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Preventing Burnout In The Adult Industry

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Life can get pretty overwhelming, especially for content creators juggling numerous demands. If you’re feeling emotionally and physically drained, it might be more than just the usual stress. You could be on the brink of burnout.

Burnout isn’t exclusive to the workplace; personal responsibilities can contribute too. Whether you’re facing burnout from content creation or other aspects of life, chronic stress can affect your productivity, work-life balance, and overall well-being.

Since burnout is prevalent, especially in the creative field, it’s crucial to know how to prevent it. Check out these 25 friendly suggestions to recharge and avoid becoming overwhelmed. Let’s explore how to keep the creative flame burning without burning out:

Spot the Early Signs of Burnout:
Recognize the signs early to manage stress effectively.
Signs include physical exhaustion, mood swings, increased anxiety, and a lack of enthusiasm for activities.

Embrace Regular Exercise:
Hit the gym, go for a jog, or take a dance class to boost physical and mental well-being.
Studies show that activities like yoga can significantly reduce stress and burnout.

Master Your Workload:
Prioritize tasks and don’t hesitate to delegate when needed.

Take Mental Breaks:
Working nonstop can lead to fatigue. Short breaks throughout the day enhance productivity.

Prioritize Self-Care:
Make yourself a priority—eat well, get enough sleep, and indulge in activities you enjoy.

Establish Clear Boundaries:
Set boundaries to balance work and personal life, reducing constant stress.

Find Privacy:
Allocate time alone daily for focused tasks without distractions.

Keep Learning:
Refresh your skills regularly to feel confident and capable in your creative endeavors.

Cultivate Hobbies:
Engage in hobbies to unwind and improve your overall quality of life.

Banish Negative Self-Talk:
Reframe negative thoughts to boost confidence and resilience.

Practice Mindfulness:
Focus on the present moment to stay calm amid high stress.

Explore Meditation:
Dedicate a few minutes daily to meditation for stress relief.

Enhance Sleep Hygiene:
Develop healthy sleep habits for deeper and more restful sleep.

Start Journaling:
Express creativity and emotions through journaling to prevent burnout.

Recite Positive Affirmations:
Boost confidence and reduce stress with daily affirmations.

Embrace Laughter:
Laughing and smiling can instantly reduce stress and improve your mood.

Relax with Breathing Exercises:
Calm down quickly with simple breathing exercises.

Schedule Relaxation Time:
Set reminders to take breaks and prioritize relaxation.

Connect with Others:
Social support is vital. Make time for family and friends even when busy.

Reframe Negative Situations:
Change your perspective on challenges for better stress management.

Start Meal Planning:
Plan meals ahead to ensure a healthy and convenient diet.

Get Outside:
Step outside for a breath of fresh air, sunlight, and a change of scenery.

Ask for Help:
Don’t hesitate to seek support when your schedule feels overwhelming.

Consider Therapy:
If burnout symptoms persist, therapy can provide tools for a positive mindset.

Remember, taking care of your well-being is essential for sustained creativity. Consider professional help, Pineapple Support provides free and subsidised mental health care and emotional support to adult industry professionals. Please reach out.

Keeping Calm Under Pressure

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Remaining calm under pressure can be challenging, but it’s a valuable skill that can be developed with practice. Here are some strategies to help you stay calm in high-pressure situations:

Recognize and accept your emotions: It’s normal to feel anxious or stressed in high-pressure situations. Acknowledge your emotions and accept them without judgment. Remember that it’s okay to feel this way, and it doesn’t mean you’re incapable or weak.

Take deep breaths: Deep breathing is a simple yet effective technique to calm your mind and body. Slowly inhale through your nose, hold your breath for a few seconds, and then exhale slowly through your mouth. Focus on your breath and repeat this several times until you feel more centred.

Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness involves staying present and aware of your thoughts, feelings, and sensations in the present moment. When you feel pressure building up, take a moment to observe your thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. This can help you maintain a sense of calm and perspective.

Challenge negative thoughts: High-pressure situations can trigger negative thoughts and self-doubt. Challenge these thoughts by questioning their accuracy and replacing them with more positive and realistic ones. Remind yourself of your capabilities and past successes.

