Burnt Out? 4 Small Things That Actually Helped Me
By Makayla Lucero | Life With KK
If you are a burnt out woman, I would like to share some encouragement — and also commiserate with you.
I’m Makayla, and part of why I started Life With KK was to be honest about what rebuilding actually looks like. This is one of those posts.
Let’s Commiserate First
Burnout sucks. And what really sucks is that the word has become so overused that it has lost nearly all of its significance- so when you try to use it to describe your utter lack of everything internal, it doesn’t even come close to what you’re actually feeling.
Burnout is very real, and when I use that term I mean the life-altering exhaustion that hinders every cognitively driven operation — the kind that cannot be cured without drastic intervention. A deficiency so great that there is no room for any action other than those necessary for survival and approval.
If that is how you would describe burnout too… then I know exactly how you feel.
It’s like every day is some wacked-out version of Groundhog’s Day. All you do – all you can do – is go through the same motions you went through the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. Except each day has its own sick little twist, keeping you constantly on high alert, walking on eggshells while simultaneously looking over your shoulder. The moment you’re back somewhere safe and can finally let your guard down, you are depleted beyond belief. It’s all you can do to heat up some chicken nuggets and doom scroll until midnight. And then you do it all again the next day.
Yeah. That sucks. Like a black hole that devours everything in its path – sucks. It’s not normal, but it has become so normalized. Never feeling fully rested. Always stressed. Lack of focus. Constant negativity. You don’t deserve that. You are worthy of rest and recovery. You are more than what you can produce. You are on this planet to do more than increase shareholder value.
Four Things That Actually Helped Me
So after reading all that – do you trust that I’ve been where you’ve been? Good. Then I hope you’ll trust these four things that helped me carve out just a little more space to show up for myself.
1. Reduce your decision making
It’s estimated that we make over 30,000 decisions every single day. Add work and life stress on top of that and it’s a recipe for exhaustion. Some of those decisions we simply can’t avoid – but others can be automated, outsourced, or handled ahead of time. For me that looked like pre-planning my outfits and meals. I bought a few black dresses I could wear with different accessories and that became my uniform. For food, I landed on a handful of meals I knew I’d always want to eat and made sure to keep those ingredients stocked. Just “pre-deciding” on those two things freed up real mental space. I stopped spending energy worrying about what to wear to a meeting or what to make for dinner – and leaned on a few reliable staples instead.
2. Dress comfortably enough to forget you’re wearing clothes
Staying in the same vein – dress as comfortably as you possibly can. I don’t mean head into the office in your pajamas. I mean wear clothes you can completely forget you have on. Think about that one pair of jeans that are just a little too tight. They look great standing up, but the second you sit down the button is burrowing into your stomach, the denim waistband has somehow turned into a razor-sharp blade, and you are praying your shirt is long enough to cover your… coin slot. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Now think about a Saturday night on the couch in your cozy sweats and a t-shirt – you don’t give a single thing on your body a second thought. Apply that same idea to your daily outfits. Comfortable enough to not think about them.
You can check out some of my favorite comfy items HERE.
3. Eat what you can eat
When you’re this burnt out, putting together nutritious meals is genuinely hard. And then comes the guilt for not eating healthy. I know it’s tough, but – just eat. When some of your energy comes back, it will be easier to reach for more nutrient-dense foods. But if the best you can do right now is ramen, a PB&J, or a drive-through? That is great. Your body is exhausted. It needs fuel however it can get it.
4. Do life in 10-minute chunks
I started caring for myself in 10-minute intervals. Ten minutes of movement. Ten minutes of reading. Ten minutes of cleaning. That meant walking down the block for five minutes and turning back around. Putting away one load of laundry from the chair. Reading three pages of a book. It wasn’t much — but it was more than nothing. And more than nothing is everything when you’re running on empty.
These tips didn’t cure my burnout, but they helped me take real steps toward a healthier life. Is it hard? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes × 10,000. It does get better — keep showing up for yourself.
If any of this resonated with you, drop a comment below and let me know where you are right now. You’re not alone in this — and you don’t have to figure it out all at once. 🤍
