Monday intentions: the delightful diaries / how to mindfully avoid burnout (9/9/2024)

Welcome back to the Delightful Diaries! This is my weekly roundup where I set weekly intentions. Today’s post is about how I’ve been working to avoid burnout. Every Monday, I update you guys on the following:

1 song I’ve had on repeat in the last week
2 recipes I’ve enjoyed in the last week
3 words/phrases to set a vibe for next week
4 things that have been inspiring me lately, and
5 things I’ve doing to take care of myself.

I’ve been working hard to avoid burnout these days. That might sound counterintuitive, but it’s a mindful choice. I have a little trick up my sleeve: I quit working for the day when I hit about 70% of my maximum effort.

When there’s a lot going on, it’s the clearest sign you can get that it’s time to dial it back and spend some time in the physical. We dedicate so much of our days to this cerebral world where we work on computers, planning the future or solving problems. Even our leisure time is spent in the mind when we do stuff like absorbing media, reading books, scrolling, or chatting. I can see burnout on the horizon these days, so I’ve been pulling myself back into my body for walks, workouts, steam room visits, and stretch sessions. So! Here we go with my weekly roundup series, featuring my Monday intention to keep burnout at bay.

1stly, a song I’ve had on repeat this week in “avoid burnout” land: Free by Ultra Naté

I first got into Ultra Naté because I read Paris Hilton’s memoir a couple of years ago. This is the ultimate anthem to remind you that you choose how you spend your damn time!

2 recipes I’ve enjoyed this week:

1. Cream of Crab Soup by Erren’s Kitchen: another amazing late-summer soup option. I love crab. No notes.
2. Bunsen Burner Bakery’s Hatfield Stuffed Mushrooms. I make this with ground beef because I don’t eat sausage, and I use my own homemade veggie broth. These are perfect for a side OR a snack.

3 words/phrases to set the vibe for next week

1. ⬅️ Dial it back
2. 🍁 Embracing fall
3. 🔎 Casual curiosity

4 things that have been inspiring me as I move to avoid burnout:

1. The Vintner’s Luck by Elizabeth Knox. We love a supernatural interspecies gay romance. I’ve been obsessed with this book for a few days now.
2. Slowly making plans for my new office! If you missed last week’s Diaries, I’m expanding into the third room in our apartment to make an office for myself. I can’t wait to have a place to really “shut the door” on work. I’m making some casual design choices before actually beginning the process, and I’m really enjoying this blue sky planning phase. I like to occupy space thoughtfully, setting things up for maximum comfort and functionality to get my creative juices flowing. I’ll be chronicling this whole process on Instagram, if you’re interested.
3. Strategizing to become a morning person. I consider myself a “morning routine” success story because I used to wake up in the afternoon and now I’m always up before 9 AM, but as the cooler season approaches, I know I need to start maximizing sunlight. I’m holding my own hand as I work towards rising with the sun, because I just can’t deal with another Chicago winter living the “six hours of sun a day” life. The sun is so rejuvenating and supports my mental health like nothing else, so I’m doing what I can to follow her and live life on her schedule. My goal is to be out of bed around 7 every day.
4. Andrew Huberman’s Huberman Lab podcast. If you want endless information about how to get your brain in shape, this is the podcast for you. I’ve been listening to this while I cook, in the shower, on walks… Huberman has such a warm presence, he really makes you feel like you can achieve anything.

5 things I’ve been doing to take care of myself (physical, physical, physical):

1. Branching out into new recipes. One of my goals this week is to make poke at home. It’s something I’ve never done before, and I’m excited to start getting the hang of preparing dishes that require sushi-grade fish. Gobbling up pathogens seems like a terrible way to avoid burnout, so I promise I’ll be extra careful!
2. My physical therapist encouraged me to try dry needling. I HATE needles – in fact, sometimes I start to pass out when I see one – but I’ve been super brave this week! Dry needling has brought me lasting pain relief two weeks in a row now, and I intend to keep doing it. Talk about getting into the physical in the most intense way.
3. Taking weight sessions down a notch in order to focus more on form. I’ve pretty much thrown all my upper body workouts in the recycling bin in order to focus on physical therapy, which leaves tons of mental space to work on my deadlifts. Those upper body workouts will come back, but I’m really enjoying focusing on one specific lift while my shoulder heals.
4. Getting enough sleep. When I say this is going to show up every week, I mean it. Absolutely nothing lays the foundation for an amazing, restful, and productive day like 8+ hours of sleep. I need even more after weight days.
5. Taking time to myself. I’m not trying to brag, but I have an amazing, global network of friends and family. I also have social anxiety and a little bit of a people-pleasing instinct. That means I need to mindfully take breaks from social calls super frequently. I’ve been scheduling alone time for myself this week, taking time to let my mind wander, get bored, experiment with my hair or makeup, whatever I feel like doing!

I hope some of these things I’ve been doing translate to your life and help YOU avoid burnout, too! Thanks for reading, friends.

xoxoz