Break it down: When faced with a daunting task or a high-pressure situation, break it down into smaller, manageable steps. Focus on one step at a time, rather than becoming overwhelmed by the entire situation. This approach can help you stay focused and reduce anxiety.

Prepare and practice: Preparation is key to handling pressure effectively. Whether it’s a presentation, an interview, or a challenging task, make sure you are well-prepared. Practice beforehand, visualize yourself performing successfully, and rehearse your responses. The more familiar you are with the situation, the more confident you’ll feel.

Utilize positive self-talk: Use positive affirmations and self-talk to boost your confidence and maintain a calm mindset. Remind yourself of your strengths, previous accomplishments, and your ability to handle challenging situations. Replace negative self-talk with encouraging and supportive statements.

Seek support: Don’t hesitate to reach out for support when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Talk to a trusted friend, family member, or mentor who can provide guidance, encouragement, or a fresh perspective. Sometimes, simply expressing your concerns can help relieve some of the pressure.

Take care of yourself: Prioritize self-care, especially during stressful periods. Get enough sleep, eat nourishing meals, engage in physical activity, and make time for activities that help you relax and recharge. Taking care of your physical and mental well-being will improve your resilience and ability to handle pressure.

Remember, staying calm under pressure is a skill that develops over time. Be patient with yourself and practice these strategies consistently. With time and effort, you can become better at maintaining your composure in high-pressure situations. Helping yourself to remain calm usually means others will respond better.

 

Pineapple Support offers numerous workshops to help you deal with the pressures of work and life in general. Don’t leave it until you are drowning in problems or feel like you are going to explode. Take time out to help yourself.

 

Pineapple Support, Team Skeet Launch Art Contest Promoting Mental Health

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Pineapple Support is launching an art competition with TeamSkeet to highlight how art and other mindful activities can help to reduce stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The competition calls for anyone in the industry to create any form of art — featuring pineapples — before May 31. The winner will be chosen by Team Skeet on June 2 and will receive Team Skeet swag, and a $500 Uber Eats voucher to help with the current economic burden.

“We are excited to partner with Pineapple Support on a project which will benefit our community,” said Salima, COO of Team Skeet parent company Paper Street Media. “This organization is actively involved in supporting and assisting many individuals who have been affected by COVID-19 and this is a cause we greatly support.”

Salima added that “sponsoring a social media-based art project serves two purposes for us: first, to create further awareness about Pineapple Support and its services, and second to give participants something fun and creative to do during the ‘stay-at-home’ orders.”

Pineapple Support was founded in 2018 by British performer Leya Tanit in response to losses in the adult industry from depression, addiction and other mental illnesses. The organization, which is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit in the United States and a registered charity in the UK, has so far connected over 1,000 adult performers to mental health services, including free and low-cost, therapy, counseling and emotional support.

“During unprecedented times, I want to raise awareness of how art can be used as a hugely effective tool for mental wellbeing,” Tanit explained. “It ties in with our advice for keeping mentally healthy during lockdown and there are many mental health benefits to getting creative. It also gives people something to focus on and think about during isolation, so we’re calling on everyone in the industry to ‘turn on the juice,’ get your creative juices flowing and create some pineapple art.”

Those who wish to take part should share a picture of their pineapple art by following and tagging Pineapple Support and Team Skeet in a post on Twitter, using the hashtag #PineappleArt.

Up to one entry per person will be accepted until June 2 when the winner will be announced by Pineapple Support on Twitter.

Five ways to work with a social comedown

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If you haven’t read the last post, you might want to start there, since it has a much longer definition of what a social comedown is. In brief, social comedowns consist of difficult thoughts, sensations, feelings and urges arising after socialising that often include ruminating over past distress and judging yourself for having a hard time. They can include deep-seated feelings of shame, inadequacy, sadness, guilt, dread and embarrassment.

