I am feeling so much better, and it's only Tuesday. And I sat through a particularly uninspiring all-day pastors meeting without losing the will to live. (I will admit that at times I lost the will for several other people in the meeting to live.) How come?
Well, I'm aware there's a potential for premature enlightenment, so I'm not getting my hopes up too high just yet. But the steps that I took on Sunday - sleep, talking to someone, reading about the problem - helped a lot, particularly to put things in perspective.
I think the worst thing about burnout-feelings is the internal monologue you get into: you keep telling yourself how tired you are, and how busy you are, and how nobody cares, until you believe it to a disproportionate degree. Sometimes the best thing to do, particularly if you're a rather analytical person like me, is to turn the mental tape off repeat and start doing something else instead.
Talking to the boss helps a lot, as it helps to turn off that internal monologue. Having to actually verbalise what you've been thinking makes you get rid of all the hyperbole and stick to what's actually reasonable to say.
But I think the biggest thing to ensure continuing happiness is that I've built in relaxation to my day.
Yesterday, I came home and lay on my bed and listened to England win the cricket. Today, I took some nice pictures of the sunset over Lake Biwa, and then went to the onsen. I did that last Wednesday, but this Wednesday, I'm meeting one of the young guys from church for dinner. Thursdays, I play go. Fridays, I, uh, support local industry.
It means there's always something to look forward to in the day, and also that there's always time to relax in the day. I'm not saying it's the answer, especially since I'm only on day two, but it certainly feels a lot better so far.
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