Staying Engaged in Life and Avoiding Boredom and Burnout
Keeping your career fresh, and preventing burnout is a struggle that everyone can identify with. We clock in day in and day out, sometimes without enough change in pay to even notice, and time passes by. Our job seemingly becomes more of a habit, than a challenge. On top of it all, we get home and the lives of our family seem to be changing on a daily basis. Maybe what we don’t realize is our children are our models for how we should take on our careers.
Think about it…. E very day seems to be an adventure for children. They seem excited about everything, and often times are moving too fast for us to keep up, leave alone understand some of the emotions they are going through. What is it about the life of our children that is so different than our lives? Sure, they have fewer real responsibilities, and those burdens fall on us as adults. But, what is it that keeps them moving so much, and seems to make every new day an adventure that they look forward to? The answer may be simpler than you would think. CHANGE…
Change is something that we should all work towards. Not the type of change that causes us to lose the things we most enjoy, but the type of change that gives us new things to enjoy just as much. Look at our children as the example. They have so many things going on in their lives. Every day is different than the day before. They change friends, they change relationships, and they may even change goals. On one day, the biggest concern might be how they will get to the football game, and the next day the football game is forgotten and the new directive is to get someone to like them more. Their little worlds are constantly changing, while ours seem to stay the same from day to day. You may be wondering how you can experience those feelings in your life. How you can feel like each day is something new, with new goals and new challenges. The answer isn’t necessarily complicated. Here are a few steps you can take, to insure your life and career stays exciting and you don’t suffer from boredom or burnout..
- Set goals for each stage of your life. When you achieve the goal, set the next one.
Goals are objectives that we want to complete in life. Much like how video game levels entice us to play the next level, life goals also give us certain satisfactions and the confidence to embark on bigger challenges. Each stage of our early life comes with certain “built in” goals. Whether it be riding a bike, starting high school, first boyfriends or girlfriends, driving, college, marriage, etc. We have these goals that we strive for, and for most of us, they are what keep us interested in life and help keep us happy. We shouldn’t stop setting goals, just because we settle into a career. If anything, we should be setting bigger goals.
- Go back to school, learn new skills, and accept new career challenges.
Odds are, you were very excited to start the career you chose. In fact, you were probably so excited that you changed your life to accommodate the career. So, why settle now? Why not keep that excitement going? After all, there is always a “next level” to any career. Nothing is ever truly a "dead end". Figure out what new knowledge, skill, or experience, you can learn in order to be able to make changes in your career. They don’t have to be drastic changes, unless you want them to be, but just enough change to make your career challenging again. A good example would be in the nursing field. There are always new skills to learn and new knowledge to gain, that will allow you to practice new procedures or skills. You will be giving yourself new reasons to go to work, and form new feelings about the job you do.
- Try taking on a new hobby
Sometimes, just something as simple as a hobby can make huge differences in our lives and daily schedules. I once decided I would start gardening on a limited basis. Before I knew it, I was working a very large garden, which led to preserving foods, and eventually a small side business of selling fresh vegetables. I was amazed at just how things had changed over the course of one summer. I joined social networking groups to get advice, which led to meeting new people and discovering new friends in my area. A hobby can be anything we decide to take an interest in, as long as it causes us to break away from a normal routine.
- Become engaged in your child’s activities.
This may sound crazy, but a staggering number of parents have not yet become involved in the activities of their children. Such things as sporting events, school programs, after school activities, etc., can all be areas that parents can become involved. This not only gives you as a parent new activities to be involved in, it also helps you form closer bonds with your children and even the friends of your children, as well as the families of those friends. A ball game can lead to relationships with other parents, and learning more about your child.
All of us need to feel a sense of accomplishment and feel like we are actually being productive with our lives. When we stop looking forward to the next day, we allow life to become complacent and boring. Life becomes a routine of work, dinner, TV, and sleep. We need challenges in our lives to keep us interested and to keep us working towards goals. Don’t let your life or career become stale and boring. Take steps to insure a happy and productive life, for you and the ones around you.
