This question was submitted on Instagram.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful question!
Firstly, obviously the solution to burnout is rest, but I think rest is a lot harder than people imagine. What I’ve figured out, for me is that feeling truly rested hinges on I) my physical body feeling stable (like it’s eaten enough, got enough sleep, etc.) and 2) my desire to get back to work and my capacity to find it interesting
I’ve found that taking time away from work only achieves the first. I’ve discovered that, for me, rest needs to be active. It needs to be something that’s tiring in its own way: time spent on an activity I’m excited to make progress on, but which is unrelated to what I’m burned out from.
Something that worked for me is giving myself a “Shabbos” haha, one day a week in which I don’t allow myself to work on my your tasks and instead spend it in active rest.
As to the second question: that feeling will never leave you. There’s a letter Steinbeck wrote to a friend where, even after multiple best-sellers, he still remains riddled with self doubt. There’s a beautiful book called “Of Course You Always End Up Becoming Yourself” that goes through the same journey with David Foster-Wallace.
You have to give yourself the hope that it’s worth the time and labor. It’s a hope you have to find for yourself.
There is no lasting source of external validation to give it to you. So just believe that your work is beautiful, and if you believe it, and don’t forget to believe it, I think, that feeling will soon disappear in time!