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how to recognize fan burnout & what to do about it
unfortunately, from experience. here are some signs:
- you are having less fun participating in the fandom, in whatever way you do that. (you suddenly stop reading fics, your mutuals are annoying you on a hair trigger, you feel overwhelmed by your projects, you stop looking forward to new content, the only content you DO enjoy has to follow very specific, rapidly narrowing, or very uncommon parameters)
- important to note, there are still good times! but there is an ambient stress or discontent growing that you're not so sure about. could be more bad days than good ones, or an equal balance, or just enough negativity that it's affecting you.
- "discourse" and petty squabbles take up a significant portion of what you think about. you might get really heated about these arguments. sometimes, you are unable to make yourself stop thinking about these things at night, in idle moments, or in other situations where your mind needs to be elsewhere.
- your commitments to the fandom are interfering with other things in your life, such as your social life, school/work, hobbies, or anything else you find important.
- fandom has become your ONLY hobby
- recent or upcoming changes in the media have made you unhappy and/or reluctant to engage
here's what you do:
- think about the patterns you usually engage in (what servers you visit/how much you backread/how much you need to feel on top of) and when you do these things. try to analyze what has become habit vs what you really enjoy most. cut back whatever you can from the former
- CURATE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIENCE. look into blacklisting certain terms, leaving discord servers, mass-block users if you need to. don't start fights. if discourse is stressing you out, make sure that you are not deliberately seeking out opinions that will upset you by searching for certain ships or users. do not use social media as a method of self harm: recognize what that means and whether you are doing it.
- make deliberate time for your non-fandom hobbies. download a new craft pattern. go for a walk every day. join a club at school or in your local area.
- establish alternate means of contact with your friends, and most importantly, BEGIN USING THEM. this can be via discord, phone numbers, a different social media account separate to the one you use for fan activity. find other common interests, steer conversation away from fandom. if you don't start using these alternate methods of contact, things will be a LOT harder. we want to get your out of the fan environment that's stressing you out while maintaining the social connections that are important to you.
- if you are responsible for fan projects in some way, stop taking on new ones. make sure to share responsibilities you feel you have with other people so that if things get too much and you need to leave, you'll have less strings attached.
- that being said, recognize when you need to let go. yeah, you might have a project ongoing. but if you are in mental distress about it, you need to let it go. don't feel pressured to do "just this one last thing" or a "grand sendoff" to a fandom.
- be keeping track of the balance between "how much is this fandom making my life more good or less good, and how do i think that will change with time on my current path."
- if you don't want to do something, STOP DOING IT. you really can just back out. communicate with others where necessary.
- your mental wellbeing is always more important than the media or the fan community that you once loved. if you are not taken care of, you won't be able to accomplish what you want to.