There are a huge range of ways to work with social comedowns; if they are having a big impact on your life, I’d recommend talking to a coach or therapist about how to find the best way for you. People are really individual, and because we each have our own histories and preferences no single option is going to work for everyone. Nevertheless, here are 5 ways that you could try to see if they fit for you:

  1. Focus on the sensations

Many people experience emotions in their bodies. If you are a person that can feel emotions in this way it can be a wonderful way of just being with one aspect of your emotional experience. Rather than doing things to avoid the sensations in your body, approach them with a sense of curiosity. Find a comfortable position to sit or lie in for 5 minutes, and just scan your body for sensations. When you find a sensation in your body that is related to your emotions be curious about it. Notice whether it is hot or cold, its density, whether it is staying still or moving. Notice its size and shape, and whether there is a colour or texture to it. Is there any tension to it? Just allow it to be exactly what it is in your body without trying to change it or move it. Notice what it is like to accept that you are experiencing this sensation. When your thoughts drift as they inevitably will, just bring yourself back and allow yourself to notice whether anything is different about the sensation.

This practice can help you to be with emotional experiences without ruminating or avoiding – which both usually make emotional experiences more intense and difficult to manage. It can help you to accept your emotions and allow you to move on from them. This is an exercise that you can practice in advance so that it is easier to remember when you are experiencing distress – and don’t be afraid to use it when you’re having nice sensations in your body as well as more difficult ones.

2) Mindfulness of thoughts

Creating space between you and your thoughts can be a hugely helpful alternative to ruminating. My favourite way of doing this is to imagine tiny boats going down a river, and then as I notice thoughts come up, I put them onto one of the boats and letting them go as they float off. Sometimes I can’t help jumping on the boat with the thought, and I have to ‘unhook’ myself by jumping off the boat back to the shore. That’s OK too. People often get caught by a thought and feel really compelled to follow it to its conclusion. Noticing that happen is a really important part of this technique, because it allows you to find the moment to decide not to follow the thought further, ideally without having further judgemental thoughts about yourself! Different people have different preferred ways to visualise their thoughts. While I prefer boats, others like leaves on a stream; trains on a track or balloons floating their thoughts away. Whatever your preference, noticing the thought is happening, and letting it come and go through your mind is a hugely powerful way to remind yourself that no matter how much a thought feels like your whole world, you can let it go.

Some examples of audio files to help you with mindfulness of thoughts are here:

3) Urge surfing

We all have urges to do and not to do things all the time. The urge may be to hide in bed all day or to lash out at someone or get really drunk. Sometimes it is helpful to notice what we really want to do, and just sit with that desire. You may notice the desire is located in a part of your body – and this process may be very similar to the first suggestion of sensation watching. Alternatively, urges may be a really different kind of experience for you than other sensations. Here are a couple of audio files to use for sitting with your urges:

4) Do intense exercise

People that know me will know that intense exercises isn’t something I’m usually keen on. Nevertheless, increasing your heart rate and keeping it above 120 beats per minute for 10-15 minutes helps a lot of people to manage distress. Some people think that it is because you get to complete the stress response cycle by using up some of the energy boost that you get when you’re facing a stressful or distressing situation. Some think it is an intense form of distraction that is helpful because it allows you to shift your attention to something else happening in your body. I think it is a mix of these things, and that it works really well for some people. If you want to try it, jumping, skipping or running can be a good way of getting your heart rate into that zone and holding it there.

5) Do a paired muscle relaxation exercise

This exercise can help because you’re both distracting from the distressing thoughts, feelings, sensations and urges that you’re feeling, and you’re doing something to physiologically relax your body and give it the message that you’re safe.  We know that tensing and then relaxing muscles helps them to relax more fully than trying to relax them without tensing first. If you want to do this you can find exercises here:

If you’d like to do more work on how to cope with social come downs and other mental health challenges think about joining one of my DBT groups. We work on psychological skill building to help you to manage interpersonal relationships, distress and emotions. You can find more information here.

HOW TO CATCH DEPRESSION BEFORE IT CATCHES YOU

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When we think of depression, we may imagine being permanently pyjama-clad, lying in bed or on the sofa in a dark room, unable to move. Clinical depression (or major depressive disorder) can look this way and the Internet and media often paint this picture.

If we research depression symptoms online, it usually brings up Clinical depression information, leaving some of us thinking that, it feels bad but it’s not as bad as all that.

