Part 3—Tools for a Healthy Work-Life Balance

This article is part of my three-part series on “Burnout Prevention for Designers.” In the first part, I shared my personal story. In the second part, I provided tips you can implement in your business to reduce stress and workload. Finally, in this third part, I discuss essential oils for burnout prevention and other daily practices like breathwork that can support your well-being and help prevent burnout.

First, it’s crucial to consider a few things when using essential oils. They are potent and should always be used safely and correctly. This applies to proper dosing as well as the method of application. If you are not familiar with essential oils, feel free to reach out. I can explain the basics so you can experience their benefits without any worries.

I personally use pure essential oils from doTERRA. They are free from additives and are nature in its purest form. Each oil undergoes testing for purity, ensuring you allow only the best components into your life. Few oils on the market can match this quality, so please exercise caution.

Essential Oils in a Designer's Daily Life

Essential oils have greatly enriched my life! They serve as excellent tools for managing stress. Of course, they cannot resolve a situation on their own, but they can motivate and empower you to change habits or create new ones.

Separating work and personal life often proves difficult for creatives like us. Here, essential oils can support you by establishing distinct oils for work and relaxation. Morning or evening routines provide the perfect opportunity to invite calm, focus, or peace into your life. For instance, I love using the Balance blend on the soles of my feet during the day and the Serenity blend in the diffuser at night.

Burnout Prevention for Designers: Supportive Oils

Here are some essential oils you can use for burnout prevention as a designer or when you experience signs of burnout:

• AromaTouch: AromaTouch has a relaxing and soothing effect and helps reduce stress. If you feel tense and can’t unwind, AromaTouch provides balance and comfort.
• Basil: Basil can regenerate nerves and the nervous system while providing energetic protection against anxious feelings, helping you cope with overwhelming thoughts.
• Past Tense: Past Tense is a blend designed for stressed, overworked, and nervous individuals. It calms and relaxes, offering relief when you feel burned out.
• Eucalyptus: Eucalyptus serves as a powerful stress reliever, strengthening your energetic field when you feel weak and adapting to your stress levels.
• Peppermint & Lemon: These classics have diverse properties. They counter negative thoughts, alleviate headaches, increase focus, and promote alertness.
• Adaptiv: Adaptiv helps you handle daily challenges. It calms and uplifts, making it best used regularly as a preventive measure.

Why Use Essential Oils for Burnout Prevention?

Sleep issues, tension, overwhelm, concentration difficulties, focus, or motivation problems: there’s an oil for that. One oil alone will not free you from all your challenges, and stress is a natural part of life that can even be positive. However, we must learn to manage it calmly and not let it dominate our lives. For me, the oils have become my essential “medium.”

Whenever I feel tension in my jaw, for example, I rub it with diluted lavender oil or the Serenity blend. This demonstrates that there are beautiful, targeted methods tailored to your specific issues for how to help yourself with these oils.

Diffuser Blend for Mental Fatigue

• 3 drops Peppermint
• 3 drops Lemon
• 1 drop Basil

You can effectively use this blend while working. The supportive properties of basil and peppermint against stress have been documented in several studies.

Burned Energy Roller Blend

• 5 drops Grapefruit
• 4 drops Lavender
• 4 drops Frankincense
• 2 drops Tea Tree
• 2 drops Peppermint

Fill everything into a 10 ml roller bottle and top off with fractionated coconut oil. Apply the blend to your pulse points, heart, and temples. For immediate relief, roll it onto your palms and take 3-5 deep breaths. The aroma will travel directly to your limbic system. (Inspired by Dr. Mariza.)

Jaw Roll-On

• 3 drops Peppermint
• 3 drops Lavender
• 3 drops Wintergreen

Fill everything into a 5 ml roller bottle and top off with jojoba oil. Apply as needed along the jawline and/or on the neck.

Burnout Prevention for Designers: Pranayama

A wonderful way to quickly lower stress levels is through breathing techniques, also known as Pranayama. You can practice these at any time, and when combined with a relaxing oil (e.g., inhaling from your palms), they become even more effective. I’d like to introduce two exercises to you today.

Samavritti, the Equal Breath

Inhale – Hold – Exhale – Hold
4-4-4-4 *

Breathe in relaxed while counting to 4.
Hold your breath and count to 4.
Breathe out completely while counting to 4.
Hold your breath and count to 4.

Repeat this sequence as often as you wish. Find your own pace.

* You could also count to 5. The important thing is that all phases are of equal length.

This breathing exercise helps you relax and reduce stress while also allowing you to refocus. When I practice it while standing, I can feel my shoulders relax with each exhale.

4-7-8 Breathing

I particularly like this exercise in the evening when I can’t sleep well because my thoughts are racing. It works similarly to the first exercise, but with different counting times.

Breathe in relaxed while counting to 4.
Hold your breath and count to 7.
Breathe out completely while counting to 8.

Your tongue should rest relaxed behind your upper front teeth. Repeat this sequence as often as you wish. It’s important to stick to the counting ratios during the exercise.

This breathing exercise is highly calming and can become a helpful bedtime ritual.

Explore Our Well-Being Bundle and Classes!

Discover how our Well-Being Bundle, along with my special yoga and essential oil classes, can enhance your daily life and support your journey toward burnout prevention.

At Mindt®, we call ourselves the OG Mindfulness Studio because we believe that creativity and well-being go hand in hand. While our main focus is on branding these days, we still care deeply about holistic wellness. For anyone looking to incorporate well-being into their creative routine, here are two of our favorite essential oil sets—complete with corresponding yoga classes in German that Sarah used to teach!

Mindt OG Well-Being Essential Oil Kit

• Includes 4 Yoga + Oil Sessions:
  Fresh. Clear. Calm. • Align • Balance • Awareness. Balance. Letting Go.
  Find the Well-Being Set Here (Affiliate Link)

Mindt OG Creativity Essential Oil Kit

• Includes 2 Yoga + Oil Sessions: 
  Grounding + Uplifting • Yoga + Oils for Creativity
  Find the Well-Being Set Here (Affiliate Link)

My Conclusion for Burnout Prevention for Designers

That concludes my series on “Burnout as a Designer.” If you have any questions about the essential oils or the breathwork mentioned in this article, feel free to email me.

Much love,
Sarah

This article is an adaptation of an OG post, written by our Founder and Creative Director Sarah, with translation and editing assistance from AI technology (ChatGPT).