We’re all feeling it; here’s some ways to forget about it

When burnout is starting to feel like it might take you out, there are better solutions than hitting the bars downtown.

Make yourself a cup of tea
While this might sound simple, and maybe even tedious, a warm cup of your favorite tea is a quick fix to the stresses that life brings. Simply the act of boiling the water and finding a moment for yourself to look out the window or sit down and do nothing can be a relaxing moment in and of itself.

To enhance the relaxation, put on your favorite calming song while you wait for the water to boil, and have a backup song on deck in case the water takes more than 3 minutes to boil. Then center yourself, whatever that means to you, and focus on your breathing.

Unplug
Though it sounds so simple, it’s often more of a challenge than many of us would like to admit. Our constant accessibility to the wealth of information that is the internet can not only distract us but also overwhelm us.

Set a block of time, 10 minutes, one hour, two days, whatever, and keep off your phone and other screens. This will encourage you to slow down, pick up a book, get coffee and overall just do things you may not normally do. You may find you enjoy those things.

Hit the gym
It’s not just good for your body, but it’s good to get out all that built-up stress and angst we’ve all accumulated this past forever. Get on the treadmill, elliptical, rowing machine or what have you and just keep going until you can’t anymore. You’ll be exhausted.

Then shower, go home (or whatever order you do that in) and fall into your soft cozy bed and pass the heck out for a few hours. You’ll probably wake up feeling sore, but your mind will be cleared.

Get ugly
In a day and age where we constantly capture ourselves in pictures, or others capture us for that matter, people can feel pressure to look good or at least presentable to the general public. Keeping that kind of guard up all the time can be surprisingly exhausting.

Go home, or wherever you’re most comfortable, and just put on things that feel good. Put on that XXXL T-shirt. Walk around without pants. Change your sheets to the softest ones you own, take off your makeup and clothes and crawl in between and feel the softness. The worse you feel like you look the better. Why? Because when you do put effort in tomorrow morning you will look better and more refreshed than ever, especially compared to yesterday.

Cook a meal
No, ramen doesn’t count. Anything instant doesn’t count. At the very least, buy a cake mix and pop it in the oven. Cooking — for real, actual cooking —forces you to pay attention to what’s right in front of you. It forces you to put in effort and receive the benefits. You can make your cake and eat it too!

Cooking also gives you the ability to personalize your food, and you gain a sense of independence while doing it. If you can bake a cake, what can’t you do, really? If you mess up, don’t sweat it. You’re only human. You’re going to mess up a lot, and that’s OK.