How to avoid burnout in Ramadan
Pacing yourself can help you to maximise your Holy Month
The days count down to the moment Ramadan begins, and we begin to fill with eager excitement – there’s no other feeling in the year like it. It’s wonderful to jump in with both feet to the Holy Month, but little preparation and pacing is key to avoiding burning out.
Burning out vs building up
Without planning, we risk exhausting ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually. But if we can carefully plot how we will maintain and increase our acts of devotion, with plans in place when we’re feeling spent, we can build ourselves up through the first 20 days so that by the blessed last 10 days, we have the energy to push to the finish line. But the goal is to finish strong and to feel like we did everything we could, and arrive at Eid al-Fitr tired but content and ready to slow down.
What are the potential energy challenges in Ramadan?
1 Work
Having to maintain the same standard of output, working hours, and early mornings. Living in a country that doesn’t slow down for Ramadan means that our work isn’t an area where we can compromise.
How to address this?
Try to finish off as much work that you can prepare in advance, meet early deadlines, and schedule your most taxing work early in your day. If you have a culturally open work environment, you can speak to them about flexible working hours or hybrid working during the month of Ramadan.
2 Physical exhaustion
When trying to catch those taraweeh and tahjjud prayers, it’s normal to struggle physically. Try to pace your tahajjud, fitting it in before Fajr, and get in power naps when you can to keep your ibadah and focus sharp.
3 Hunger and thirst
Naturally, we feel hunger, thirst, especially in the early days of Ramadan. Alhamdulilah, now that Ramadan is in the colder months, thirst is not such a distraction as it was several years ago.
How to address this?
Plan a rotation of 4-6 healthy meals for iftar. Knowing what you’ll be eating avoids a mental load of thinking about food and ingredients, and helps you to plan for nourishment, rather than to simply meet cravings. It’s ok to have a treat too, but it shouldn’t be the main focus of your meal, or your day!
If you struggle with hydration, you can also consider electrolytes at iftar and suhoor.
4 Caffeine withdrawal
For those who rely on tea or coffee, withdrawal can hit hard in the first days. Headaches, tiredness, and brain fog is not the way we want to start Ramadan.
How to address this?
Make sure to reduce and taper your caffeine intake before Ramadan, even if it’s just in the 3 days prior. Cut your caffeine intake in half each day prior to Ramadan so that you can experience the hardest phase before Ramadan kicks in.
Once Ramadan begins, you can either take a coffee or tea at suhoor, or cut it out completely. If you miss the comfort of a hot drink, we recommend switching out your usual caffeine for a decaf, fruit tea, or even a hot chocolate at iftar.
What about spiritual exhaustion?
Inshallah, we want to aim to have given everything by the end of Ramadan, but that does mean not peaking too early. A Ramadan schedule can help you to plan your worship, ensuring you meet your goals in a structured way that gets stronger in the last 10 days.
What to plan?
Adhkar – Keep a sibha, prayer counter on you at all times, download an adhkar counting app, and set a number of adkhar goal for each day in Ramadan. Remember to increase your goal in the last 10 days.
Taraweeh – Which prayers will you attend in the mosque? Do you need to share childcare or other duties? Do you need to schedule a day in the week where you don’t attend at the mosque to keep your momentum going? Take a break, but make sure to finish strong.
Quran – How many pages a day will you read in order to meet your goal for all of Ramadan? Can you schedule these alongside your prayers?
Duas – Make a list of duas, using Allah’s beloved 99 names, personalise it as much as you can and have it ready to go on the first day of Ramadan. You can always add more as they come to you!
Mistakes – Yes! Plan for mistakes. What will you do if you don’t hit your daily goals? Or even if you slip up in a big way? Always, always the answer is to not let this one mistake convince you to give up. Renew your intention and make dua right now that any errors you make in Ramadan don’t dishearten your eagerness. Remember, Allah is the All-Forgiving.
May we reach Ramadan in good health, and may we leave Ramadan with our sins forgiven, and our worship accepted.
