Mental exhaustion / inertia / rest is good?

Bit of a ramble here but I'm feeling a bit frustrated with my brain at the moment. I've always had a strong drive to understand things & make sense of things, but I feel like a big part of me was blown away by my burnout two years ago. In the months that followed that, I literally didn't care what happened to me and knew that I had to rest and let my brain recover. I've been back at work now for over 18 months and I'm doing OK there being productive. But I still have less "zip" than I used to have in making sense of things and writing about them. I often find it difficult to get started on stuff because the initial steps don't give immediate payback & I keep procrastinating and dithering between alternative ways forwards. Part of me wants to recreate my blog with a slimmed down style that would be useful for others to read, but another part of me tells me that I don't *have to* and I can just chill and relax. When I try, often I can only write for 5 mins at a time and then I get worn out.

Not sure what to make of it - am I *still* recovering from burnout? Was the way I was before "too much"? Am I just finding a more relaxed way of being ""and that's OK"?

This applies to all my hobbies and pastimes at home too; my blogging, radio hobby etc; I think of stuff that I *want* to do, that I would find *enjoyable* but just find myself thinking that things are OK as they are and best left alone, so end up doing nothing about it.

  • Hi Craig & thanks for replying. There's nothing particularly new in my life now that would be adding an *extra* load if that's what you were thinking & in fact it's the opposite as I'm being much kinder to myself nowadays.

    For me it's all part of trying to work out what is ASD and can't be changed (& trying to change would be dangerous) vs things I can "work on" to help me lead a (more) fulfilling life.

  • I'm in a very similar place and would love the answers to some of these questions as well!

    What comes to mind is asking the question of what's new in your life now.  I'm at a very different point in my career, I have a house now so that takes a lot of energy as well.  It's much easier to do "all those things" when you have less responsibility.