Day 1: Track Your Progress from Content Creator Burnout

October 10, 2023

Day 1: Track Your Progress. Tracking your progress from burnout, using apps, or software, allows you to measure where you have been and where you are going.

Food:

Breakfast:

Fasting for 72 hours – no food today

Morning:

Fasting for 72 hours – no food today

Lunch:

Fasting for 72 hours – no food today

Afternoon:

Fasting for 72 hours – no food today

Dinner:

Fasting for 72 hours – no food today

Evening:

Fasting for 72 hours – no food today

Business:

I was quite productive today. Not eating made me question my brain power for recording an hour long podcast for Turnover Cleaning Tips.
Sadly, my guest was a no call, no show – so I recorded without her.
I was proud of myself for showing up on my A game.

Challenges:

I’m creating this website that tracks my daily recovery process.
I am having a learning curve with Advanced Custom Fields and Custom Post Types. Once I learn this though – I have multiple uses on multiple websites for this information.

Relationships:

I made four new friends at the YMCA today. Susan, Miss Nancy, Deb and Kathy. I met them in the locker room and asked their names. I’m not a champ at learning names, or even talking to strangers – but if I go to the gym every day, I will be seeing them, and it’s important to learn their names now.

Progress:

Just had knee surgery a month ago and not healing right. Left knee is swollen still and I can’t climb stairs without holding on to a handrail. I feel 75 in a 53 year old body. I’m on the tail end of menopause and am 30 lbs over weight.

Day 1: Track Your Progress

Day 1: Track Your Progress. Tracking your progress from burnout using apps or software allows you to measure where you have been and where you are going.

You can’t make a roadmap to a destination if you don’t have a starting point.

This program came from necessity. I’m feeling pretty low today physically, mentally and emotionally. I have a ton of deadlines and commitments and am feeling overwhelmed and overcommitted. This is my journey back from burnout.

What triggered this self-reflection program was returning from a week-long vacation to England and feeling like I needed another vacation. We stayed at an awesome hotel with a spa and an all-you-can-eat breakfast. I ate too much (and I gained 14 lbs. Thank you menopause for the lack of calorie-burning effects.) The entire time I was there I was stressed out. I tossed and turned instead of relaxing sleep, I worried over things I couldn’t control, and I felt I was falling behind on work.

This is not a new feeling – I’ve been here before – and I know how to get back – it’s just not easy.

Track Your Progress with a Partner

Pat (my husband) and I went shopping for a gym over the weekend. We visited 5 different local fitness centers before choosing a YMCA near where we live. We chose the YMCA because it had an indoor pool, and we are headed into the winter. If I can do low-impact workouts (lap swimming), that will be a good overall body workout that will help me lose weight, tone my muscles, and will help me recover from my knee surgery. They also had a “family” plan that allowed us both to join for one low fee – rather than other fitness centers that had individual memberships.

We also found that the YMCA has a collective agreement with other area YMCAs where you can visit other branches on the same membership. This means if we travel if there is traffic, or if we end up in another part of town during workout time – we have no excuse not to work out.

My Journey, My Progress

I am the person in my family recovering from burnout – not my husband. So, I can’t get upset that he decided to sleep in today. I went to the gym alone. While I was driving to the gym, I talked myself through my feelings about him staying home. At a previous time, I would have let him talk me into sleeping in as well. So I was proud of myself for getting out of a comfortable bed and actually going to workout.

I also decided not to nag him about joining me. If he wants to go to the gym, he now has a membership…and a ride. He can carpool with me. But it has to be his decision, not mine. Note to self: Don’t shame, blame, or nag Pat if he is on a different schedule than me.

Track Your Progress for Reference

How I feel today is important. Because if I note what got me here and what triggered the realization of burnout – I can recognize the symptoms should they ever come up again. Also, making daily notes, even though it takes a few minutes, will allow me to measure what is working and what is not.

I have a Fitbit with a premium membership that tracks steps, activity zones, sleep, water, food, weight, and a bunch of other metrics. I’m using that to fill in the chart here on the website so you can see my progress as well. Tracking this will show you my results based on daily activity.

I also signed up for a fasting app that tracks intermittent fasting and gives me hourly tips about what is happening to my body and why I’m feeling the way I’m doing, based on gobs of research.