The first time I experienced true burnout I was a nurse. I had been a nurse in a Neotatal Unit for over a year, and I was also active duty. Between the duties that I was required to do as a Soldier, and the stress load of the patients that I was caring for I finally just burned out.
Burn out for me at the time looked like this, no motivation, no will to move, no drive to go to work or be a Soldier, loss of interest in everything, lack of participation with my family. I really just wanted to lay in bed, and well... just lay there. I lived in Hawaii at the time and my favorite place to be was with my children and at the beach, and I just had no desire to be there, at all. It took roughly a month or so, and about three weeks off from work before I could move past my burnout and get back to normal.
Now I realize that photographers burnout is going to look a little bit different. I see it from time to time in different Facebook groups. I see statements such as "I don't even want to touch my camera anymore", "Photography isn't fun anymore", "I think it is time for me to get a real job. I just can't do this anymore" "Photography is the same thing over and over. I am bored". I am sure there are a number of other statements but these are just a few. It is statements like these that come from people that you would never expect. People who you know love their jobs, and LOVE making people happy with photos. This is when you know that you have hit burnout. So once you realize that you are there, what do you do?
Here are 5 of the best ways that I have seen talked about by people such as Jim Harmer from Improve Photography, Nick Page from Nick Page Photography.
1. Take a break-
As with everything in life there are times that you just need to take a step back from what you are doing, and in some cases even walk away for a time. When you take the time to take a break you give your brain a chance to reset, and to look at situations differently versus continuing to bang your head on a wall because something is not working the way that you want it too. Taking a break can give you the chance to breath, and in taking that breath you are giving your chance to reevaluate and look for different ways to handle a situation before moving forward. Sometimes it is a change in direction, or just a simple change in method that can save you from going through burn out.
2. Do something for you-
Have you ever thought as you were editing a session about how much you resent what you are doing? Have you ever questioned why you are doing what you are doing? This is an indication that you are burning out. Take a time out and do something for you! Create a fun project that reminds you why you fell in love with your camera and why you wanted to share your art with the world. You want to make sure that you are taking the time to do your own personal projects as well as putting food on the table. If you do not do this, well it could cause you to become resentful towards your clients or others and lash out, and in the end it could cause an end of your business, or cause you to walk away from photography altogether.
3. Try something new in photography-
What do you normally shoot? If you shoot portraits, change it up and try and your hand at some landscapes. Are you a newborn shooter? Try shooting pets! It never hurts to change genres for a while. One it helps to build a new skill set for you, but it also gives you a chance to take a break, do something for yourself and you may find that this new genre is something that you enjoy and may want to eventually add into your arsenal of daily shoots. The human brain enjoys a challenge, changing it up and learning something new presents a new challenge. What is the worst that can happen? You realize that you are not a fan of the genre. Either way you learned something new, and you may learn some new techniques that you can still add to what you are currently doing.
4, Learn to say NO-
No... One of the most difficult words that we may ever have to say. When it comes to your children it is super easy right? You have to learn to make it easy when it comes to clients and sometimes even family and friends when dealing with your business. As much as you want to make everyone happy and you want to take every single shoot that comes your way realize that there is a time that you just have to say no. These times can happen when you are already completely booked. You have to say no. If you over book your self you are going to be pushing on the back end to get photos edited and out to clients and you are going to have people breathing down your throat not understanding what is going on. This just adds to the stress and the more stress that you have the quicker you are going to burn out. Another reason to say no is when you know in your heart that the client that you are talking to is just not for you. It doesn't matter what the reason is, if they do not fit your business model or there is something that is telling you to say no, you need to be able to do it. Otherwise this particular client is going to be a very stressful point in your life until to commitment to them is over, and if this is a wedding client this could drag on for months. As hard as it may be to say, sometimes you just have to say no.
5. Take time to enjoy life-
Above all take the time to enjoy life. Take a vacation from time to time. Spend time with your significant other, your children, or other family. Go to the beach, or the lake or whatever. Maybe you take your camera, maybe you don't. Either way, make some memories with the ones that you love. Don't work yourself into the ground. Enjoy every moment that you can in your life.
If you take the time to live your life to the fullest and also balance your photography career your life will be very full, however I truly believe that you prevent yourself from burning out, and you also not regret one moment in your life!
What are some suggestions that you have for preventing burnout? What would add to this? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. I would love to expand this article out to help even more people and the more suggestions I have the better!
For further articles on photography burnout here are some links
Photography Burnout what it is and how to recover
You Can Overcome Photography Burnout
5 Tips on How to Avoid Photographer Burnout
Tips to Avoid Creative Burnout
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