5 Strategies to Prevent Burnout and Empower Yourself for Recovery
I came across an Instagram trend the other day on a topic I’m all too familiar with.
Burnout.
The WHO defines burnout like this:.
Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
- feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
- Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism relates to one’s job; and
- reduced professional efficacy.
Yep.
Several years ago I burned out as a pastor.
Thankfully, I lived to tell the tale.
Literally.
My new book Better After Burnout (working title) will be hitting shelves in a few short months.
I’m glad to see the topic discussed more frequently, because I cannot overstate the devastation burnout can cause in your life.
If you don’t deal with burnout in a timely and healthy manner, it will sow all manner of destructive behaviors in your life that could see you lose the things most precious to you.
Here are five strategies that I’ve learned (the hard way) that will empower you to prevent and recover from burnout.
I’ll be breaking this up into a few posts so you can take the time to chew on each.
#1 – Mind Your Feels
Ignatius encouraged Christians to be mindful of the emotional impact of their daily activities He used the terms “consolations” and “desolations” to categorize them. According to Ignatious consolations are those activities that fill one up, while desolations are ones that drain us dry.
While it is a pipe dream to remove all desolations from our lives, it is certainly helpful to be mindful of the activities and people that drain us and have as little to do with them as possible.
For example, I’ve learned that on Sunday evenings, when I’m crashing from a long day of spiritual leadership, if I just veg out and scroll through social media, I crash even more. What fills me up, however, is to get outside and take a walk along the waterfront, under the blue sky in my tree-lined neighborhood.
So ask yourself:
What are some activities that facilitate fulfillment in your life? What are some activities that you feel drain you?
Make a note of your answers.
I believe there are plenty of signals that we are headed down the path of burnout. But too often, we’re just not paying attention.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to spend a week journaling the “consolations” and “desolations” of each day. You can download this worksheet to help – consolations and desolations.
Who knows, even that might turn into a consolation.
I’ll be back next week for Strategy #2 Learn Your Personal Limits.