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Becoming a mother is why I became an londonbusinessblog.com. I have always been career oriented. When I was pregnant with my first child, I told myself I wanted a baby and a career. I imagined a future where my husband and I would get up early, get our child ready, and drop her off at daycare.
Fellow parents out there are probably laughing right now. It’s easy to say you want everything, but the moment you hold your child in your arms for the first time, everything changes. As cliché as that may sound, that’s exactly what happened to me.
My beautiful little girl was placed in my arms and I never wanted to let her go. Suddenly the thought of someone else raising her while I was at work was no longer appealing. I still wanted a career, but more importantly, I wanted to be there for my child every day.
I chose to stay home, but the itch to have my own career never went away. Talking to my husband about it, I decided to start my own business. I would work from home in an era where working from home was something no one did. I raised my baby, worked and spent time with my family. I must admit that I had a great support system that helped me achieve my dreams.
However, it was a time of extreme stress. I was exhausted from taking care of my child. I felt sluggish at work as the projects piled up. I found myself wanting veggies more than spending time with friends and family. For the first time in my life I had a burnout.
Related: Understanding Entrepreneurial Burnout (and How to Cope With It)
Burn-out as a stay at home parent and londonbusinessblog.com
If you’re a parent, you know you have two full-time jobs: your career and taking care of your family. Those two worlds collide when you work from home because you feel like neither of them has a break. From personal experience, I’d say you’re more likely to feel stressed if you’re a stay-at-home parent who also works from home. I remember one day in particular. I had almost no sleep between taking care of my child at night and staying up late finishing projects for work. My brain felt jumbled and I kept finding myself making mistakes. Add to that a crying baby in the background, and I thought I was going crazy.
I wanted to give up. I was a mess. When my husband came home that evening, I told him I was done being an londonbusinessblog.com. I felt exhausted. Mistakes at work piled up. Caring for my child didn’t feel as magical as I once thought. After a long day alone, my husband came home and calmed me down. He was the one who told me what I was experiencing: burnout.
Related: Avoiding Burnout in a High Stress Environment
What exactly is burnout?
Many people think of burnout as a stress response caused by too much work, but that’s not quite right. Burnout is more about unfulfilled expectations or a mismatch between what you do for work and what you expect. In other words, it is more accurately described as a disappointment at work than as a disorder caused by doing too much.
While not a diagnosable condition or physical illness such as depression or anxiety, burnout is linked to those disorders. If you don’t manage your stress well by taking care of yourself or expressing your feelings in a healthy way — to a loved one or support group — things can get worse. That’s why it’s important to find ways to constantly combat stress before that happens.
My personal burnout stemmed from that age-old term ‘having it all’. I thought I had to be perfect every day at work and perfect every day while raising my child. Somewhere along the way I seemed to have forgotten that I am human. My husband was the one who reminded me that I had a huge support system behind me. It was time to stop being perfect and just be myself – and that started with managing my burnout.
Related: How to spot an entrepreneurial burnout (before it’s too late)
Tips to avoid a burnout in the future
It’s easy to get on your own. The fact that burnout happens to so many people at one time or another should come as no surprise. But don’t let burnout drive you away from what you’re doing. Find a way to avoid it in the future by following these tips:
- Turn off your phone and computer at the end of the day. Stick to a work schedule and don’t let the temptation of nearby electronics stop you. Go to bed on time – don’t stay up late to do even more work.
- Set boundaries with your family. If your children are old enough, let them know that they cannot come to your office when you are in a meeting or on the phone.
- Do what you like! Find a small activity every day that you can do that will help you relax. This can be as simple as brewing your favorite cup of tea.
- Get up and get moving. Go for a walk. Play tag with your kids. Just get moving!
- Finally, and most importantly, managing expectations. You stress yourself out expecting to get a lot done, and at the end of the day you find yourself overwhelmed with an even bigger mountain of projects. The work is endless, so take your time. Do not worry. Understand your limits and how much you can complete in a given period. But also forgive yourself if you don’t get it all done! You are human and the good news is that you work with fellow humans who understand your stress.
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