Anyone else feeling the burn? Or has burnout already arrived for you? The 100 degree temps this week in Indiana have me thinking about heat when wandered my mind back to a wonderful prayer and encouragement from a friend who is concerned about me and the burn she sees me experiencing. I want to share with you as a way for me to ruminate on this for myself.
I don’t know about your personal experiences, but I have had a challenging few years with back injury, back surgery, pandemic, physical therapy, job change, elections, interrupted colonoscopy, recovering from COVID-19, inflation, stressful events in the news, and other things I will not mention here. Along with all of that is the daily responsibility and love of caregiving for my wife. We are in partial isolation again as my wife struggles to recover from COVID-19 with her immunosuppressed status. It is extra difficult for her body to fight off COVID-19 and to build immunities. So things have been extra challenging at home.
I am trying to pace myself, like all of you, but I am feeling the burn more pronounced in recent weeks and perhaps these are the early stages of burnout finally coming…or not. I don’t know yet. I noticed it most in my hobbies. I especially struggle to feel creative right now.
Dostoevsky states how I am feeling so well…
You will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
I am acknowledging to you, and myself, that I am experiencing the burn and know where it leads. But I also know there is help and healing available. My family, friends, and co-workers have been such a blessing and continue to show their love for my wife and I. They will be a significant element of my healing as I recover from the burn.
Are you feeling the burn? How are you working through it? Does writing things down or talking about them help you?