It has been said: you teach (or write) what you need to learn. This is certainly true for me. Growing up in an anxious family system, being peaceful, calm and centered does not come naturally and is not a constant state of being. In a sense, these weekly notes are reminders to my own stressed self. A buildup of unattended-to stress cascades my best self into a vortex of grouchiness, judgmental thoughts, and snark. Perhaps this happens to you as well.
Dr. Joan Borysenko, author of Fried: Why You Burn Out and How to Revive, describes her sense of burnout in a raw and vulnerable fashion: “Sleep is elusive; and my muscles ache, my back hurts, and I’ve had another string of migraines. Like Humpty Dumpty, I feel irretrievably broken. Something vital, perhaps my life force itself, seems to have gone missing. I’m emotionally exhausted and don’t give a damn about work or most people. I have nothing left to give and very little interest in receiving. I just want to be left alone.”
I would venture a guess that many of us have lived through Joan’s experiences of burnout. I know I have. “Feeling fried (her word for burnout) is an alarm that life has veered seriously off course. It’s shorthand for losing our way individually and culturally in a world spinning so fast that it feels like we’re about to be launched into outer space.”
Over the next few weeks, we will explore burnout and its cousin, demoralization. We will look at the similarities and differences, cause and effect. Most importantly, we will seek to uncover some best practices on the way to healing our own tender and amazing souls.
Create the weekend you want to experience,
Andrea
Andrea Tatley 