Course 2: Becoming a 7 Cups Leader - (Discussion #11) Avoiding Burnout
7 Cups is founded on a community of passionate volunteers who lovingly dedicate their time to providing support.
You may face what is called burnout during your journey. You may have already faced this in your real life. Burnout is very real and must be recognized. You can't help fuel someone else when your tank is empty, after all!
To address and learn about burnout, we have created a slidedeck on how to avoid burnout.
Activity: Please read it through and in the replies, tell us what you learned, and what you will do to stay healthy and avoid burnout!
Then, please reply to 3 of your peers in this thread with encouraging or supportive words!
After completing the course quiz, please proceed to this post!
This post is brought to you by the Leadership Development Program Team, find out more information about the program here.
Self care is something I struggle with and always have. I have however learned how crutial self care is to prevent burnout from happening. Some of the signs of burnout I was not even aware of, such as insomnia. I experience insomnia a lot and now I wonder if it is linked to burnout. I have learned in order to be the best leader I can be, I also need to put myself first and take care of myself.
@blitheEmbrace27
To avoid burnout I will try and set a schedule for myself to ensure I do get time for self care.
@blitheEmbrace27
Making a schedule sounds a great idea to balance things. Thank you for sharing 
@blitheEmbrace27
Great job, Bli. I too have struggled with self-care. You are right, to be the best leader you can be, you have to take time for yourself. Your body and mind needs downtime and rest. <3
You are not alone with self care thing having trouble . You would, master it by the end . Take your time. It's not a race . @blitheEmbrace27
@blitheEmbrace27
Sorry to hear that you suffer from insomnia. Hopefully with the information that you now have it will help you manage this and identify possible causes behind it. Keep up the good work.
@Heather225
I`ve learnt how important self-care is and that I matter.
Therefore, I will be listen to my instincts and respect breaks that my body and mind require.
@Ines1229 Wonderful! Listening to yourself is amazing <3 All the best
@Heather225
I learned that self-care is important and is necessary to make sure our cup is full as I can't pour from an empty cup
I would make sure to keep boundaries on my screen time and make sure I'm able to enjoy the work I do
@DreamTouch short and simple! Very good! :)
@DreamTouch
I agree with your answer, as you can't pour from an empty cup
@DreamTouch
That is a great idea, hope the boundaries is going well for you
@Heather225
What I learned?
We should always try to be in a good frame of mind-calm, refreshed, encouraged, grateful. Burnout does the complete opposite. So it's very important to take care of yourself and avoid stress and overwhelm . Leadership roles get more important as they have additional responsibilities and so always need time and can become stacked and a load, also for some, 7 Cups can be addictive. Having a clear understanding of our intentions to be here and our limitations helps to avoid burnout.
What I will do?
Daily routines i.e. taking a break, staying away from all the work and online world for some time, breathing in, and trying to relax, setting boundaries, and listening to calm music.
@Anexmos
Thrilled to hear that you were able to learn so much! That's really awesome. And it sounds like you've got a great action plan for waht to do now as well <3
@Anexmos
Amazing answer overall !
Great answer!
@Heather225 - this is great :)
@Heather225
Please read it through and in the replies, tell us what you learned, and what you will do to stay healthy and avoid burnout!
I learned that burnout is a state of chronic stress, I had no idea that burn out could have physical symptoms & detachment, that was interesting to learn. In order to avoid burnout, I will be taking self-care breaks, and try to set boundaries, and be offline to feel recharged.
@She13 Nice,i am glad to hear that you learnt so much :)
@She13
I am happy you learned something new. I love your plan of self-care. Great job! :-)
@Heather225
Activity: Please read it through and in the replies, tell us what you learned, and what you will do to stay healthy and avoid burnout!
Self care is not selfish. It is like oxygen- take your oxygen mask first and then help those around you. Or it is like love- you need love to be able to give it. For me to stay healthy, I must exercise, practice staying positive, go out and get some sunlight and fresh air. To avoid burnout, take things little by little. Dont rush in to do so much! Take breaks as much as possible but also allocate specific time to do something productive. And turn every experience into positivty!
@Dazzle28purvi
I like your, "Turn every experience into positive." I love your plan of self-care. Great job! :-)
@Dazzle28purvi
I really, really like these analogies!!! Well done, it's such a good way to put it all, I love it. Sending love <3
I recently experienced burnout in my job, which is not uncommon in my field of work. Ironically, I as reading this and thinking, yup check mark on all the burnout signs. This was a learning experience for me and I now I feel I can recognize the signs sooner.
I will continue to check in with my mentor about how I am feeling if I am struggling. Make sure I do not take on a lot of roles that would increase my anxiety, set good boundaries with my time on the site, and make sure I keep my balance with online and my real life.
@Containedchaos
Great response! I wish you all the best with taking care of yourself, it can really be difficult sometimes, but I know you'll be able to do it. Sending love <3
@Heather225
I have learnt that it's really important to take the time to notice signs of burn out — technically I knew this already, but I didn't really know it, if that makes sense? I think that it's something I really avoid doing, preferring to think that if I ignore the signs then they'll just hold on a little longer until I can make the time for a break.
This directly feeds into what I'm going to do to stay healthy! I'm going to take some time everyday in my daily journalling to note down if I have any burn out symptoms or not, especially when I'm working on a lot of different things or spending time with people often.
Activity: Please read it through and in the replies, tell us what you learned, and what you will do to stay healthy and avoid burnout!
Self-care and know when to take a step back to recharge. Learned that burnout is common among 7cups listeners. I will make time for myself every day.
Good goal @thelastiger