When we’re in the middle of our busiest seasons, it’s all too common to ignore our self-care. It’s too time-consuming, too indulgent, and we have too much work to do.
(And then we wonder why we burn out so quickly!)
The solution is to find self-care tactics that are sustainable, and view them as an essential and efficient way to stay ahead of burnout during our busiest seasons.
Welcome to Part 4 of the Guide where we’re talking sustainable self-care!
If you’re new to the Guide, start here! The Busy Season Survival Guide is a cumulation of a decade of lessons I’ve learned about managing busy season burnout while trying to stay connected to creativity. This Guide is meant to support you in staying resilient and creative, even with a demanding day job!
Let’s embrace self-care, but make it practical! We’ll get started by taking a look at how self-care is sitting with you.
Are you avoiding self-care?
I know, I know – nobody has time for that! I hear you, and I totally felt the same way for years.
Until I cracked one day and tried it.
Tried what, exactly? I tried prioritizing a little self-care over grinding through hours upon hours of work, just to see what would happen.
So instead of slogging through into the night without a break, I took half an hour to paint.
Rather than starting work an hour early one day, I went for a run.
When I got sick, I stopped working and rested fully for a day.
What I thought would happen:
- People would find out my secret: I’m lazy.
- My efficiency would plummet to the core of the Earth.
- I would lose the respect of my colleagues if I wasn’t spending every ounce of energy working.
- Somehow my employer would notice that I chose to go for a run instead of working another extra hour of overtime and I’d get fired.
(Yes, my thoughts were a little overdramatic.)
What actually happened:
- My energy levels improved for entire days. I even became calmer and less dependent on caffeine!
- I was able to get into “flow” more easily at work, with much better focus and efficiency.
- My sleep quality improved and I felt much better hopping out of bed in the morning to hit the grind again.
- I didn’t feel the urge to “doom scroll” as a form of rest so frequently.
- Questions and requests waited patiently in my inbox until the next day to be answered.
- Other than my improved mood and energy… Nobody noticed.
It took just trying to prioritize some self-care activities to prove to myself that it was my unrealistic standard that I was holding myself to. This alleviated much of the guilt and worry that came with spending time on little acts of self-care.
As they say, in order for something to change, you have to change something.
Time for a mindset shift: rethinking “self-care”
One catalyst to burnout is when we prioritize the needs of others over our own. We don’t have time to fit in self-care! The world needs us. What even is self-care, anyways?
When I hear “you need to do self-care”, a bunch of associated activities pop up: Go for that run. Soak in the bath. Mindfully sip some tea. Call a friend. Work on your hobby. Absolutely!
But these are just activities that I’ve associated with the phrase. The words themselves have lost their depth of meaning.
Let’s take it back to basics.
Self-care is literally caring for, and about, your “self”, meaning you need to:
- Know yourself, and what constitutes “care” for you.
- Be in tune with how you’re doing and what you’re feeling consistently.
- Respond to how you’re doing and feeling in a way that is respectful and caring toward yourself.
- Treat yourself and your wellbeing as important – just like you would a child, a spouse, a friend.
In other words, self-care is more than a list of activities – it’s personal and requires attention and kindness.
Pinpoint the type of care you need
Did you know there are different types of rest?
7 Types of Rest is a popular framework, which I wrote about through a creative lens here: The Creative’s Guide to Rest: 7 Ways to Restore Your Energy
Say you’re feeling exhausted from work, and you need a break. So maybe you pull a “long soak in the tub” from the self-care list. That can be really soothing for the body, but is it working for your active mind? What if you really need to work on a meaningful personal project for a bit?
Maybe you were feeling exhausted and drained all day. You go to bed early to recover, only to find that you’re restless and can’t fall asleep. You may really need to move your body with some exercise to improve your energy levels.
This is why it’s so important to know yourself and to tune in. We want our self-care to be effective, and to achieve this we have to pick activities that speak to our current needs and what is most impactful to us.
This is why in Part 2 – Practical Preparation, we talked about getting work-life balance in check before a busy season, and we prepared things like a dopamine menu. We don’t want to be reinventing the wheel and experimenting during our busy season if we can help it – we just want to know what works, check in on ourselves, and then execute on those activities as needed.
