“I’ve worked myself to exhaustion before. I was so young, and I thought I could do everything; it was just too much for my body and my mind.” – Penelope Cruz
I had intended to write about some other fun stuff I did this past week, but then, this happened, and I knew that I had to write about it. Perhaps, it could help someone who really needs to read this.
I used to believe that:
1. Some things don’t happen to Africans (especially Nigerians), and
2. I am too strong to go through some kinds of things.
Well, I’m saddened by the realisation that both beliefs are wrong.
I had been pushing myself at work, doing lots of early mornings and late nights, juggling a lot of other stuff, and practically just being my own ‘Superwoman’. I had noticed that I was getting increasingly tired by the day, even falling asleep in the Uber, but I chalked it down to inadequate sleep and did nothing to regularise my sleep pattern.
The day was last week Thursday and I had a number of things to scratch off my to-do list for work. So, as usual, I woke up at 4 a.m., got ready, and left my house. I slept in the car on my way to the office, and at the office, I tried to work but caught myself sleeping. So, rather than continuing to work from the office, I decided to do all the work from outside the office as I needed a change of scenery to motivate me to work. (Can you even believe the things I tell myself?! SMH)
Well, out of the office I went. I successfully knocked off 2 meetings before 12 p.m. and was really happy with myself as I called for a ride that would take me to the next meeting. I soon received a call that the car had arrived but as I walked towards it, I immediately began feeling nauseous, dizzy, and extremely tired that I could hardly move.
I was sensible enough to understand that I could not achieve anything in that state so, rather than head to my initial destination on the Island, I had the ride redirected to a friend’s place on the Mainland as I did not want to be alone in my house in case anything happened.
But nothing did happen. I slept through the ride, got to my friend’s place, put my phone on silent and slept for about 5+ hours before my friend took me home where I continued to sleep. The next day, I was diagnosed to have suffered an exhaustion attack (burnout)and was advised to be on bed rest. Thankfully, it was almost the weekend so I did as much resting as I could. Hence, my post for last week is coming late but, better late than never right?
This is one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me so I’m definitely taking it easy with work now. And if, like me, you hardly get enough rest and experience some symptoms of burnout, please try to take care of yourself, delegate as much as you can, ask for help, let go of perfection, nurture your own absolutely important life, learn to say ‘NO’ to people (while learning to say ‘YES’ to yourself), find ways to laugh more, grant yourself permission to not get it all done, eat more fruits, drink lots of water, and REST! As I write this, I’m stretched out in bed and ready to sleep as soon as I publish this post. So, say a prayer for me and I pray you have a relaxing weekend.
XOXO
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom.” – James 3:13
P/s: A good book to read on this topic is Career Burnout: Causes and Cures.
This article was first published on my previous blog and was transfered here with only minor typographic edits.
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