Thread by @someshjha7

It has been over a month since I took a major step back and left my job, thanks to something called #burnout. I had hit a wall.... A thread:

Burnout is beyond exhaustion. Not only do you feel that you have no energy left to work, even if it's the kind of work that you enjoy, you also feel detached. Cynicism takes over, efficiency takes a hit and nothing seems to pull you up.

In past 8 years, journalism has not only been a career, it has been my calling. I TOTALLY LOVE digging stories & holding the system accountable. I worked at (an often unhealthy) neck-breaking pace but that's something I enjoyed doing until...burnout hit me, & it hit pretty hard.

Suddenly, I lost all motivation to chase a story. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the feeling of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. As a policy reporter, meeting people is a core part of the job and the pandemic only made things worse.

However, as much as it may seem personal, burnout is actually not an individual issue... if one goes by the literature:

"Research has definitively shown that burnout is an organisational problem, not an individual one."

hbr.org/2021/04/your-b…

Here's a simple analogy - if you burn your bread in a toaster, the problem is not with the bread.

Also, leaving a job is a privilege and that's why the best way to deal with burnout is to prevent it.

A burnout can shatter your confidence like nothing else & it can make you feel drained. If you are feeling burnt out like me - don't doubt yourself. The first step is to identify the problem & the cause. Don't be harsh on yourself or blame yourself. Because it is NOT your fault.

Plenty of journalists have spoken out about burnout, especially in the west where the topic of mental health is not ridiculed or pushed under the carpet, unlike in many organisations in India.

https://twitter.com/megreenwell/status/1382759693643288580

nytimes.com/2021/03/30/bus…

Here's a link to one of the best podcasts I came across on journalists facing burnout and the possible solutions to deal with burnout:

wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takea…

This podcast throws light on an important distinction between chronic stress and burnout and how burnout impacts men and women differently and how to manage burnout:

hbr.org/podcast/2019/0…

This is another useful thread on burnout in journalism:

https://twitter.com/IrvWashington3/status/1384131660032069636

Having realised the problem sooner than later helped me make some really good decisions and a break is just what I need. I hope to bounce back and continue with the dig :)