Charles Bukowski, a great poet and novelist, once said:
‘Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain from you your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you, and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover’.
Now, I don’t know about you, but upon reading this statement, I immediately admired its striking fierceness. The idea of committing ourselves to relentlessly pursuing a particular love sounds to me like an extremely meaningful way of living. In a world brimming with possibility, such wholehearted devotion to a passion seems to offer life a unique sense of purpose—something, whether you care to admit it or not—we’re all searching for (cue existential crisis).
In my case, I love reading and writing. In fact, I originally created my bookstagram with the intention of sharing my love of literature. In recent times, as my online presence has grown, I’ve been living by Bukowski’s words and pouring my everything into running my account whilst also working on my writing projects. And I’m not going to lie; as much as I love it, I’ve been burning out!
After experiencing months of mounting stress, tension headaches and disrupted sleep—all in the name of fervently pursuing my literary interests—I’ve finally come to the long overdue realisation that maybe I’ve taken good ol’ Charles’ advice a little too literally! As such, I thought I’d take some time to explore the concept of ‘bookstagram burnout’ and the actions we can take to avoid falling victim to it. After all, there must be a way of pursuing our passions without them sucking us dry of every last drop of life in the process… right?
So, what exactly is bookstagram burnout? Well, the term ‘burnout’ refers to a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. It’s usually precipitated by periods of stress in which someone feels drained, overwhelmed and unable to meet continual demands. In the context of bookstagram, burnout can arise due to a number of circumstances that cause increased pressure on the bookstagrammer. These are most commonly a direct result of the bookstagrammer a) obsessively scrutinising their account growth b) constantly trying to ‘one up’ their previous work or c) taking on too many bookish projects. As a result, the bookstagrammer usually finds themselves experiencing a loss of enjoyment and increased feelings of anxiety, incompetence and pessimism at the thought of bookstagramming.
So, what can we do to avoid falling victim to a dreaded case of bookstagram burnout? Allow me to offer a few suggestions: