One of the goals of my work is to provide information about the particular type of existential burnout creative types are prone to.
Are you a creative who is experiencing burnout? Creative people often cannot be happy unless they are living a creative life. They try for years or decades to live life the “right” way (i.e. seeking conventional success), only to find themselves in a place of dissatisfaction, depression, or even existential despair. You can read more about my own experience with that below.
I found my way out of burnout and into the creative life of my dreams, and you can, too. Need guidance? Visit my mentorship page and contact me with any questions you have.
Here are some podcast episodes I’ve done on burnout:
E21. Why Burnout May Be an Inevitable – and Positive! – Developmental Stage for HSPs
E11. My Experience With Severe Burnout and How I Got Through It
Why the Burnout Creatives Experience is Different:
We usually think of burnout as something we get at work. When you’re overwhelmed and exhausted on the job, that’s burnout. Taking a vacation is advised. I think that’s wrong. We’re dealing with an epidemic of burnout in our society right now because not just our jobs but our whole way of life is making us sick. And a vacation won’t solve anything.
My own experience of burnout is that it is a whole-life phenomenon. I got burnout because of a combination of pressures in my work, my academic program, and a relationship. What ties all of these parts of my life together? They are societal institutions enmeshed in expectations regarding what life should look like, how we should behave, the things we should be acquiring, and most importantly, who should be benefiting from our efforts. And here’s a spoiler: often, we ourselves are not who is benefiting.
I believe the reason burnout is increasingly common in our society has to do with the whole way we approach our lives: the things we expect from ourselves and those around us, what we’re told we should be and want, the pressures put on us to be productive members of society…you get the picture. Modern life itself is exhausting. This is what I mean when I say burnout is a whole-life phenomenon. It’s existential. Something about the way we are living our lives isn’t healthy. We all know this. Increasing rates of chronic diseases, particularly mental health issues, shows us this. Our societal obsession with “wellness” shows us this.
Anyone can experience whole-life, existential burnout, but people who are what I call gentle souls, HSPs who are sensitive, intuitive, and empathic, are particularly prone to it. After years, even decades, of trying to fit ourselves into societal institutions that our personalities and talents are not suited to, we can find ourselves exhausted and simply unable to continue as we were. This is what happened to me. I realized I had burnout when nothing made sense anymore. I lost all my enthusiasm for life. I questioned every value our society holds up as worthy of pursuit, because after years of pursuing those values, I was deeply unhappy. After a long journey through that darkness, I realized that most of what we’re taught we should do, or should want, often doesn’t actually benefit us personally. This website is about getting through burnout and how to find a new purpose and a new way of life.