I love my masters degree, I love my blog and I love talking about the planet, but sometimes I feel exhausted and sad about it. Anyone else? I’d imagine, pretty much everyone. This is basically a form of burnout, just climate specific burn out. Burnout is ‘the feeling of being exhausted due to excessive and prolonged levels of stress’, so eco burnout is the same thing, but stems from anxiety about climate change. For me, I spend my working day looking at climate change, and I spend my spare time writing blog posts and looking at more climate change. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, care about it or want to learn more, it’s just a bit much sometimes. So, if you ever feel drained and sad about climate change, I have some tips below that really help me.
Ways I cope with eco burnout:
Looking at the good things – climate change news can be really negative (because there’s a lot of bad) but there is also so much to be positive about! It’s really important to focus on these positives, especially when it feels like there’s not a lot to be happy about. Some of my favourite ways to find these positives are through organisations like WWF or Greenpeace, and newspapers like the Happy Newspaper.
General self-care – this is just a good thing to do generally, but I find it really helpful for eco burnout. My preference is either yoga, running or cooking. I find that yoga helps me to destress and just focus on moving for 15 minutes, so I automatically feel a bit more positive afterwards. I started running during lockdown, and I’m really enjoying it, particularly if I’m feeling frustrated. A run leaves me feeling like I can do anything, and suddenly my problems (climate or otherwise) don’t feel so big. I also love cooking and trying new recipes. This is just a nice way to relax after working all day, but I appreciate that for some people cooking is not relaxing at all!
Connect with other people – I find it really comforting to talk to other people who also worry about climate change – suddenly, it doesn’t feel like I’m all on my own. That’s part of the reason I started this blog to be honest! It’s great to find an eco community on social media, through charities or even through friends who you can sort of convert. This also helps me to remember that this isn’t my problem, it’s a shared problem, and I don’t have to shoulder it all myself.
Focusing – part of the reason that climate change is so overwhelming is because there are so many aspects to it – agriculture, plastics, animals, deforestation, policy etc. I try to focus on one bit at a time. For example, one of my new years resolutions was to not eat dairy yoghurt (which I’ve stuck to), instead of cutting out dairy altogether – yet. By focusing on one thing at a time, it makes the situation feel more manageable. This also links to the last tip – if you’re part of a community, then you can help each other to simplify things wherever possible, like doing clothes swaps and things.
Understand that looking after yourself is the priority – to fight climate change, to protest inequality and to try and be zero waste, you have to have the energy. If you don’t look after yourself, you won’t have the energy! Giving yourself to a cause is only any good if you’re in working order, otherwise you may not actually be that helpful. But, regardless of whether you have a cause or not, looking after yourself is very important and should not be skipped on.
I really hope that this was helpful. If you’re struggling with this right now, particularly with the pandemic, then give some of these things a try. Crucially, find what works for you! What helps to ease my anxieties may not ease yours. Good luck.
As a final note, my (virtual) door is always open, but if you are really struggling then please seek help ❤ I’ll link some websites here:
Waste Makes Waste 
Great post, I think it is very good to adress the issue of eco-anxiety. Tnx for looking out for other bloggers.
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Thank you! Absolutely, it’s really important to look out for each other.
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