10 January 2011

Recognize the Road to Burnout -spiritually

It's important to catch it sooner rather than later: for your own good and the good of your nearest and dearest -they're the ones who suffer the most from it in the early stages; believe me. So do check this article out and file it away for future use if necessary.
Running on Empty? How to Recognize When You're on the Road to Burnout | Psychology Today
Among the things that it points up as potential signs are these:
"Psychological signs, such as loss of enjoyment for activities once enjoyed; sadness; excessive anxiety or worry; panic attacks; feeling trapped without options for relief or escape; loss of motivation; loss of concentration; emotional hypersensitivity at seemingly inconsequential things; feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, or pessimism; and/or increasing feelings of irritability, frustration, or anger"

For Christian (and from experience) I would say that some of these impact your prayer life especially loss of enjoyment of activities once enjoyed, loss of motivation. Some of the other things are the kinds of things that show up in self-examination and the danger is to misdiagnose them by simply telling yourself (and God) that you've done and thought wrong. Thing is it may not be the wrong you think. The real sin may be lack of self care so that you don't have the energy to give properly to others and to other-care. That's not ot say that you have an excuse to be irritable (or whatever); just that the response should be to take appropriate care of yourself (and keep the spirit of the law on Sabbath) rather than simply confessing and moving on ... to repeat again because you're still tired and worn down. The sin then is to continue in the burnout patterns rather than seeking to sabbath.

test yourself. Leave work on a Friday and commit to treating yourself to a relaxing, stress-free weekend. Don't bring any work home, sleep in on Saturday and Sunday morning, eat right, and occupy your time with activities that you rarely allow yourself to enjoy (yes, I know you're busy, but trust me--make the time).

If you wake up on Monday morning feeling exactly the same as you did before your time off, you're probably going to have to make some pretty significant changes in your lifestyle to turn things around.

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