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Home About Contact Live Life to the Fullest Achieving work and life balance May 20, 2020 5 Ways to Deal with Burnout and Depression Maria Lourdes Macabasco-Yanuaria 2 Comments It’s been a while since I wrote an article here. You may be wondering why? Allow me to personally open up with you my dear reader. I have been writing articles on positive motivation, being productive, managing emotions and relationships, personal finance and living life to the fullest for more than a decade now (since 2008). And yet, in 2019, I was clinically diagnosed with burnout and depression. It was hard to admit it at first because I wanted to keep up with the image of being a positive person, a person who live life to the fullest. However, I want to be honest with you my reader, and with myself, that’s why I’ve decided not to continue writing in this blog site anymore. As well as, not to publish anything in the official Live Life to the Fullest Facebook page. I did so because I felt it will be fake if I keep posting about positive motivation, and yet, deep inside, I’m struggling with burnout and depression. You may be curious now, how can a person who writes about motivation, productivity, etc. be depressed? Why did I get burnout and depressed? I will tell you about it in another article. In the meantime, let me share how I overcome it and how I am better now after a year of official struggling with it. 1. Admit it Personally, in the past, I did not believe in burnout and depression. In fact, just few months before I was diagnosed with burnout and depression, I had an employee, from my business service company, who went AWOL (Absence without official leave), and refused to come back to work because he self-diagnosed himself as “depressed”. That time, I thought that person is just making an excuse, is weak, lazy and undisciplined. And so, I wasn’t empathetic. I required him to get his act together and go back to work. Few months after that incident, I was confirmed to be clinically burnout and depressed. However, that didn’t happen overnight. It was accumulated over the years, as I was denying the fact that I felt the symptoms for a long time and I’m just denying the fact that I’m indeed burnout and depressed, until I couldn’t really handle it anymore. I was defeated by it. With that said, if you do feel you have the signs of burnout and depression, I suggest, instead of denying it, acknowledge it. This is not, however, to encourage you to jump into conclusion, wherein you feel a little low energy and sad, then you already assume that’s burnout and depression. There are signs to be observed for several weeks, months or years. And then talk about it to the closest people with you or with a proper professional. 2. Don’t be too hard on yourself Before I was diagnosed with burnout and depression, I was living a “superhuman” lifestyle. I didn’t join the Avengers or Justice League. I was simply living with too much responsibilities that a normal human being may not be able to handle. I was an all-around owner of our company. I was too involve in every area: from marketing, sales, billing, collection, operation, payroll, accounting, and even R&D. Aside from that, I was an all-around hands-on mother and housemaker: I do the cleaning, washing dishes, laundry, ironing, cooking, gardening, taking care of my son, tutoring him, driving him to school to pick-up and drop-off, etc. Lastly, I was also managing and establishing my public speaking and financial planning career where I need to conduct public training and attend to public interviews/ trainings. I was living my life to my fullest potential until one day, I couldn’t anymore. I started cancelling meeting last minute. I started isolating myself, unmoved. Such experience thought me that I should learn to delegate, I forgot to not work myself too hard. That it’s okay for me to say no. It’s okay for me not do everything myself. Remember, it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help even if you’re able to do it yourself. 3. Prioritize Self-Care and Self-Love Before I was diagnosed with burnout and depression, I was a bit abusive with my body. I did not prioritize my own well-being. My day is usually loaded with unlimited/unrealistic tasks and to do list, meetings, trainings, plus my home responsibilities. I seldom have time for myself. I neglect to eat proper diet, I do not exercise, I often lack sleep, and I skip my routine doctor’s appointment. I was very thin, and my skin was not good, I had lots of acne. And the worse was, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and had enlarge neck lymph node, which may have been caused by stressed and overwork. Experiencing burnout and depression re-emphasized the need for self-care and self-love. As much as we want to be responsible individuals, we must not forget to prioritize ourselves. Because if we neglect ourselves, we can be sick, and when we are sick, we can’t perform our responsibilities well. Or worse, we may become a burden to the people we wish to serve. When I say self-care and self-love, give time to take care of yourself. Eat properly, exercise, sleep at least 8 hours a day, meditate or have an alone time, do your routine medical check-up, have time for hobby, etc. Don’t feel guilty doing so. 4. Have an Alone (“me”) Time In our home, school, work, or community, we are often surrounded by people. And these people demand some (or most) of our time in a day: such as via meeting, online chat, reports, deadlines, care, etc. We oftentimes loose ourselves with the people around us. They influence our desire or decision in life that we end up lost on what do we really want for ourselves, removing all other factors involve: people and responsibilities. One of the things I did, in dealing with burnout and depression, was to do solo travel and attend trainings/classes/workshops overseas alone. It was liberating experience because it gave me chance to get to know my real self without the influence of other people and the responsibilities I have. Sometimes it’s all we need to feel happy again. Having a “me” time does not necessarily mean you spend to travel. It can be simply isolating yourself just a few minute in a day or hour in a week for you to simple do whatever you want. Like the hobby you’ve always wanted to do such as: cooking, baking, painting, dancing, singing, playing musical instrument, meditating, yoga, exercising, etc. 5. Get Professional Help I’ve been feeling the signs of burnout and depression for several years before I took the courage to get professional help. As I said earlier, I’m a denier of depression, I thought I can overcome it alone without the need to seek professional help. But as years pass by dealing with it alone only made things worse. I didn’t recover on my own, in fact, I sunk deeper in it until I couldn’t get up anymore (literally). So, before you experience the same, I encourage you to seek professional help to properly assess your situation and get the proper intervention. You may be at the early stage experiencing the symptoms or already in the middle of experiencing burnout and depression, I hope this article has somehow enlighten you on how to deal with it. If you have additional inputs or comments, feel free to type it below comment box. Uncategorized December 24, 2017 A Year That Was: 3 Benefits of Year-End Self-Review Maria Lourdes Macabasco-Yanuaria Leave a comment An unexamined life is not worth living. ~ Socrates As of this writing, exactly a week from now, another year will end. In the past, during this month of December, I’m busy buying gifts for people, at home, workplace, friends, relatives, etc., and busy attending several parties. However, this year is different. I attended only one party, and I didn’t spend a lot of time buying gifts. Instead, I spent my time mostly at home, with my son and husband, just hanging out and living simply like an ordinary day. Nowadays, I don’t see this time of the year as I used to see it before. And bec...