{"id":16987,"date":"2022-10-06T13:58:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T17:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/?p=16987"},"modified":"2022-10-06T13:58:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T17:58:37","slug":"avoiding-burnout-in-vo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/06\/avoiding-burnout-in-vo\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding Burnout in Voice-Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Like most any other career, burnout can come for even the most enthusiastic of voice-over artists. Feeling overworked and exhausted, apathetic towards parts of your day that used to excite you, or even like you\u2019ve hit a wall in terms of your own growth can happen to any actor. When you start to get that feeling of burnout creeping in, it\u2019s important to stop and reassess your current work habits and think about how they can be improved. Most importantly, burnout calls for some self-care!<\/span>
\n<\/span>The things that tend to cause me burnout as a full-time voice-over actress are:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Long days\/weeks of auditioning without booking anything.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Long-term audiobook or e-learning projects, especially when it\u2019s a topic that doesn\u2019t interest me at all! <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Seeing other voice actors\u2019 snowballing success on social media – especially when they\u2019re younger than me!\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. ACTUALLY burning up in the studio during the hot summer months.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My advice for any and all of these issues you might face is to take breaks! If you\u2019re losing your love of voice acting, it\u2019s probably just time to rest. Sometimes it can feel awkward or difficult to take vacations when you\u2019re your own boss. Like with any office job, be sure to give yourself some vacation time! Try not to work seven days per week and enjoy\u00a0 a holiday here and there so that you don\u2019t feel that your entire life is spent in the confines of your home studio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    On that note, when you are taking a break, do things you enjoy! Get out in nature or exercise, read, write, paint, or spend time with loved ones – but don\u2019t spend it dwelling on past auditions or worrying about your next gig. Rejuvenate yourself in whatever way works best for you.<\/span>
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re struggling with a long stint of auditioning or contacting potential clients without seeing much return, my advice would be to spend a bit of time practicing voice work that does excite you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Even if it\u2019s just for yourself, sometimes a bit of professional development can help reinvigorate your confidence! For example, if you love animation – read some silly scripts that you enjoy and practice some new funky voices! That audio doesn\u2019t need to be sent out anywhere, but it\u2019s good practice for you and it\u2019s FUN. For me, finding enjoyment in a script helps refresh me when I\u2019ve spent weeks auditioning for projects that might be a little more boring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Take care of yourself!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    At the end of the day, you\u2019ve got to fall in love with the act of auditioning in this type of career. But even if your auditions aren\u2019t showing immediate returns, there\u2019s still so much value in the habit of doing them. You\u2019re practicing, expanding your abilities, discovering new facets of the industry and learning about how far you can flex your skills. It <\/span>will<\/span><\/i> pay off – be patient!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you are booked on a project like an audiobook or a lengthy e-learning, sometimes that content can start to burn you out. (I\u2019m actually in this boat right now!). While I\u2019m working on audiobooks that maybe aren\u2019t something I\u2019d normally choose to read, and I start to feel bored or exhausted with the repetition of being in the booth for hours a day, it\u2019s important once again to take frequent breaks. I like to give myself small rewards – if I read through five chapters, I can take a 30 minute break for snacks and TV. It\u2019s important to take breaks on these longer projects so that your voice stays fresh and full of energy!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    I also like to pick favorite characters in the books I\u2019m reading. I\u2019ll find a side character or two that I give a particularly funny or challenging voice to, and I\u2019ll read the book feeling excited for that character to show up again. It really does help me bring life into what I\u2019m reading!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Social media can be EXHAUSTING. I love Twitter, for example – I keep up with a lot of my peers in the industry, follow other actors that inspire me, try interacting with casting directors and studios that tend to offer great advice online, and more. But sometimes I need to log off. Social media can start to feel like a winner\u2019s circle. When I see my peers posting about huge new roles they\u2019ve booked, sometimes I can start to feel down on myself. It\u2019s important to remember that social media isn\u2019t a good representation of real life. While it\u2019s good to support and be happy for other actors, what I\u2019m not seeing on Twitter is the amount of hours someone may have spent auditioning and getting rejections before finally catching a big break.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    If social media makes you feel burnt out or less successful than other actors, then it\u2019s time to turn it off. Maybe even delete the app! Everyone in this career works at their own pace. Someone might only be jumping into this career in retirement – they shouldn\u2019t compare themselves to a 30-something year old that\u2019s been grinding out auditions for years. It doesn\u2019t change my value as an actor if someone else is having their big break. Please remember this! <\/span>
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    \n<\/span>Sometimes burnout is a bit more literal! As we finally drop into Fall temperatures here in Boston, I realize how exhausting it was to record all summer. Those home studios can get toasty. That literal burnout can also lead to metaphorical burnout for me! I would dread going in to record every day knowing I\u2019d be drenched in sweat by the first audition. Please drink lots of water, drape a cold wet washcloth over your shoulders, and maybe even bring in an ice pack to keep you (and your computer) cool! <\/span>
    \n<\/span>
    \n<\/span>If I haven\u2019t said it enough, if you\u2019re feeling burnout, your first action should be to take a break! Please take care of yourself, spend time doing things you love that reinvigorate you. Stay hydrated. And dedicate time to the parts of voice-over work that you love the most!<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Check out our free PDF with pro-tips from real working voice-over actors here<\/a>!<\/p>\n

    Want to learn more about voiceover? Signup for our introductory VO webinar.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Like most any other career, burnout can come for even the most enthusiastic of voice-over artists. Feeling overworked and exhausted, apathetic towards parts of your day that used to excite you, or even like you\u2019ve hit a wall in terms … <\/p>\n

    Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2748,"featured_media":20166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"slim_seo":{"description":"Burnout can happen in any field, and voiceover is no exception. Listed to Hannah Trusty give her best advice on avoiding this fate!","title":"Avoiding Burnout in Voice-Over - Such A Voice"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"popup":[],"class_list":["post-16987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-in-vo","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"mfb_rest_fields":["title"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2748"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16987"},{"taxonomy":"popup","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suchavoice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/popup?post=16987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}