It’s been a long 11 months, and the emotional exhaustion and burnout is real. I’m sure I’m not the only one having trouble sleeping, and of course that tends to make things worse.
Whatever the source of stress in your life, just trying to pretend it isn’t there is a sure recipe for trouble, sooner or later. I like to imagine it as trying to hold a large beach ball underwater – it takes a huge amount of energy, and in the end, it is bound to fail. Buoyancy will win every time.
The same is true of our emotions – especially fear and anger. There’s only so much we can do to keep them underwater, but eventually, once we have exhausted ourselves, they will pop back up. We may then find ourselves exploding over relatively minor things, or we may turn it on ourselves and get sick. Possibly both.
If you have been working on something that matters to you, and suddenly find yourself full of despair and just want to give up on it, maybe you are experiencing burnout. It is an occupational disease of activists and other enthusiasts, people who tend to jump into projects and put their heart and soul into them. There is only so long they can do that by themselves.
If they are able to build a community around them that is willing and able to take on some of the work and stress of the project, there is a good chance that they will escape burnout. But I have seen so many people of goodwill drop out of projects they care about because they felt that they were not adequately supported by the people around them. Of course, it’s the ones who are most enthusiastic that people forget to support, because they don’t seem to need it, until they suddenly do.
What can we do to avoid this burnout? Start by asking for help before you think you need it. That can be hard, especially for those of us who are impatient and just want to get things done. I’m sure you know the old saying – if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it! The problem is that sometimes we leave our community in the dust, and then we wonder why nobody is helping us.
A wise person in a conversation I was in quoted a Fisher River Elder, who said “We have so much to do, we must move slowly.”
That can be hard, but it may be the only way to avoid burnout.
What do you do to avoid burnout? I’d love to know.