The Price Of Burnout
Hi there. It's Chris. If you're reading this, you may have noticed it got quiet around here. Really, really quiet. There's good reason for that, and I'll explain.
Over the last month or so, I've been trying to manage everything myself as far as my brand - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogging, SEO, getting clients, planning posts, more more more content. Reaching out to potential clients. Eventually, this led to a bunch of negative drawbacks. I would feel physically and mentally burnt out and exhausted. My Facebook Page ended up being a curated feed of content from other, larger brands I admired. My Instagram stagnated. I would focus all my attention on work while ignoring my family. On top of all that, there were other problems.
It all came crashing down.
In hindsight, it was a blessing. I looked at all the places my past work was that aren't relevant any more and closed those accounts. I rebooted my social media accounts. A lot of that because there were people there supporting me and my ideas. I got inspired to finish a project I'd been tinkering with, a t-shirt design based on my time spent in Times Square NYC. I'm restarting from zero with clarity.
Among other things, I've been learning to deal with imposter syndrome. Sometimes I'll feel as if I'm in a space, moving in certain circles, where I don't belong, or that I shouldn't be talking to the people I'm talking to about creative and business things. But the other half of me sees how happy they are to see the results of the work and it gives me a few sense of satisfaction and reminds me that what I do matters. It's external validation, but it's reinforces the confidence I have in my own work.
I've spent some time doing updates, to the website, to make sure that it runs smoother and loads faster upon pulling it up, to the different spots you can find myself online, and to myself to make sure I can try to avoid burnout.
To those of you who have been supportive of myself and what I've been trying to create, thank you. I can never say how much the support means to me. As far as what I've been up to, I'll follow up in another post.
- Chris/CreeseWorks
