So, recently I had a pretty bad burnout; it seemed everything I did was just that little bit worse than normal and I couldn’t bring myself to face my work for anyone, not college, not Blackfoot, not modding.
it had occurred to me that over the simulation module I had overworked myself to the point of physical detriment. I wasn’t just working on my unreal project, I was working on several other projects as well, some personal some work related, some for college. In all I had about 8 major projects on the run at the same time, I enjoyed them all, I love working on things.
But as of when I had completed them all, I had deflated, the part of my life where my projects normally filled was empty, I had a lot of free time and not a lot to do with it. And over time I started picking apart my projects, finding things wrong with them, and generally just being my own bully.
As a result of this, nothing I seemed to do felt ‘right’ when I picked up more work, there was always something wrong with it, my anxiety flared up and I feared people felt the same way when I showed them.
I decided to turn this burnout into a productive little learning session in my own personal development, and that is to try and recognize the signs of burnout and find a way of dealing with them.
I’ve noticed the one common sign that runs throughout all of my burnout is frustration and irritability. I’ve noticed that I’m less able to take constructive critiques, I tend to get frustrated at myself much more easily and that frustration is outwardly displayed.
That common sign is going to now be the hallmark I look to recognize before it’s too late. I need to sit and gauge how exactly I feel after such interaction and decide if my frustration is rational or is a result of my lowered esteem.
Finding ways to deal with it was a very simple process, I’m naturally an outdoorsy woman, being stuck inside staring at verts all day doesn’t really help my mental health, so, the solution is to take a day away from 3dsmax, and go for a walk in the park, or go to the gym to run off some steam, it doesn’t really matter what I do, so long as i do not under any circumstances touch 3dsmax.
after a day off and walking in exhibition park, I felt refreshed and ready to take on my work in a more productive manner, and the result was that I was able to push on and get a work of much better quality.
My next step is to draft up a burnout survival guide and blu tac it to my cupboard
Zee's Cave 