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I got burned out with the combination of a high intensity job, care taking a dying spouse, and managing the decline and dementia of a parent. Both deaths occurr

I got burned out with the combination of a high intensity job, care taking a dying spouse, and managing the decline and dementia of a parent. Both deaths occurred near each other. I had always been highly productive and successful but at a certain point I couldn't really focus anymore. My brain felt empty. I had trouble learning things. Luckily I had had one of those golden jobs in which I made a small fortune. I retired early. Now I feel fresh again and I want to get back into the mix. It took a couple of years though. What did I do? Grief workshops, therapy, gym, meditation, grief groups, community service, deeper friendships. It works. It just takes time.

dogbait 2y ago
So sorry to hear you went through that heartache. I'm glad life (and of course your efforts) gave you some fortune. For me - going through burnout and depression, my brain felt almost like it would hit a wall any time I wanted to learn something new. At the time it felt like it was energy or sugar deprived. Took a month of no work and just relaxing, playing video games (I joke sometimes that Witcher 3 healed me) and doing the core things, exercise, talking, spending time with my family and friends and sleeping/eating right slowly pulled me away from that raw feeling of apathy. Everything else followed once I started basic self care, but boy did it take time to feel somewhat 'normal' though I still feel 'different' following the experience.
- cleandreams 2y ago
  Thanks. It's hard to connect to self-care when you are in a tech grind. You are expected to grind it out and I enjoyed that but at some point in my life that didn't work anymore. Taking even a month off can help. By the way I went back to work about 3 weeks after my spouse died. It wasn't the wrong thing to do. But a couple years after that I needed a real break.

dogbait 2y ago

So sorry to hear you went through that heartache. I'm glad life (and of course your efforts) gave you some fortune. For me - going through burnout and depression, my brain felt almost like it would hit a wall any time I wanted to learn something new. At the time it felt like it was energy or sugar deprived. Took a month of no work and just relaxing, playing video games (I joke sometimes that Witcher 3 healed me) and doing the core things, exercise, talking, spending time with my family and friends and sleeping/eating right slowly pulled me away from that raw feeling of apathy. Everything else followed once I started basic self care, but boy did it take time to feel somewhat 'normal' though I still feel 'different' following the experience.

cleandreams 2y ago
Thanks. It's hard to connect to self-care when you are in a tech grind. You are expected to grind it out and I enjoyed that but at some point in my life that didn't work anymore. Taking even a month off can help. By the way I went back to work about 3 weeks after my spouse died. It wasn't the wrong thing to do. But a couple years after that I needed a real break.