Part 10 of From Burnout To Recovery: A 24-Part Video Series
Burnout Recovery: Learn To Pace Your Activities
Learning how to pace your activities during burnout recovery involves stopping before you become tired, preserving some of your energy, and accepting that some tasks may need to remain undone.
Watch the 2-minute video below to find out more.
Why Pacing Is Essential During Burnout Recovery
After several weeks of resting and sleeping, you may begin to notice some energy returning. This improvement may feel encouraging, and you may feel ready to become more active, even though you know that you are still tired. This is when learning how to pace your activities becomes essential to your recovery.
Pacing means deliberately doing less than you are capable of. It requires stopping while you still have enough energy to continue, rather than waiting until you become tired. The goal is not to accomplish as much as possible, but to preserve some of your energy.
This approach may feel extremely unfamiliar. People who burn themselves out are accustomed to pushing themselves and continuing with activities long after they should have stopped. Learning to do less, stop earlier, and leave tasks unfinished requires them to plan their activities around the amount of energy they have available.
Stop Before You Become Exhausted
Consider what may happen when you need to buy groceries. You arrive at the store, get a cart, and begin shopping. After putting some bread and meat into the cart, you realize that you are tired and have already done too much.
Pacing means responding to that realization rather than ignoring it. You can take the cart to the front of the store, give it to a cashier, explain that you need to leave, and go home.
You may decide that you still have enough energy to go through the checkout. However, you also need to think beyond the immediate task. Will you have enough energy left to drive home, or will you need to rest in the car for 15 minutes before you can safely leave the parking lot?
The important point is that pacing does not mean finishing the grocery shopping simply because food is needed at home. It does not mean forcing yourself to continue through the store. Pacing means stopping before you become too tired to manage what still needs to happen afterwards.
Accept Your Limitations During Burnout Recovery
You may object that the groceries are still needed. That may be true, but the need for food does not change the amount of energy you have available.
At this point, your options are to ask someone for help, to hire someone, or to accept that you cannot complete the task. Pacing requires recognizing when you need to say, “I can’t.”
This can be difficult when you are accustomed to managing everything on your own or being the person who steps in to help others. If you feel guilty about asking someone to pick up a few groceries for you, remember how meaningful it can feel to help someone. Asking for help gives another person that opportunity.
Allow Some Things to Remain Undone
There may be times when no one is available to help. In that situation, pacing may require you to leave ordinary tasks undone.
You do not have to shower or wash your hair. You do not have to change your bedsheets or vacuum the house.
These tasks may normally feel necessary, but recovering from burnout requires you to make different choices about how to use your limited energy. You cannot complete every task simply because it is part of your usual routine.
Pacing means accepting that some things will remain undone because you do not have the energy to maintain the standards or routines you followed before becoming burned out.
Ask for Help or Pay for Assistance
If you have the financial means, paying for services is another option. For example, if you do not have enough energy to go to the grocery store, you may be able to order groceries online.
Paying for services allows necessary tasks to be completed without using energy you do not have. It can prevent ordinary activities from leaving you tired or exhausted.
Your choices may therefore include accepting that the task will remain undone, paying for assistance, or asking someone for help. What matters is that you do not push yourself simply because you are accustomed to managing everything on your own.
Respect the Limits of Your Energy
Pacing is difficult. When your energy begins to return, it can be easy to assume that you are ready to do more. However, this does not mean that you can safely return to the patterns of behaviour that contributed to your burnout.
Until you learn how to pace yourself, you will not recover. You cannot use all the gas in your tank every time you feel the need to complete a task.
If you repeatedly use all the energy available to you and continue running on empty, you will remain on medical leave longer. Each time you push yourself too far, you repeat the same pattern that contributed to your burnout.
Recovery requires you to recognize and respect your limitations. This means stopping before you become tired, doing less than you believe you can manage, asking for help when necessary, and allowing some tasks to remain undone.
Considering Next Steps
Begin by noticing when your energy starts to decline and stop before you become tired. If you need help learning how to pace your activities during burnout recovery, reach out to a psychologist.
Related Articles
- This article explores why people who are prone to burnout often neglect their body’s signals and physical needs.
- This post describes how hiring practical support can reduce overwhelm and protect your time and energy.
- This post focuses on reducing demands, delegating responsibilities, and extending timelines to prevent overexertion.
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