Oh burnout. It catches up with all of us at one time or another. Maybe we’ve run ourselves ragged trying to keep up with kids, work, mortgage payments…life. Or, perhaps our burnout is the result of chasing our dream, but chasing a little too hard. I’ve experienced both.

The crazy thing about burnout is that it isn’t always easy to recognize. We may feel a little cranky or out of sorts, or maybe we just have a hard time dragging ourselves out of bed in the morning. It comes on subtly and without warning; but without proper tending, burnout can suck us into spiral of depression, lethargy and disconnection that can be incredibly difficult to escape.

The key to overcoming burnout is to reignite your passion for life. There is a huge difference between being “on fire” and being burned out; and all you need to do to go from the latter to the former is to rediscover your spark and then, throw some fuel on it.

The trick is to recognize the early symptoms of burnout and then treat the underlying cause of those symptoms. Here are seven easy ways to do just that…

7 Ways to Light Your Fire When You’re Feeling Burned Out

1. Take your life off of auto-pilot. I fully believe that the Universe (God, Spirit…whatever identifier resonates with you) is constantly giving us signs and guidance as to what path our life should take in order for us to fulfill our divine purpose. The problem with burnout, is that it causes us to follow the path of least resistance in life, which, in turn, causes us to miss out on these “Heavenly hunches”. We go through our days on auto pilot–doing the exact same things in the exact same way…day after day after soul-sucking day. The Heavens could open glorious doors of opportunity for us, but we wouldn’t notice them because we’ve got our heads down, trudging our way through our day without ever bothering to look up and consider any different possibilities for our life. In order to re-light the fire of our passion, we must learn to break ourselves out of this stagnate, auto-pilot mode. Go out with friends, start a new book, try a new recipe, create something with your hands, take a weekend getaway…just do something new and different. By trying something new, we begin to gradually pull ourselves out of the quicksand of stagnation that is a hallmark indicator of burnout. The more we begin to incorporate new experiences into our lives, the more fun we’ll start to have and the more fun we have, the more fuel we’ll be pouring on the fire of our passion.
2. Stop forcing things. One sure-fire way to know that you are experiencing burnout, is the feeling that everything is hard and that you have to force yourself to make anything happen. You feel like you are constantly facing an uphill battle with one arm tied behind your back. This particular breed of burnout often comes as a result of the “hustle hard/slay all day” mindset. We have big dreams for our life but we allow ourselves to burn out in the pursuit of those dreams. I’ll confess–this is my particular flavor of burnout–the one that I am most prone to experiencing. I love–make that LOVE–working on my dreams and goals. I love it so much in fact, that I sometimes let it go to an extreme and only slow down when I am forced to slow down because I am physically and emotionally exhausted (and sometimes sick). What I am gradually starting to understand however; is that life feels much lighter and my goals actually come to fruition much more easily and quickly when I stop trying to force things and instead begin to allow things. In order to allow this allowing, we must learn to center ourselves and get aligned with our spirit and highest calling. For me, the easiest way to tap into this state of allowing is through meditation. If meditation is new to you, click here for a beginner’s guide to meditation and mindfulness.
3. Start expecting miracles. While under the black cloud of burnout, all we see is difficulty and struggle. In order to remedy this, we must open our eyes and intentionally begin looking for the miracles that surround us. One of the easiest ways to get our eyes off of our problems and on to our blessings is to begin practicing radical gratitude. It might sound overly simplistic but I have found it to be absolutely true–the more we show gratitude for the daily miracles in our lives, the more daily miracles we’ll experience for which to be grateful. Click here for several simple suggestions on how to put the power of gratitude to work in your life.
4. Expand your experience. Ever notice how much smaller your life gets when you’re experiencing burnout?  You wake up (begrudgingly), suck down some coffee, drag yourself to work, slog through your day at the office, clock out, come home, crash in front of the television and zone out until it’s time to go to bed and start the whole thing over the next day. The entire universe seems to contract in on itself and your world becomes smaller, dimmer and less engaging. In order to re-light your fire, you must find ways to expand your experience of life. Take a class to learn more about something that you’ve always been interested in, explore a town that you’ve never visited before, get together with people who inspire and encourage you–just do something to break the monotony of  burnout and rekindle the fires of passion. Action that is aligned with your soul’s purpose is the absolute fastest way to light your fire and reconnect with your passions.
5. Break old patterns of being. So often, we end up in a cycle of burnout because we repeat the same negative patterns of experience again and again. We know that our relationship with our significant other is toxic, but we keep going back because we’re too scared to try going it alone, or maybe we are suffocating under a mountain of bills that we can’t pay, and yet we soothe ourselves with some retail therapy which just ends up adding to the problem. We all have ingrained habits that we repeat, often unconsciously. The key to breaking the chains of these hard-held habits is to first become aware of their existence and then, recognize the purpose that they are serving in our lives (comfort, distraction, etc.). Next, we must take immediate action in the opposite direction of those habits. Instead of hitting the snooze button when your alarm goes off in the morning, understand that you are just using the snooze button as a way of avoiding the inevitable and instead, immediately get out of bed and open the window shades to let in some light. By taking intentional and immediate steps in the opposite direction of your deeply ingrained negative habits, you will begin to rewire your brain for action and success. For more on how to make this technique work for you, check out the book The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins.
6. Stop “shoulding” on yourself. Let’s face it, when we are burned out, we know that there are plenty of things that we should be doing. We should be working out more, we should be watching what we eat, we should turn off the TV and go for a walk instead, etc. So many shoulds, and yet so little energy or enthusiasm to do any of them. Rather than allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by all of the things that we should be doing, we will be better served if we simply choose one, tiny little should and focus on getting back on track with it. Taking one little action in the direction of one, single should is often all it takes to swing the momentum back in our favor and re-light the fire within. Once we’ve gotten a handle on that small should, we can build upon the success by tackling the next, single should. Eventually, we will discover that we have gotten back in the game and have moved from burned out to on fire.
7. Learn to rest–but don’t stop. When we find ourselves burned out as a result of pushing too hard and burning the candle at both ends, it is imperative that we learn the value of rest. However; as vital as rest is, we must learn only to rest–not to stop. Allow yourself to slow down, take a breather, take a nap, go on vacation…whatever it takes in order for you to regain your energy and enthusiasm but then…rise back up. For some great suggestions on how to truly let yourself relax and  capitalize on that downtime, click here.

While all of these suggestions can be helpful when it comes to rekindling the fires of a passionate and purposeful life, none of them will work for the long-haul if you don’t know what your purposes and passions in life are. Nothing contributes more to long-term feelings of burnout and apathy than not feeling aligned with your true calling. If you feel as though you could use a little guidance in rediscovering just who you were created to be and how to release that FabYOUlous creature to do her work in the world, check out my book, Finding FabYOUlous: A ‘Self-Help with Sass’ Guide to Finding, Celebrating and Capitalizing On the FabYOUlousness that Makes You, YOU.

Another great way to get in touch with the person that you were created to be is through the use of intentional questioning. Click the image below to receive the FREE ebook, 365 Questions to Help You Find Your Answers. When you click the image and enter your information, you’ll also receive the ebook 50 FabYOUlous Ways to Energize Your Life as an added bonus.