But some depressive symptoms are less recognizable. Most of us are busy. We might feel down but we can’t afford to stop. Even when a situation (like a breakup) triggers deep sadness in us, we have to keep going. So the symptoms are subtler, more gradual, and easier to disregard. They sneak up on us and if unaddressed they can become debilitating.

Recognise any of these?

– A sense of heaviness you can’t shake
– Impatience, irritability, quickly losing your temper over little things
– Growing intolerance of others, our surroundings, or ourselves
– Heightened awareness of negative things
– An emboldened inner critic, bullying ourselves or self-loathing
– Incessant worrying (going over the same thing again and again) or catastrophizing (using words like always and never)
– Wanting to hide from the world and avoiding things that make us feel better (friends, exercise, nature)

Our brain activity is habit forming; the more we think and feel certain ways, the more likely we will think and feel that way in the future. A persistent low mood can spiral into depression and the lower we spiral, the harder it is to pick ourselves back up.

We all have low moods but when feelings of depression seem unshakeable, it is time to start paying attention to them. One of the best ways to deal with depression is to catch it early.

Here is how:

– Become mindful of how you talk to yourself. Would you lose friends if you talked to them the way you talk to yourself? Your inner critic may have pushed you to do better but it can push you down that depression spiral too.
Get blood tests from your doctor. Low mood can be a side-effect of any number of physical ailments: nutritional deficiencies, bacterial imbalances in your gut, hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, fibromyalgia, hormonal imbalance, food allergies, infections, and medications.

– Create exercise accountability. Exercise is one of the best ways to improve our mood. We may have the best intentions to exercise regularly, but low mood can sap our motivation. When depressed, we are far more likely to put it off.

So instead of beating yourself up for not exercising, put measures into place that hold you accountable. For example, book a boutique exercise class, schedule workouts with a friend, or join a beginner’s club team (your Fris team depends on you). If you have no problem skipping those type activities, then hire a trainer for 30 minutes twice a week. (Hire a really cute one for added motivation!) Tell her/him to follow up with you if you miss a session.

– Forgive yourself for feeling this way and for setbacks that may have triggered these feelings. Low mood often increases our critical self-talk. We feel down so we beat ourselves up, which makes us feel even lower. Interrupt the self-critical spiral with self-compassion. If this sounds too difficult, read or listen to The Self-Compassion Skills Workbook by Tim Desmond.

– Listen to what thoughts are driving your emotions. There is no such thing as a ‘negative’ emotion. Even depression serves to protect us. Our low mood is a red flag. Sometimes it is telling us to slow down, to reconnect with loved ones, or to disconnect from unhealthy situations. Or to get help.

– The app Thought Record app from Moodnotes helps you uncover the situations and thinking patterns that may trigger your low mood. And to find alternative, more helpful perspectives.

Everyone feels low, drained, or worn-out occasionally. Many of the symptoms of major depressive disorder – irritability, lethargy, and hopelessness – can be normal reactions to stressful life events.

‘Sometimes, depression is a perfectly reasonable response to trouble in your life.’ Karla McLaren

However, if your low mood is cyclical or doesn’t respond to the healing changes you make, talk to your doctor or a professional therapist.

If you think you might be clinically depressed, you can take this test.  Depression Self Assessment

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth edition.
Tim Desmond. (2017). The Self-Compassion Skills Workbook. A 14-Day Plan to Transform Your Relationship with Yourself
Rick Hanson. (2013). Hardwiring Happiness. The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm and Confidence.
Karla McLaren. (2010). The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You.
Robert Plutchik. (1980). Theories of Emotion (Volume 1).
Dan Siegel. (2010). Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation.
Bessel van der Kolk. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma.

Warm regards,

Jena

Self-Soothing Through Visualisation

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Self-soothing is a wonderful coping skill to possess.  It helps to calm us when we are anxious, afraid, or angry.  It can help lower our blood pressure and helps us focus. People who have experienced trauma may get a special benefit from these visualizations, but you don’t have to have experienced trauma to benefit from them.

These three self-soothing exercises focus on breathing and visualization (imagining images that are soothing) and are found in the workbook, “101 Trauma Informed Interventions,” by Linda Curran.

