This is why you’re burnt out in freelance writing
Not-so-fun fact: More than 64% of freelancers are burnt out. Many cite a lack of work-life balance and not enough time off as the cause.
Freelance Friday
This week’s episode of The Guidebook podcast inspired today’s newsletter. Listen to it here if you haven’t yet:
Going back in time, you ask? Oh yeah. When I got burnt out last year, it was the third time I’d hit burnout to the point of becoming physically ill during my freelance career. It seemed my capacity for work was getting lower and lower.
I took the time off that I needed to recover and eventually went back to work. But it felt like burnout was constantly lurking in the shadows, even though I’d adjusted my workload.
Meet the inner child. After hanging out with a few friends and telling them about my struggles, one of them suggested I start working on my inner child. This work has changed my life.
What’s an inner child?
Our inner child holds our early memories, experiences, and emotions, both positive and negative, from our formative years. It's a metaphorical representation of the child we once were, residing within us even as we grow older.
As we go through life, we face challenges, disappointments, and traumas that can leave a lasting impact on our inner child. These experiences can shape our beliefs, behaviors, and emotional patterns in adulthood. Sometimes, the wounds of the past can influence our relationships, self-esteem, and overall well-being without us even realizing it.
How do you find your inner child?
Embracing our childlike qualities, nurturing our emotional needs, and addressing any unresolved pain or trauma from our past is the start of finding the inner child. More practically, these activities help us discover and heal the inner child.
self-reflection
journaling
creative expression
meditation
therapy
Healing the wounds of the past, developing self-compassion, and integrating our inner child into our adult selves is the end goal of inner child work.
What does your inner child have to do with burnout?
Your inner child is constantly lurking just below the surface. This may sound woo woo but, it speaks to you through your dreams, your sub-conscience, and your energy.
When you ignore your inner child or simply don’t nurture it, you’ll come up against energetic, creative, and emotional walls that keep you from working in a creative, fun, or free way.
Your inner child can manifest in your work life through:
Fear of rejection and criticism
Taking feedback or constructive criticism personally
Low self-esteem, self-worth, or impostor syndrome
Difficulty setting boundaries (a tendency to overwork or allow scope creep)
Perfectionism (procrastination or inability to complete tasks)
Difficulty managing emotions in stressful situations
Fear of abandonment or loss of work
Difficulty receiving positive feedback
Lack of creativity or energy to perform creative tasks
Feelings of overwhelm
But when you nurture your inner child and hear what they want, you’ll find yourself having more energy, getting in touch with your creative side easily, and getting excited again.
How to work on your inner child.
While I don’t love the essays in the full version of The Artist’s Way, I did find the journal exercises to be extremely helpful. You can buy the journal prompts and activities separately by just getting the workbook.
The workbook is pretty affordable and frequently goes on sale. This is how I started reconnecting with my inner child, and I can’t recommend it enough!
I do not earn anything for sharing this with you; it just genuinely helped me! Not ready to buy a workbook? Don’t sweat it! You can find a few exercises in the “Try This” section below.
Try This
Food: list your 10 favorite foods from childhood. Next time you’re at the grocery store, pick one up!
Wants: list 5 things you really wanted when you were a kid. Buy one for yourself this week. (I bought myself an Alphasmart 2000 - best thing I’ve ever bought!)
Get tactile: cook or bake something, make a collage, learn a new skill, finger paint, color, knit, needlepoint, crochet, garden – do something fun and playful with no stakes. Don’t focus on any outcome; just on using your hands to do something playful.
Home: move some things around in your home to make it more conducive to your creativity. Maybe you make a reading fort to nurture your inner child. Perhaps you rearrange your room so the desk is by the window.
Physical: PLAY with your whole body. This could be dancing, running and jumping in puddles the next time it rains, going camping, doing cannonballs in a pool, going to a jungle gym, or jumping on a trampoline. Get your sillies out : )