Crafting Burnout: Kicking and screaming my way through it.
I started feeling it sometime around the end of August. I had just completed my Flareon cosplay, the costumes for my dance troupe’s big performance, AND a second Flareon cosplay along with my partner’s Umbreon cosplay for my friends’ cosplay wedding.
I noticed it when I couldn’t bring myself to work on a project I had been very excited to gift to a friend. I noticed when I kept setting down my personal projects to just aimlessly scroll my phone. And I noticed it big time when I went to my craft room to work on a project and thought to myself “I don’t feel like working on this…”
There’s a sense of shame that comes with this mindset. “I LOVE making and creating things. I’m trying to build a business around it. What kind of maker doesn’t feel like making things?”
Also, frustration. “I have so many projects and ideas I want to create! I don’t want to feel like this!”
The reality is that burnout can happen for many reasons, even for things you love doing. Sometimes it happens even if you were trying to be careful about time management. Heath, life circumstances, new pets, an ongoing pandemic, a new job, unprecedented weather, etc. the list of reasons for burnout goes on and on and on and on.
So what do you do?
The answer is something I’m pretty sure you don’t want to hear. Have you guessed it yet? Yup, it’s rest.
I know, I know. “Who has time to rest?” I certainly don’t! Unfortunately rest, or at least taking a break, is the most effective way to manage burnout. As a person who is much too familiar with burnout, I can grudgingly say that stepping away from the sources of our stress (even if we love them more than anything) really does make a big difference.
After recognizing I was burnt out, I made myself pack away the unfinished cosplays, set aside the projects I was stressing over, and took a break from crafting. You know, the thing I’m trying to build a business doing. It sucked, and I didn’t want to do it. I even fought it, I tried planning to take a break for a week and then get back to the project. But after that week I didn’t feel like picking it up again. That pattern happened 2 more times… So I gave in and took a break from crafting and cosplay.
During this break I planned some self-care activities. Self-care doesn’t always have to look like lounging on the couch trying to nap, or going on a spa day. Here’s what my self-care time looked like:
Re-organizing my bullet journal planner so that the tools in it reflected things that were important to me.
Re-organizing my closet so that it was more functional, and getting rid of clothing that no longer fit my style.
Re-organizing my kitchen so that it was easier to access the utensils and ingredients I use most.
Buying dog training classes so that I could teach my two puppies skills to help calm them down during the day, and improve their obedience.
Choosing to play video games in the evening, rather that watch shows that made me feel anxious (even though I love those shows!).
Getting my hair cut and styled for the first time in over a year.
It took a little over a month of consciously not crafting before I suddenly picked up a dog toy to repair it. I wasn’t planning on repairing the toy, I just saw it and decided to fix it. Once the first one was done, I did another, and then another. I looked at one of my sweaters with a zipper that needed to be re-attached and did that next. I reorganized my yarn supplies and found an unfinished weaving project. So I spent a couple of days finishing that project to free up my lap loom. I looked through my Pinterest boards and saw a cardigan I really wanted to crochet with yarn that I had purchased for a now-abandoned project, and started working on it.
Then a month before my first C2E2, I tried on the mock-up for a cosplay I had set aside over a year ago and finished the cosplay, as well a second cosplay I made from scratch! All in time for the con too!
So, sorry to tell you, but rest works. Taking a break was the absolute best thing I could have done for myself. It can feel so painful in the moment to start the process of resting. There’s absolutely grief involved with setting aside projects you were excited about, and hobbies you love. It can feel like you’re missing out on experiences you normally enjoy. So give yourself permission to feel the grief, the FOMO, the frustration, and then make time for yourself to rest.