Not every visualization is for everyone, so if you try one and it doesn’t work for you, take what you like and leave the rest and try the other visualizations.  Visualizations aren’t the only way to self-soothe, but what we will focus on here. When people with anxiety come to see me I teach them the following exercises to self-soothe.

In the Roots visualization you will visualize having roots that ground you and go deep into the earth.  Some of my clients say that this one helps their mind stop racing and helps them fall asleep at night.

In the Container Visualization you will imagine making a strong container that can hold anything that you don’t want to think about right now.  You can put thoughts or feelings into this container and pull them out when you are ready to work on them.

In the Comfortable Place visualization you will create a beautiful and relaxing scene that you can go to whenever you feel upset and need help calming yourself.

The key to making visualization work is to use it every day so that it gets stronger and easier to use.  Try these first when you’re not upset so that you can master them and they will be more effective when you do need to use them.

Want to learn more? Schedule an appointment and let me teach you.

Much happiness,

Mechele

Monkey Mind?

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“My mind won’t shut up.”

“I can’t focus to save my life.”

 

When it feels like your mind is in control of you and you don’t know how to take back control, chances are you have monkey mind. Monkey mind is exactly what it sounds like; imagine your mind is an energetic monkey jumping all over the place inside your head. Monkey mind is closely correlated with anxiety. It is a term that the Buddhists came up with many, many years ago.

You don’t have to be a Buddhist to have monkey mind or to get rid of it.

When we have anxiety our amygdala is overactive and as bulky as Dwayne Johnson. The amygdala is the part of our brain where anxiety and fear live. Once upon a time it helped us to survive by enabling us to fight or run away when faced with mortal danger such as a T-Rex getting ready to chomp us. Now our amygdala responds as if we’re in mortal danger when we’re not. Speaking to a stranger won’t kill us, yet our mind may tell us it will. Few people die if they embarrass themselves in front of others, but some people’s minds disagree.

Sara Lazar is a Neuroscientist at Massachusetts General and Harvard. She has studied the benefits of using meditation and mindfulness. Her study which had people who meditated an average of 30 minutes a day for daily to several times a week for eight weeks found the following[1]:

  • Increased brain volume
  • An increase in the area of the brain that is involved in whether or not the mind wanders.
  • An increase in the area that helps us learn, think, with memory, and helps us regulate our emotions.
  • An increase in the part of the brain associated with empathy and compassion.

So What?

So, there are other studies[2] that document the benefits of meditation and mindfulness on monkey mind. Neither mediation nor mindfulness is easy to do, but you weren’t born walking either. It takes time and it takes patience. When my clients agree to try this I ask them to start at 1-5 minutes and work up to longer times as their concentration improves and their monkey mind gets harnessed.

Are you willing to experiment? The only thing you have to lose is a few minutes a day, but you may also lose your monkey mind and gain the ability to control your own brain and cut down on anxiety. You have to really be committed to this for it to work; don’t just try it a few times and then say you can’t do it.

And Away We Go!

  • Remember, you’re going to start with a small period of time, 1-5 minutes.
  • Set your timer for however long you want to meditate.[3]
  • Darken your room.
  • If you’re not alone let people know you’re meditating and ask them to be quiet.
  • Sit up. If you lie down you will fall asleep. [4]
  • Take some breaths. Some people say through your nose, but I like in through the nose and out through the mouth. Very slow and deep breaths.
  • Focus on your breathing in and out and in and out.
  • Clear your mind.
  • Be gentle with yourself when your mind wanders and bring it back to your breath.
  • Breathe and repeat.

This is a beginner’s guide and as you get better with it your skill will advance. If you decide the experiment is worth continuing you may want to look up videos on You Tube of how to advance your meditation practice or find a teacher to guide you.

I wish you luck and self-kindness, skill will follow.

Wishing you happiness, laughter, serenity, and no more monkey mind

Mechele

 

 

[1] https://scholar.harvard.edu

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/ This is a good article, but it is very dry

[3] You can get a free meditation timer in your Ap store. I like Insight Timer.

[4] People who meditate on a regular basis use a cushion, but if you have back problems try a chair. Sit up straight or you will get so relaxed you will fall asleep. The first time I did this my teacher gently smacked me to wake me up and boy was I embarrassed!