Handling quarantine burnout.

There have been a lot of articles around the subject of dealing with Covid blues. It's very topical as we'd all agree and it's been especially difficult for anyone in the arts. Being in the dance community we all know someone who has been really affected.

So I did enjoy reading this short article from Dance Magazine talking about dealing with quarantine burnout in the context of the dance community. It had some nice little nuggets of insight and inspiration from professional dancers living through the effects of the pandemic.

Pre-lockdown we were excited and energised for class and socialising with our friends. After a couple of months in quarantine we couldn't bear to do yet another zoom class or even think about dancing. Why was it so hard and why were we feeling this way? This is what they call quarantine burnout and so many of us have felt it at one point or another over the last period.

"Burnout is a loss of motivation, lack of inspiration, and a sense of anxiety and depression linked to something you genuinely love to do,"... An ongoing, stressful situation over which we have little control is a setup for burnout—and if there's anything we can't control, it's the course of a worldwide pandemic.

It's important to understand what this is, if you're experiencing it and to be okay with it.

Once diagnosed what can we do about it? The article goes on to talk about ensuring you take a break to prevent feeling burnout. It can be useful to take a step back sometimes and acknowledge where you're truly at.

The mental challenge of dealing with government imposed lockdowns certainly made it harder to accept a break from our usual gruelling schedules. But for those that were able to look beyond it and strike that balance, quarantine provided an opportunity to take a welcome break from our normal routines both in and outside of dance.

Maybe you were one of those who were able to take the opportunity to rest, reconnect with family, remembered what was/is important in your life and found other ways to find release during this stressful period. Taking a break from something we love, like dance, can be a good thing and is important periodically.

"You'll get the technique back. This is giving us a little bit of introspection, and that's what makes you become a better artist."

Accepting that many things in life are out of our control and that being able to roll with change is a useful reminder to us all. It lets us lean into more positive spaces where we can grow from our experience. On this note is how the article ends.

In the context of the dance community, in a relatively short space of time, we've evolved how we're willing to engage in classes whether online or masked and appropriately, socially distanced in class. Where partner dancing hasn't been possible we've joined solo classes and choreo teams. And when dance is periodically not an option we've looked to expand our minds through other forms of art and creativity.

Hopefully the experience of the pandemic has made us more conscientious and determined not only as dancers but as a people.

Reframing our experiences as positive and motivating ourselves through difficult times can only help us grow and succeed in life.

"We grow from things evolving and changing, and from moving through our resistance. It's your decision whether to experience it as something bad or something good."