Dealing With "Sustainability Burnout"
More recently I’ve noticed that I’m experiencing “sustainability burnout”. If you’ve never felt this or heard of something similar, it’s being mentally and physically exhausted by the state of our world. As a sustainability and climate change advocate, I’m not as “bright-eyed” and “bushy-tailed” as I used to be.
This is partially because after being in the fashion industry for a few years, I’m not more educated and aware of what’s going on— I’m not as naive and idealistic. So in other words, kind of jaded and pessimistic. But I was chatting with a good friend of mine and she brought up a great point. She mentioned that there’s almost a lifecycle in the “helping industries” (ie. sustainability, healthcare, mental health, etc.). You start your climate change journey super gung ho and have all the energy to do all the things. You have a lot of outrage and want to make a difference by being on the front lines a lot. For me, this looked like hosting clothing swaps and going to speaking engagements and protests.
As time goes on, you learn more and do more things which in turn leaves you with less and less energy and feeling exhausted/burnt out. Eventually, you become more aware of how to spend your time and energy to have maximum impact. You’re mentoring, being choosy with your time, and you’re not in the trenches as much anymore.
I feel like I’m slowly transitioning away from that first state and it made me feel so guilty. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, but I also knew that I needed to take care of myself so that I could continue to advocate for and mentor others. But my friend and I concluded that everyone in this lifecycle of the “helping profession” or industry is important. We need more youthful and motivated people coming into the field so they can be on the front line, and gain that firsthand experience and knowledge. We also need more seasoned and established mentors in the field to keep things going too.
I wanted to share this with you in case you feel this way or are in a similar situation. I know that many of our Recloseted community members have their conscious businesses and sometimes it can feel like you aren’t doing enough or things aren’t moving fast enough. But know that we need everyone’s contributions— no matter how big or small you think it is to right the harmful fashion industry.
We’re all a part of this very important lifecycle and mission! We need to take care of ourselves so we can continue to do the work. If this resonated with you or you want to share your thoughts with me, I would love to hear them from you. DM me on Instagram @recloseted or email me.
