former bed side nurse here on sick leave till the end of the month. I should start my new job away from patients with normal working hours on October 1st.
I feel drained, even though I eat and sleep well, the best I’ve slept in months, my circadian rhythm is that of a normal human being, I can cook, go shopping, I even play some hobbies now.
Nobody yells at me or makes passive aggressive or backhanded remarks for me to hear.
The 1st. of October is a week away and I don’t believe I’ll be a fully functioning human being by then, most probably I’ll ask for a 2 week sick leave extension.
what worked for you to go back to your normal self?
Burn out takes up to two years to recover from, so a few weeks is really not enough to recover.
Consider watching this video (or don’t, it did make me cry when I was needing to leave patient care).
https://youtu.be/L_1PNZdHq6Q
so I’m going to have a way to work and sustain myself while doing some therapy?
Did you do therapy or simply started your new job and somehow your brain forgot that part of your former life? Talked to friends?
I’ll watch the video now
Luckily I had somewhat more minor versions of the feelings (I was toast) previously, and had been in therapy at that time. While it wasn’t the focus of the therapy it obviously came up and I had some coping strategies already in place by the time my serious burn out came around.
I agree with what other people said about adding very different feeling things into your life and reducing the things that feel similar. I also have (counterintuitive but bear with me) fairly regular things in my life (I’m a creature of habit) and leaning into those habits really carried me through. I couldn’t make a decision to save my life, but if it was Tuesday I went dancing and Mon/Wed/Fri are strength days and my wife always wants to do happy hour on Friday, so things happened because they always happened if that makes sense.
It sucks because these things are ideally in place before the burnout. When you need them most it’s the hardest to do.