When you feel yourself about to burnout then, slow down, turn and head home. That’s what I did. In embracing the mantra ‘Content is king’ – and taking my own advice to explore multiple creative and income streams, I burned out. My podcast and video ventures over at Cine Bijou rewarded me in so many ways but left me jaded in others. Left wondering what to do, I realized what it was I missed most – writing! Not scripts, intros, or show note pages but honest to goodness writing as a craft. So I went home. This is my coming home story.
It hit me when I posted episode 4 of the Cine Bijou’s second season podcast. To keep to the mandate of fortnightly episodes I forgot to plan and soon realized I had nothing to work on – no interviews lined up, and my mind drew a blank as to where to go next. It was when I got back from holiday, sat in a local coffee shop writing a review that I was hit with a revelation. I felt a wave of what I now identify as sadness and longing, that something was missing. I stopped working and my brain took me on a cerebral journey down memory lane – times when I was the most creative and productive. The rush of covering events, and interviewing persons of interest out in the field then stationing myself in the nearest Starbucks and bringing it all together came flooding back and in bursting the dam came the tears.
Juggling multiple things is possible – you see it at the circus all the time but even the best jugglers know when to stop taking on more. I tried to juggle short form writing (blogs, articles etc), book projects, as well as podcast and video work to create a lucrative enterprise. I focused so much on one but the other suffered. I also forgot to stop to appreciate the work, really take pride and just enjoy the finished piece. I was the juggler keeping lots of pins in the air, at speed, except I took on too much.
The writing took a back seat and the joy and connection with my work faded. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the other work – the interviews are always fun filled eye openers. Editing together the episodes gave me a chance to stretch my story telling skills, and I am proud of the work I produced. However the disconnect I experienced, which seeped into other aspect of my life, affected my ability to work; confidence in my ability and the quality of what I produced waned. I wanted Cine Bijou to be the flagship vessel to cruise the waters of subscription content. Yet the vessel was far from seaworthy and the captain couldn’t steer the waves. It was time to pause then course correct. That’s when I made the decision to step away from podcasting and video production – at least for a bit.
Focus turned back to my book projects, writing blogs, reviews and features, and already I’m reconnecting with my first love – the written word. There’ still work to do but the lesson had been learned. It was less about taking on too much, although that was a factor, but in pausing to remember the why. I’d forgotten why I’d enjoyed this so much – the process from start to finish not matter how agonizing left me fulfilled and with a sense of achievement. Now I’m charting a familiar course, at steadier pace, stopping at some old ports to recharge and remind myself of the why. When I’m ready, and I have the right tools, I’ll pickup where I left off with the other ventures. For now it’s back to bustling watering holes, a laptop and an inspirational need to write – my creative happy place where writing, not content, is king.
I talk about dealing with burnout here on TikTok. Let me know how you find balance in your pursuits and passion. Have you burned out, disconnected from your passions, forgotten the ‘why’ or lost the sense of joy. Let me know in the comments, especially how you tackled the problem.