Well said. More time off and/or WFH will not cure what a shitty lifestyle of going to bed late, eating badly and not exercising does to one's life.
Ironically, coming back to the office, has forced me to better choices than the ones I had when WFH. Even though I spend more time commuting and have less time to myself, I am getting more done now by sheer virtue of going to bed early, spending less on junk food cause I plan my lunches, have lost weight and have better stamina from just having to walk my ass off to and from train stations to get to work early.
More discipline will set you free. It sounds paradoxical but it does.
* cut back or cut out recreational drugs
Having a beer or six has a pleasant way of making problems tomorrow problems. But it's a vicious circle.
Personally, I use Sleepcycle, which allows you to select a 30 minute period you would like to be woken up. Additionally, it tracks your sleep and does it quite well. I also have 2 Hue lights that gradually turn on in the beginning of this 30 minute cycle. In the winter, I have a heater that begins warming my room up about an hour before I wake up. The combination of the light, heat, and sound slowly wakes me up and it has legit been life changing.
You don't have to do all that, but even just an alarm that gradually turns up the volume on a pleasant sound will do wonders for your mornings. Instead of jolting you awake, you will be gradually woken from your sleep.
I was camping the other week and a friend forgot to turn his phone alarm off and it was the most unpleasant morning experience I've had in years. I did not realize people still use those. Get a gradual alarm, you will thank me.
For iPhone users this gradual alarm can be setup natively with the Clock/Alarm app. I now use it instead of Sleepcycle.
Sundays can be, er, alarming though! (Hint: at least, for someone not often awake in time to physically attend an early mass.)
But as someone with trouble maintaining a steady sleep cycle, I totally support purposefully using an alarm like that as long as you have the bedtime sorted too. And once you know what full sleep feels like.
(Bedtime and a bed routine turned out to be the key for me and now my sleep cycle is regular enough)
Unfortunately, after a while doing all the above and more, I realized my feelings towards my coworkers and company had nothing to do with burnout. Sometimes you realize everyone is miserably bad at their jobs and you don't want to keep dealing with an increasingly shitty work environment.
Another valuable thing is putting yourself in the position to be able to leave.
Also think about what about your career/work that you enjoy. You could change something up, a change is as good as a holiday as they say - try a new company, an adjacent role, hell if you don’t like your responsibilities could you step down a rung on the ladder? (I’ve done that)
I forgot to mention a few things:
* I found this app absurdly effective. Only used it like 3 times but it had a big impact: https://wuju.app/
* Square breathing helps. Inhale four seconds, hold four seconds, exhale four seconds, hold four seconds, repeat. Can do it as two second instead of four as well. Especially helpful if you feel stress.
* Pay attention for stress signs and process them. When I had some burnout it was like my stress response was oversensitive. So noticing I felt stress and either processing it (e..g someone cuts you off, you feel tension —> “They merely walked in front of me, relax, that is not a threat”) or using the breathing technique can help retrain your stress response.
Good luck! It does get better, just takes time and good habits.
Also random thing that helped once: consciously blowing off everything non essential and diving deep into Hades for a couple weeks. I think it was being totally focussed on a thing, and having a sense of progress, that helped.
Would not recommend as first step. Take care of small irritants and get good habits first. But then just totally letting go to some fun hobby can be an important part of the cure. For me it was Hades. For others it could be woodworking or pottery, whatever tends to immerse you.
* Treat sleep like it is your full time job. Aim to be in bed early enough you don’t need an alarm. THIS is the big one that will turn things around
* Eat well and exercise. This sounds trite but it’s very important. Cook meals rather than takeout. If you don’t have time for the gym, a 7 min bodyweight workout each day is easy and effective. Fit in walks
* Time. Burnout is basically breaking yourself. Doing the above and then just waiting will give your brain space to heal. But it takes a certain length of time
* Close loops. If you have stuff worrying you, handle it. Like, if the shower is leaky, get it fixed. Desk messy, clean it up. Don’t give your brain stuff to worry about
* Actively find relaxing stuff to do that actually relaxes you. Like some leisure is junk food and some refreshes you. Figure out which