When people say relaxation is key, they’re not joking. In the age of social media and 24-hour news, our brains are constantly processing too much information. Something is always going on that we have to think about – but wait, we also have responsibilities and expectations we are being held to. So how, as a human being with deadlines, are we supposed to take a step back and take time for ourselves (and specifically, our brains)?
Despite self-care being the rage nowadays, there are still underlying societal expectations that we be productive in some form. This pressure is all-consuming, and the way we’re told to handle our burn-out is to either force ourselves to be inspired or take an extended break because “we deserve it.” Burn-out is inevitable at some point, but is it truly necessary to always be doing something?
Sometimes it’s difficult to recognize you’re burnt-out even though you haven’t done your homework all day and have spent nine straight hours on Twitter. It’s believed that burning-out can only be caused by a long period of productivity. However, the act of consuming media still exhausts your brain and can cause you to become overwhelmed without even knowing it, even if scrolling through Twitter isn’t the textbook definition of productive.
If you’re ever feeling totally overwhelmed, just take a break and disconnect. That doesn’t mean you have to leave your phone at home and go wandering through a forest, but it does mean closing Instagram and just letting your mind do its thing. Your brain wants to process everything it sees and interacts with, and if you’re never able to give it a break to do so, life is going to get pretty overwhelming. Being able to step back from things and just breathe for a moment (as cliche and obvious as it sounds) is actually super beneficial.
It seems super wasteful to take things slow, not use social media, and essentially not get “the most out of life.” People always encourage trying everything, doing everything, being everything, because this could potentially be the only life that we have and we have to “try everything we can.” But is that even worth doing at the sake of your mental health? Not saying you shouldn’t fly to Switzerland just for fun, but is it really worth it to visit 23 countries “just because you can,” even if you might not want to?
This isn’t saying that you need to drop all of your commitments and never leave your bed, but it is very important to be aware of all of the information that your brain is trying to absorb and process. If your brain isn’t given the chance to sort through the information, it essentially shuts down and tries to stop you from giving it more. Inconvenient, right? It is, but you need to recognize that’s the point when you need to step back and give your mind a chance to sift through all of the information. Seems like a waste of time, but the habit can be helpful in avoiding extreme burn-out.