach. For that reason alone, this might be one of the most important topics we’ve covered yet.
Around this time last year, I went through one of the most severe bouts of burnout that I had ever experienced. I wasn’t sleeping, my productivity was on 5% and plummeting, and my general interest in many of the things I loved was slowly waning. It reached a point where I had to come to terms with the physical strain and risk I was putting my body through and make the appropriately selfish decision to shut everything down and reset. I went to the doctor, put things at my private practice on pause, and developed a self-care plan that would push me towards a permanent change that I have not regretted since that day.
I recently came across an Inside Higher Ed article entitled 5 Tested Tips to Battle Burnout with Better Self-Care that outlined the journey towards making a reliable self-care plan both simple and beneficial to overall health and wellness. Those 5 tips included:
Get Enough Sleep
Exercise
Eat Better Food
Ask for Help
Learn to say NO
I chuckled briefly after finishing the article because I wished that I had read it and felt condemned a year ago when I thought I would end up with a shaved head (Circa 2007 Britney Spears) and passed out in my driveway (LOL). Thank goodness for great friends, responsive healthcare professionals, and the wherewithal to know that something just wasn’t right and that, for once, I needed self-saving. But I also recognize that this isn’t as easy for everyone. So today, and as we wrap up our series of blog posts for the year, I hereby grant each and every one of you permission to put yourselves first. Create a method of mental, physical, and spiritual escape for yourself over this holiday season, and carry it with you as you rest and recharge for the new year.
We’ll see you soon!
xo
