Woman creates a ‘dopamine menu’ of hacks to help fight burnout – insisting her simple tips will help anyone to feel ‘joyful and grounded’
A young woman has created a ‘dopamine menu’ that she claims can help combat burnout.
US-based Kristen West, of The Centered Life Co, used TikTok to share her simple hack to avoid exhaustion from overexertion.
She presented her system – inspired by a traditional food menu of appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts – which lists activities that make her feel “happy, grounded and connected to her body.”
The content creator also revealed that some of her favorite recreational tasks include walking with music, swimming and dancing.
US-based Kristen West, of The Centered Life Co, took to TikTok to share her simple hack to avoid exhaustion from overexertion
She presented her system – inspired by a traditional food menu of appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts – which lists activities that make her feel “happy, grounded and connected to her body.”
In the clip, which has been viewed more than 1.8 million times to date, Kristen acted out scenarios, as the story explained: “Somehow I I forgot what to do for fun, so I just scroll in the void for an hour.”
She said she decided to create a “dopamine menu” to combat it ‘understimulated brain.’
The employee said, “Somewhere in the last two weeks of working all the time and then feeling burned out, I stopped doing things that really make me happy.”
Kristen gave more details about how the dopamine menu works: “There are four categories.
“There are ‘appetizers’, quick boosts of joy that you can do in less than 10 minutes, ‘starters’, the passions that really cheer you up but take a little more time, ‘side dishes’ that you tackle at the same time as a boring task to make it more stimulating, and ‘desserts’ that are our usual activities, such as social media.’
She described the latter category as ‘nice in moderation, but too much of it can make us dirty.’
Kristen explained that keeping the menu accessible would serve as a “helpful visual reminder of what really fulfills us when we’re feeling down and tempted to eat brain desserts, if you will.”
And the clip, which was later shared on Instagram, was quickly flooded with reactions from other social media users who remained bitterly divided.
Kristen said that “appetizers” (left) are “quick boosts of joy that you can do in less than 10 minutes” and that “appetizers” (right) are “passions that really lift your spirits, but take a little more time.”
The content creator explained that ‘sides’ (left) and activities ‘you can do at the same time as a boring task to make it more stimulating’, with ‘desserts’ (right) being the ‘usual go-tos like social media’
In one camp there were those who loved the idea, as one viewer wrote: ‘Are you a real angel? I think you might be!
“Each of your tips are so helpful and such a light bulb for my brain!”
Someone else commented: ‘FINALLY SOMETHING USEFUL ON INSTAGRAM.’
And a third added: ‘This is super useful. Recently I was overwhelmed with work, social contacts and found little to no time for myself. After things settled down, I asked myself, “How much fun is fun?”
‘And that thought made me think about the function of the things we do and how we can organize those things better.
“And this little dopamine diagram is a handy tool to help. Thanks for sharing!’
The clip, which was later shared on Instagram, was quickly flooded with reactions from other social media users who remained bitterly divided
But others seemed a little less convinced.
One exclaimed, “Me: Oh, this is so cool. What a good idea. Me too: *continues doom scrolling.*
Another person added: ‘My menu would involve putting away the electronics and going outside and forgetting about the menu itself.’
‘I really like this, but I’m wondering if there’s a way to adapt this tool so it’s a little less diet culture-y.
“As if I don’t want to be a slander here! I know this is probably not the intention, but this does play into harmful narratives of “good food vs. bad food” and “fat = bad,” a third person noted.