Guilt-free.
If you didn’t have a chance to prepare, that’s okay! You’re already here reading this, so take a few extra minutes and brainstorm activities that would constitute self-care for you.
Try them, and note any positive results!
Sustainable self-care ideas
What makes self-care activities “sustainable” when you’re busy? It’s a combination of the length of time the activity itself takes and the “bang for your buck”. We want to embrace the most impactful, effective, and relevant activities for our own care.
Only you know what that looks like for you, and if you don’t yet, it might take some experimentation!
Mindsets that make self-care habitual
Mindset shifts are great because they don’t take up a lot of time, and they’re minimal effort, but they can have a big impact.
Look for the little things that add joy to your day, and be sure to drink them in! These will help you feel more grounded and otherwise “cared for” without any extra effort:
- I love my morning coffee – I’m already looking forward to it the night before. So when it is coffee time, I make sure I’m present for that first sip!
- Do you have a buddy at work you’re always thrilled to see? Make sure you’re present when you run into them!
- A gorgeous sunrise is always a special treat on my commute to work, and I make sure to appreciate it (safely).
- What was making my kids laugh so hard!? I try to make space to really enjoy their joy whenever I can.
- The feeling of sinking into your cozy bed at night is something you can look forward to all day, and then really appreciate once you get there.
Be realistic, and give yourself some grace. Whether it’s because we feel we’ve got something to prove, or we don’t feel valuable if we’re not busting our butts, we often burn out because we’re taking on far more than we can reasonably handle. Be realistic about your own personal capacity, and give yourself grace when it doesn’t quite meet your own expectations!
Prioritize your “me time”, and schedule it. The only way to get it in is to treat it seriously, like any other appointment. What you fill that time with is up to you – just make sure it happens! A hidden benefit? There’s something special that comes from making a promise to yourself and keeping it. This is an act of self-care, too!
Getting creative with your personal self-care basics
We need to eat, sleep, and move our bodies, but it’s amazing how much we can neglect the basics when we’re busy. Give yourself a break by making these appealing and accessible! Some ideas:
- Reduce resistance to your exercise routine. I love to run, so I pre-schedule them, I lay out the clothes, and I have the water bottle ready to go in the fridge beforehand (it helps, I don’t know why). I’ve also embraced the treadmill, because there are so many times I wished I could run but couldn’t leave the house. Problem solved!
- Don’t hold yourself to too high a standard, though! Making exercise accessible also means changing your mindset on what constitutes exercise. If you can’t have a dedicated workout three times per week, you could… Make a few extra trips up the stairs, play physical games with the kids or pets, pick somewhere a little further to walk to grab lunch, etc. It all counts!
- Examine your sleep hygiene. When we’re super busy, we usually feel depleted at the end of the day. A quick solution is to doom scroll for dopamine in bed, but it can seriously impact your sleep! Set a reminder on your phone to shut down the screen time. Mentally, prioritize sleep! Stop drinking caffeine in the afternoon (or be careful how much you consume – I switched my pm coffee for matcha and that’s suited me very well!)
- Speaking of dopamine, refer back to your dopamine menu (make sure it’s populated with healthy, supportive options!)
- Make it easy to drink enough water. We all know the importance of hydration! Flavour it if you want. Get the big stinkin’ straw cup so it’s always ready to go. Or set reminders on your phone and hit the water cooler throughout the day (getting those bonus steps in, too!).
- Schedule a standing date for a phone call or coffee with a friend. It’s all too easy to pass on trying to connect when you’re busy, but a pre-planned recurring get-together makes it much more likely to happen.
Of course, when we’re stressed and busy, it’s not just about getting our basic needs met – we want to feel cared for.
How empowering is it to know that we can direct that care by showing up for ourselves?
I would love some more self-care tips if you would like to share below! How do you stay engaged with your self-care practice when you’re smokin’ busy?
Now, the Guide was never meant to prevent burnout 100%. It was meant to minimize the intensity and frequency. So if you’re experiencing burnout now, I feel you. I’ve got you in Part 5 – Rest and Recovery, which you can totally manage, even if you have to press on and keep working.
