Burned out

dabatross

dabatross

Well known member
Has anybody felt completely burned out on treating MBS/PPD? After going through 3 years of treatments for a physical cause that I had no results with, now when I finally have some work to do with TMS im so burned out with doing treatments for this crap and its hard to keep up with the work you need to do each day to combat TMS. Im pretty good at doing journals but I want to do meditation and dissolving pain exercises as well each day but have a hard time motivating myself to do them. It seems the things that require you to sit still like meditating are harder for me to keep up with since you aren't "actively" doing something like you are with journaling. Do you guys have any advice on keeping up with treatments and avoiding burnout?

Alex
 
Hey Alex:

I'd suggest you follow your intuition. If you need a break - take one. It gives you time to let things sink in, and you may find you're more "there" than you realize.

Also meditation is a really great tool. It IS doing something active towards curing your TMS. It's learning to slow the busy mind and when you get really good at it, you can stay in that "calm" place during your day. There are also some really cool and interesting things that "float by" as your're meditating. You aren't "in the feelings" so much as simply observing them. This will help you to explore and discover and uncover emotions you may not be aware of.

I think the cool thing about meditating is watching your feelings and situations - from a distance - rather than writing all the time.

Give it a try. Like jounraling, you'll find a pace that works for you.

BG
 
Hi Alex,

I think this is totally normal--needing to take a break from the work, even the psychological work, to just live your life. I'm currently taking a break from the heavy journaling and trying to just focus more on the present moment, not just through meditation but even just as I go about my daily life I'm trying to look at my emotions more without getting obsessed with them.

As Beach Girl says, you can go at your own pace.

:) Veronica
 
Hi Alex,

After years of trying to meditate on a regular basis, I can proudly say that I now do. Every morning, before I really start my day...even before I brush my teeth...I meditate for 20 minutes and have been doing this since August. I just simply made a commitment to do it for myself, and even if my mind is "monkeying" all over the place, at least I show up. At first I used a kitchen timer and started with 5 minutes working my way up to 20, but then got a new phone and downloaded a cool meditation bell. I call it my "me time", and although I don't feel like I am always productive, I continue to do it because I believe that it is crucial to my healing.

Take your time. You will find what works best for you :-)

Valerie
 
Found one! I think I'll try it tomorrow. Sunday's I participate in a sort of "on your own" meditation where you sit for 10 minutes with a bunch of people all over the country. Always have the wildest experiences!

BG
 
A great starting guide to meditation is a book called 8 Minuted Meditation. There is a wiki page about it. I like it because it keeps everything really simple. I have always had a hard time staying focued and I thought this book served as a sort of everyman's guide to meditation.

In terms of burnout, I do like what Beach Girl said about taking a break. Give yourself a weekend off where you don't think about TMS, treatment, your symptoms, or your stresses. Simply go out and do things that you like to do. In short, give yourself a You weekend.

Burnout can happen when we put too much stress on ourselves to recover. It can be easy to journal a whole bunch and think that all of a sudden we will no longer be in pain. Journaling is great, but it can become problematic when a person doesn't rethink how they view their symptoms and change their thought patterns. Recovery isn't about finding the right answer. Instead it invovles using our symptoms as a signal to investigate our emotions, understand these emotions, and accept these emotions. If you are feeling overwhelmed with everything ask yourself why and then take a couple days off and enjoy yourself.
 
thank you all for your feedback i appreciate it very much. forest i did buy that 8 minute meditation book i love the author really easy to read and it doesn't get any simpler than that to do meditation so im going to be working on that. its good to know im not the only one that feels the need sometimes just to take a break. i know you all have felt this at some point during recovery where you just feel burned out because you spend so much time trying to fix this problem. my personality traits take over most of the time where no day can go without me doing something about TMS or thinking about it at least.. if Im not working on something for that day on mindbody issues my OCD takes over. all of this information im learning though is kind of overwhelming because there is a lot of stuff to read and since it hurts for me to read i have to kind of push through that but i know thats part of the steps to recovery. i have so many things i want to do right now for treatment thats probably why i feel burned out.. i have the audiobook for mind body prescription which I still have to listen to, I have Pain free for life I have to finish reading, I want to do 8 minute meditation, I want to do dissolving pain each day, I want to journal, and there are a couple of other books on my list as well. I think i am taking way too much on at a time and its overwhelming me so I need to focus on 1-2 things I think and proceed from there.
 
dabatross said:
Has anybody felt completely burned out on treating MBS/PPD? After going through 3 years of treatments for a physical cause that I had no results with, now when I finally have some work to do with TMS im so burned out with doing treatments for this crap and its hard to keep up with the work you need to do each day to combat TMS. Im pretty good at doing journals but I want to do meditation and dissolving pain exercises as well each day but have a hard time motivating myself to do them. It seems the things that require you to sit still like meditating are harder for me to keep up with since you aren't "actively" doing something like you are with journaling. Do you guys have any advice on keeping up with treatments and avoiding burnout?

Alex
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Meditating works well while going to sleep
 
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