Burnout is Real and It's Hurting You


Burnout is Real and It's Killing Your Creativity

10/11/2024

Hey Reader,

In the creative space, there is a constant struggle with creators when it comes to burnout.

If you don't know what burnout is, it's when you are mentally, emotionally or physically exhausted from prolong stresses and frustrations.

What causes it?

You may feel resentful of your audience.

You may feel that what you put into your work is more than what you get out of it.

You may feel pressured to hit goals you set for yourself.

You may feel like you're not getting enough content created.

You may feel pressured to hit metrics that are not in your control.

You may be considering quitting content creation because you are not seeing results.

And much more.

What do most creators do when they feel burnt out?

They take a break.

They quit altogether.

They keep going.

In the last month and a half, I've burnt out, and I did one of these.

I've had my own personal endeavor that has taken so much energy and time out of me. It left me emotionless and disinterested in creating.

It has challenged me to levels I've never been challenged before and it's forced me to reprioritize.

Now, a few weeks removed from the pivotal moment, I'm able to reflect on the experience.

I considered quitting content creation.

I started shutting down services that I was paying for because I started pulling back to save money.

I realized that if I'm to reprioritize my life, I need to start cutting the fat, like I normally do.

I no longer stressed about posting content for the day. I even skipped more than 5 days at one point, and no one seemed to notice.

I realized that the immense amount of pressure I had on my shoulders was causing me to shed the weight.

I pretty much was on the brink of giving up on the creative journey, on my business.

A business that honestly is not performing any better than 6 months ago.

So I thought, "F*ck it, it's not doing well anyways."

All of this was an emotional response to what I was, and am still, going through.

And with any emotional response, it's important to step back and think objectively.

"Why am I doing this?

"What am I trying to achieve?"

"Who is this for?"

When I asked myself these questions, I was grounding myself.

I decided that I needed to keep going.

Sure, I broke my streak of never missing a day.

But I've made up for those missed days despite how uneventful my performance has been on that content.

The core of my journey is doing what I love. And If I had given up on that, I would have hated myself for it.

So what changed?

When I asked myself those questions I also realized that this content creation, my photography, all is an escape for me from the realities of life.

It serves more than one purpose.

It's my outlet.

I've been discouraged to promote myself in the last 6+ weeks because I felt that it was useless. All external factors were pointing down and to the right.

Declining.

I don't know where you are at in your own journey, but if you're going through a rough patch like I have been, I recommend taking a step back and think about things more objectively.

Yes, have emotion. Don't be a robot.

Just make sure you're making the right decisions in the right state of mind.

Because you never know what you could be giving up.

It could be something that means more to you than you realize.

It could be something that is your outlet and helps you cope with your situation.

And before you give that thing up, make sure you are giving yourself the chance to really think about it.

I've been journaling throughout my 100 days of good habits challenge and now at the end of each entry I write:

"Keep Going"

And that is my recommendation to you.

Chat Soon,

Joe Granitto

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