I can’t pinpoint exactly when it started, but I’ve been feeling pretty creatively burned out—drained, unfocused, unmotivated, maybe even a little apathetic about the whole dang thing—for the past few months.

My poor ol’ brain has been a relentless tornado of conflicting thoughts and feelings about it…

I’m itching for a change, but I can’t for the life of me define what that change even is. I want to flip everything on its head, but I also desperately want everything to stay exactly the same because change is scary and I should be grateful I even have anything to hold onto right now given the economy and the robots and all of the other scary $#!+ everybody keeps going on and on about.

And, I mean, I guess I like what I’m doing. For the most part. Maybe that’s enough? Sure, I guess I could like something else more but what if I actually liked it less? And I’m not really in a space to be making any major decisions or life changes right now anyway.

And honestly, does anything I’m doing right now even matter in the grand scheme of things? Am I really going to get to the end of my life and wish I had written a few more LinkedIn posts or gained a couple thousand more newsletter subscribers? Am I going to look back and regret that I couldn’t help a few more brands get to the top of search result pages so they could sell even more widgets to people who don’t actually need them?

Is all of this completely and totally meaningless? Is it all just noise? 

Woof. Way too deep. Maybe I just need a break. Or a nap. Or a snack. Or all of the above all at once please and thank you. 

And I know I’m supposed to have all of the answers but really all I have right now are questions. Big ones. And I’m so tired of everybody having to be an “expert” in the first place. So maybe I should just drive to Lake Superior, throw my computer into the crashing waves, and bid it adieu as it settles like the wreckage of the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

I wonder if Barnes & Noble is hiring? I could see myself liking that…but god, I’m also too tired to check. And I don’t want to work evenings. Or weekends. Or maybe at all. But I also don’t want to do nothing…

Yikes. Okay, deep breaths. How’s that for a little (and terrifying) sneaky peek inside my brain?

If it sounds like your own internal monologue, you’re in good company. I’ve heard similar sentiments from nearly every freelancer, business owner, or creator I’ve had candid conversations with.

And since I love to quantify things when I can, I asked people on Twitter (okay, groan, fine, I know it’s called “X” now) if they were feeling burned out too. 

A whopping 75% of people said yes. And if you think that means 25% of people aren’t joining us in Burnoutsville, that’s not true. 16.7% responded that they just wanted to see the answers, which means only a measly 8.3% said they’re not actively burned out right now. 

Major yikes. 

Given the raging case of burnout and confusion I have going on over here (and, you know, my own exhaustion with being any sort of “expert”), there’s no way for me to tease even a shred of good advice out of my own brain.

So I guess I’ll leave you with this: If you’re feelin’ some type of way about your career (or, you know, everything) right now, take a little bit of comfort in the fact that you’re absolutely not alone. I’m right there with you—along with 75% of everybody else, I guess. ❤️