I had to deal with this recently after years of labouring on a manuscript and stressing about criticism and backlash (because writers get loads of negative attention now) and had to basically drop this project and not write for several weeks because that was causing the burnout.

I floundered for a while.

I figured making things with my hands was probably good. As was learning things and exploring new stories by watching movies I'd never seen before, learning about parts of movie history I had never known--found some really good documentaries on exploitation films, 80s horror, nudity and censorship in film, drive-ins--and generally just trying to take a vacation from my profession--which, I realise now, I have never done before in all my 20+ years of writing.

I think the solution to burnout is a vacation. A real vacation. A leave-your-phone-behind, don't-post-about-it vacation. Even a weekend would help. If you can go somewhere else for a weekend, do it. If you can't, well, put your phone away and go to the movies, or just watch an old movie at home. If you can walk, go on a walk around your neighbourhood and explore like you might have if you were a kid. Ride bikes. Roll in the grass at a park. Go to the thrift store and find something you can fix up or decorate and make it yours--we found a little bookcase and painted stripes on it and now it holds all our board games, as an example. If you have a yard, go mess around with it. If you don't, find some containers and put dirt and flower seeds in them--even dandelion seeds, which are free and everywhere! Draw on the wallpaper with sharpies, or get some acrylic paint from the craft store and paint an old bedsheet and hang it up if you rent.

Engage with the world that materially exists and do something that only benefits you, that only you know about--don't post about it! Try not posting about your life for a while, not scrolling. Put the phone down and change your environment a little.

I started really throwing myself into this lately, and it helps.

I think burnout is talked about like some big scary monster that can't be solved by regular people suffering it (because who the fuck has the money to do nothing for YEARS on end???). But I truly think burnout is just what happens when you don't take a vacation regularly.

You don't need a lot of money to take a vacation, you can do it with your regular days off. My mom used to take us on random vacations on weekends. She didn't know where we were going, we just started driving and she would keep turning toward things that were interesting to look at, until we were in Solvang or Idyllwild or somewhere and she would see a neat little motel and we'd stop and stay there for saturday night, and on sunday we'd wander around and go places that looked interesting in that little spot, and then go back home. This was back when gas and motels were a lil cheaper, but the idea is you don't have to plan a vacation and it doesn't have to be very long to be good and fun.

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everyone needs to hear about the situation in india right now. the youth of this nation are going through hell and back to protect the foundations that our country was built on in the first place, while the adults who are supposed to actually be in charge try to silence our voices.

NEET, which is an exam taken by millions of students per year and is the ONLY gateway for medical admissions across the country, had its papers leaked. so many took their lives because this exam meant everything for their future. and NTA, the agency who conducts this exam, was not held accountable.

there was national backlash. cockroach janta party (initially a satirical political party formed by abhijeet dipke in retaliation to the remarks of the chief justice of india calling the youth "cockroaches" and "parasites of society") started protests at jantar mantar, demanding the resignation of the union education minister, dharmendra pradhan. the movement also asked for ten million inr (~100,000 usd) in compensation for the families of students who died by suicide and wanted NTA be held accountable.

sonam wangchuk, a climate activist and education reformer, also went on a hunger strike at jantar mantar to protest against this corruption in india's higher education system. his fast began on june 28, demanding the resignation of the union education minister. his fast lasted for 20 days until delhi police FORCIBLY removed him and admitted him to safdarjung hospital on july 18.

because of this, cockroach janta party announced "chalo sansad," a march to the parliament beginning on june 20th, 9:00 am ist. but the police seems to be responding with water cannons, mobile jammers, and baton charge. all of this, because of a peaceful protest led by people no older than 30.

The government is doing everything it can except for actually having an honest dialogue with the protestors.

It’s important to note that despite all the police brutality, despite how the government has had extra forces airlifted to Delhi to help quash the protest, this has deterred no one.

Not only is the protest in Delhi going strong, the government closed down every metro station in Central Delhi in an effort to stop them and it still hasn’t.

There’s protests in most major cities in India in solidarity. Palakkad, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, and probably more besides. There has been a protest in the UK as well in solidarity.

People who aren’t at the protest are donating so much food that the organisers have had to ask them to stop doing so because there’s more than enough. In lieu of that people are donating money for medicine, lawyers, cleanup, and umbrellas.

Most crucially, hopes aren’t broken. Spirits aren’t broken. People with bruises and broken bones are still showing up. People are showing up cosplaying as freedom fighters and super heroes and a dinosaur. People are doxxing goons who show up trying to incite violence. People are making reels. People in Mumbai literally opened a moving police detainment van to allow arrested students to escape.