Burnout seems to be on the rise in media, with $20 billion spend on stress by workplaces according to Workplace Australia. I’m always hearing how people easily burn themselves out when working in this industry, and it seems to be more and more common that people are taking sabbaticals (unpaid time off work) just so they can preserve their careers.

This topic is particularly close to me as a good friend of mine who works at a large digital media outlet had to take time off work due to signs of burnout. Not only did he have a hard time concentrating at work, but his performance had fallen off a cliff. His article hit rates were becoming less and less prolific, and by the time people had started to notice, it was already too late. He’s currently taking a month long unpaid sabbatical to try and recover. As someone who has personally experienced burnout, I’d like to write about the most effective ways that I found to deal with working in a high-intensity creative environment.

The first sign of burnout is making frequent and unexplainable mistakes. I found while I was in the process of burning out, people around me had started seeing small mistakes in my work, and were having to clean up after me. I was in such a clouded mindset that I couldn’t keep up with my own actions, and little things would slip by me.

To help prevent this burnout I enlisted the help of a good friend of mine. She was a yoga instructor and helped me focus on my breathing during work, and stretch beforehand to ensure I wasn’t all tense throughout the day. One of the key lessons I learned from yoga was that slowing down actually helped prevent burnout. I had to work longer hours for a brief period, but by slowing down I could by myself the time I needed to fix errors while I was going through a tough time.

Ok so that’s not to say that you should cut out the unhealthy people from your life. When I felt myself starting to burn out, I found myself needing a coping mechanism like drinking on a school night or eating that extra piece of cake. It’s not healthy to be in a bad place, and it’s important to recognise what it means to be burning out.

To help me get out of this rut, I got a nutrition coach. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t eating healthily to begin with, but I could always do better. My nutrition coach helped me recognise my habits, and reactions to bad situations by eating poorly or drinking, and through this awareness I could to ease my way out of the burnout. Having healthy people around you helps you to build the best safety net for when you fall off the horse. For me it was my nutrition coach, for you it could be anybody you know that leads a healthy (mentally and physically) lifestyle.

This doesn’t mean go out and splurge on shopping to make you feel better about yourself. What I’m talking about is doing something you’ve always wanted to do. This could be taking a holiday, doing something with friends, visiting your parents, anything that makes you feel like you’re living your life. If you take the time to go out and do something that’s important to you, that’s all that matters.

Burnout is tough. With the right people around you and the right frame of mind, you can make it through. Remember that feeling burnt out is a spectrum, and it can make you feel like absolute crap. If you feel more towards the worse end of the spectrum, consult your doctor.