Mental burnout is a term used in society, yet it is commonly misunderstood.
Imagine you have a car. You climb in, put your seatbelt on and then proceed to accelerate as hard as you can, red lining as much as possible. The road is uneven, full of pot holes but you make little to no effort to avoid them. When a corner arises you minimise your breaking, then push out onto the straights at full speed. You only stop to refill fuel when desperate, and to half heartedly reattach any part of the vehicle that falls off during the journey. The car warning lights flicker on, warning noises sound, yet you ignore them.
'I will sort them later'
'I am sure its not an immediate problem'
'I don't have time to look at that right now'
'If I stop, others will be going quicker than me'
How long do you think this car would last before key parts of the vehicle are broken beyond repair?
This same logic can be applied to our brains. Our brains are our mental engine, as well as our processors. While they are capable of achieving incredible feats, they require recovery, maintenance and TLC to operate at full power.
Modern culture often glorifies insane hustle attitudes, while demonising taking time off and resting. While we can maintain high workloads for short periods of time, we will burnout eventually.
Social media has created a false expectation. Many post gloating about their action packed days in which they seem to fill a vast, almost impossible amount of productivity into a day. This is because social media allows people to portray the exact image they wish to curate. It is not considered glamorous or interesting to show down time and periods of rest.
It is important we do not view time off to relax, watch TV and sleep as ‘laziness’ and reframe it as recharging. Your body and mind will thank you for it, and repay you with increased performance output.
Take care of your vehicle as you only get one.
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