Just read it can take 3 to 5 years to recover from habitual burnout.
Life coach explains how it can take five years to recover from burnout
Three. To five. Years.
And doctors pushing back on me over 3 weeks in 2018-2019. Sheeeeeeiiiiii....
I had nooooo idea. I've been wondering all this time why I still feel like my life is pointless given I've basically stuffed it in a drawer and neglected to use it for years.
Every single solitary day of this multi-year, thus-far-failed attempt at recovery has been spent trying to recover by "resting" (i.e., finally attending to all the day to day life I couldn't get lived while working what felt like 27 hours a day), and wondering if I'm recovered yet, and how I'll know, and if I'm not how much longer, and what do I do to make this time as productive as possible so that it doesn't take longer, and somebody please tell me how will I know?
Do you know what the shortest recovery time estimate I read was? Sure, some pages were vaguely suggesting "days, weeks, months" but never gave any actual numbers, which it turns out just messes with your head. But the shortest actual numbered estimate I read in direct answer to the direct question, "how long does it take to recover from burnout"? Eleven damn weeks. Eleven weeks of complete, stress-free rest, focusing only on recovering from the syndrome of burnout symptoms through play, socializing and lots of good sleep. What the actual fuck.
And you know what? Suddenly a weight has been lifted. I feel galvanized and ready to DO this and do it right. And also, I'm angry as shit that all I needed was a realistic ETA, and that it took me almost two full years and one goddamn Google search with the right question to find it. I've been in therapy since 2015, on meds since 2005, and nobody could mention this teeny tiny factoid that might have saved me two to 17 YEARS? Three weeks. Shiiiiiiit.
And lest we settle on a defense of "You could have just asked..." let me remind you that No, I fucking could not, because burnout, anxiety, depression, and probable ADHD. Can we please just start acknowledging that it would be great if those whose job it was to help people recover from illness and hardship could actually take charge of that role and do the work required? There ARE people whose literal job it is to ask that right question and find that right answer for the person who needs it. I shouldn't need to have House as my GP (and let's face it, that would be just as terrible as it would be amazing) to have this happen. And I'm not saying the people whose job it was are at fault either. They are also parts of a system that fails to prioritize "healing from illness" because it's too busy prioritizing "getting back to productivity" - and doesn't even allocate enough staff hours to that priority to make sure said productivity is real and sustainable. In short, they too are drained and in need of recovery. Everyone has had too much, for too long, with too few resources and too little support. So if we're all burnt out, who's gonna ask the right questions?
I'm out. I'll be back in eleven to 261 weeks.
