This repo is designed to house all of the information I've collected as I've worked on recovering from burnout (Chronic fatigue syndrome, ME). It turns out to be a large topic which can be frustratingly nuanced/unclear in some scientific literature.
This repo is in many ways a GH version of my blogpost Burnout: My story of chronic fatigue, neurodiversity, tech, and my shadow side, but where possible I've attempted to keep it purely pragmatic here.
If you have anything useful to add please do raise a PR or reach out via blogpost above, or on X @woodyhayday. Be good to yourself, and reach out :)
Note: Any and all information here does not replace nor is it intended to replace input from health professionals. This is simply my laymen collected notes on my experience.
- People Pleaser (Please Others) type in Transactional Analysis
- Stimpunks excellent post on Burnout
- Gabor Mate (Diary of a CEO #2)
- Occupational burnout slides: Meeting the Challenge of Burnout by Christina Maslach
- Nutrition: In Defence of Food (Documentary)
- Getting into audio books: Dune
- My Burnout YouTube playlist
- My Burnout Spotify playlist
- Burnout Questionnaire
- Burnout.io
- Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine
- When the Body Says No or The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate
- The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron
- The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions by Esther M. Sternberg
- Banishing Burnout: Six Strategies for Improving Your Relationship with Work by Christina Maslach
- Play it Away by Charlie Hoehn
- Adrenal Fatigue by James L. Wilson
- Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
- Nutrition: Michael Pollans’ Food Rules or In Defense of Food. How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy by Paul Chek are good places to start
(Note affiliate links.)
I tried a lot of things to heal from Burnout. I don't suggest you try any/all of these without professional advice - mileage may vary - be careful, and compassionate with yourself.
- Nutrition / Probiotics
- Therapy
- Creative Outlets: Making things
- Exercise
- Reduce your responsibilities & obligations
- Feel your feelings
- Renegotiate with ‘work/career’
- Autonomy and psychological detachment
- Awareness of neurodiversity
- Alone time
- Alternative therapies: Massage, Myofascial release, Reflexology, Acupuncture
- Alexander Technique
- Magnesium baths (epsom salt)
- Play
- Sleep
- Drop stimulants, increase relaxants
- Meditation
- Breathwork
- Audiobooks
- Shakti mats/pillows
- Microdosing psychedelics
- Spoons theory
- Dark room living
- Embrace your Shadow side: Psychedelic rock, Dark Souls, etc.
- Pharmaceuticals (Modern Medicine)
- Gratitude
There's a lot to this topic, and I'm mostly unqualified to give input. The reason I've included it as a category here is that I believe, (in the current era), that working on your diet is probably always going to help. Working with a qualified nutritionist was one of the most helpful things I did.
See:
- Action for ME: Diet and Nutrition
- BurnoutNutrition.com
- The ME Association: Diet and Nutrition (Keto)
- The ME Association: Diet and Nutrition (Restrictive diets)
If you're an engineer type, I'd highly recommend Transactional Analysis, for a models-based therapy mode.
Useful Therapy (TA) terms to look up:
- Kahler's Drivers (Mine were/are Be Perfect and Please Others)
- The Drama Triangle:
The following terms may be helpful in researching further.
- Maslach Burnout inventory
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic stress & Hypocortisolism
- Adrenal Fatigue
- ME (Myalgic encephalomyelitis)
- Autistic Burnout
- PEM (Post-exertional malaise)
- HPA Axis (Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), Hippocampus, Amygdala
- Limbic system
- (Rapid) thinning of the prefrontal cortex
- Caudate and putamen (structures susceptible to neurotoxic changes from excessive release of glutamate)
- Neurological dysfunction
- Unrefreshing sleep
I hope this pile of resources has helped, and that you're approaching your challenge with compassion to yourself. I'm on X @woodyhayday if you want to reach out. For now I leave this resource stack with a quote which stuck with me as I read about, and went through Burnout:
That is wintering. It is the active acceptance of sadness. It is the practice of allowing ourselves to feel it as a need. It is the courage to stare down the worst parts of our experience and to commit to healing them the best we can. Wintering is a moment of intuition, our true needs felt keenly as a knife.
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
by Katherine May