I am exactly in the same place (burnout) and here are a few things that have started to help me
1. Daily Yoga practice. (One session in morning and another one in evening. I generally do Yin Yoga in the evenings and it seems to help release a lot of stress). You can find lot of good Yin yoga videos on Youtube.
2. Write a Journal. Try to figure out your deepest motivations. Why did you act in ways that lead to burnout. Try to write about how you can bring back balance.
3. Have a balanced work schedule.
Also, don't forget.. "A job is just a job and it does not define you. You always have a choice"
May be you put a lot more stress to finish up things before you leave on vacation.
And that extra stress causes a decrease in immunity leading to sickness.
How many of these are due to unhealthy American Diets and how many of them can easily be cured by a simple whole foods plant based diet.
There are so many reports coming out now that diet (mostly a whole foods plant based diet) can reverse diabetes and that too in a short time. People heal faster when they remove the root cause of the problem. (bad diet)
My experience is that whenever I have tried to increase Vit D level above 30+ng/ml I have got severe iron deficiency anemia. High dose vit D depletes Vit A, bio available copper, iron and potassium.
Some info on the dark side of Vit D.
https://mindbodynetwork.com/article/the-darker-side-of-suppl...
This happens when the person is not calm/tranquil enough to handle the realization of no self (emptiness).
One should also develop tranquility / calmness by doing samatha meditation (like anapana).
With having developed tranquility the realization of no-self and emptiness are easier to handle.
Data from Fitbit can help you see patterns which otherwise you won't notice.
I used to stay near a Railway Station, and my sleep used to get disturbed every 30 mins. I did not realize this until I saw the data from Sleep tracking. I was getting less than 50 mins of deep sleep and I could easily see that the deep sleep was disturbed at exactly the train timings daily.
With this knowledge, I moved to a new place with less disturbance during night. Now my Deep Sleep is increased by 50% after this move.
1. The One Thing. ~ Gary Keller
2. Mini Habits. ~ Stephen Guise
3. Learned Optimism. ~ Martin Seligman
4. Spark. ~ John Ratey
5. Miracle of Mindfulness. ~ Thich nhat hanh
This is what I have found to be useful in such situations
1> Take frequent breaks during the day. (5-10 Min for every 45 min of work).
2> Getting more organized (read Getting Things Done by David Allen) will help you get more work done in less time and also free up some time to spend on yourself.
3> Find meaning in the work you do.
4> Meditate for at least 10 min every day and try to bring mindfulness into your daily life.
5> Spend at least 1 hour each week to reflect/review and clarify your goals in life and see whether you are going in the right direction?
6> Make a plan to spend at least 1 hour each day in activities that help you grow.(eg. Exercise, Reading, writing a blog, learning new things, new hobbies, etc)
7> Practice gratitude before going to sleep. It will have a positive effect on your sleep and general well-being. It will also improve your productivity during day.
After reading these books I am now able to successfully create new habits.
Last year I tried to get into a habit of reading good books and was able to read around 40 good books ( twice of what I had planned)
2. To let go off the need to constantly improve something or to constantly chase something.