Navigating Burnout

The Creative Rebellion • Dispatch #011 • 2.5 min. read • 484 words

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Welcome to 4 new creative rebels this week! Za, Terrence, Balu, and Alan, thank you for signing up. ✊

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Hi Reader,

I recently hit a bit of burnout. I quit posting on social media and I let this newsletter slide. I became a ghost online.

It was compounded by the fact I took a week off of work and I lost the structure of my normal daily routine.

But I have to admit...

...it was glorious.

The pressure to create—to maintain an online presence—is immense. Post, comment, like, feed the algorithm or risk falling into the abyss of obscurity. But that pressure is stressful, especially if you're an introvert like me. Sure, being active online doesn't require as much energy as mingling with acquaintances and strangers in person, but it's still draining.

I get refilled from solitude and deep personal relationships. Shallow and trivial drain me. And let's face it, a lot of social media is both.

So taking a break was wonderful because it meant I wasn't being drained, and it also gave me a chance to refill.

My family went to the Memphis Botanic Garden. We bought flowers and spruced up our back porch. I worked outside a lot, read fiction, got back to work on the book I'm writing, and finished up the first journal I've ever completely filled in my life.

See, the burnout wasn't complete. It didn't cripple everything like a deep depression, keeping my in bed all day. It didn't affect every aspect of my life. I just had to pause the things that were draining me and find new ways to breathe life into my creativity.

Another thing I feel pressured to do is make this newsletter around 1,000 words long each week. I'm not sure why, no one asked me for 1,000 words. I guess I think it just needs to seem more substantial than a short social media post. That's part of the reason I've missed two weeks.

But honestly, if a newsletter I subscribe to is too long, I don't read it. I appreciate short, quick reads. And I value your time as much as I value my own. So going forward, this newsletter will be shorter. I'll aim to only take a couple minutes of your time. If there's a story that takes too long to read, I'll save it for the online version and just link to it here.

I still haven't started posting regularly on LinkedIn again, but ol' Zuckerberg lured me in with Threads. I've been dipping my toes in the waters. It feels familiar, but also fresh. I like it a lot better than Mastodon, Bluesky, or T2. If you're on Threads, say hi! https://www.threads.net/@travishinkle (no guarantees I'll stay active there, but we'll see!)

So what's the cure for burnout?

For me, it's pressing pause, it's keeping varied interests, and realizing when I'm starting to fill my plate too full.

What about you? How do you fight burnout?

Until next Saturday...

Stay rebellious,

Travis

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