[#7] Burnt Out – Signs You Need to Slow Down

Intro

There have been two distinct times in the last year that I have been physically ill from overdoing it. I’m not talking about participating in an Iron Man Challenge or anything extreme like that. I’m talking about long term fatigue from being awake for too many hours, too many days in a row, without a chance to recover.

The first time was when I started streaming last September/October. I was streaming on Twitch basically everyday for 2 months straight. This was in addition to my full time job, a wife, 2 kids and all of the obligations that go with it. I say obligations, but in reality, my family are more than that. They are the most important thing in my life, bar none. Video games are my hobby, and work is well… a necessary evil. There is a term for that, “golden handcuffs” that I will talk about in a future post.

The First Experience

So back to the topic at hand. I had been working all day, coming home and spending a few hours with “the fam”, and then streaming for 4 or 5 hours at night. Rinse and repeat with 5 or 6 hours of restless sleep at the end of each day. Then on the weekends I was also streaming 6 or more hours as well, all in an effort to build my channel and hit Twitch Affiliate (which I did). I really didn’t know what I was doing to be honest, and it was a slog.

I made it about 2 months. That’s actually really good that I lasted that long, but my body was toast. My mind was constantly drained, my memory lacking, my processing of thoughts and ideas was much more difficult than I ever remember. It all boiled down to a lack of rest, of taking it easy once in a while, of getting enough restful sleep each night. It was at that point that I realized I needed a change.

The first thing I did was go from 7 days a week of streaming, down to 3-4. That change helped a lot, and I was not in such bad shape. Later on I realized that 2-3 days a week is better for me since I have the full time job. This continued for many months and I was still making slow progress on growing my channel. My channel was and is not going to compare to someone who can do streaming as their full time job, and I just have to accept that.

Experience #2

Fast forward to more recently, still following the 2-3 streams a week. I was given a chance to be a guest streamer for the main streaming team related to Minion Masters. It was actually a great experience and I am thankful for the opportunity. I continued this for about 2 months with solid channel progression, on Friday and Saturday nights. The only catch was, I had a “shift” which started between 8 and 9 PM, and went until 2 AM my time. That was much later than I had grown accustomed to.

As the weeks progressed, I realized that even though it was on a weekend and I could sleep in the next day, I was not rebounding back in time for Monday to start. Worse yet, I was beginning to wake up after those long shifts with a pounding headache, almost like a bad hangover. However, I never consumed alcohol or anything the night before, it was just plain exhaustion. I was getting the same symptoms I had previously when I was overdoing it. It was time for a change.

With some regret, I recently notified that Minion Masters team that I cannot continue. It is bittersweet because I do enjoy the growth opportunities, they were a good group of people, and I had fun streaming to a larger audience. But, the after effects just weren’t healthy and there wasn’t an opportunity to adjust the schedule to my times. Also, I was limited to playing only Minion Masters, which I do love the game as is evident by my Minion Masters Game Guide, but having more freedom of choice is nice.

Conclusion

So with all that said, I want to make sure you all keep an eye on your health. Whatever it is you are doing, look for those signs of long term fatigue. Do a periodic self-evaluation and ask yourself how you feel. Are you stressed or always tired? Do you have memory issues or more trouble processing thoughts?

Long term fatigue is not as simple to diagnose as a strain or sprain. It doesn’t just “happen” one day. It is a slow build up over time and very difficult to notice until it has gone too far. By that point, you are already toast and going to need a lot more recovery time than if you had adjusted earlier on. So take care of yourselves, make sure you have plenty of rest, and let me know if you have experienced this in the comments below. Stay safe friends!