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Burnout is a serious condition caused by extreme long-term stress in a person’s professional (or personal) life
At the same time, sometimes a challenging career, especially one that you love, takes a lot out of you.
As a social worker, administrator, and the poster child for only just barely avoiding what was absolutely impending social worker burnout, this is what I’ve learned:
The only one expecting me to work all those hours was me
I answered my phone 24/7
People even commented to each other about it. “Call her at 3:00 in the morning and she’ll answer on the first ring sounding like she’s been awake for hours.” The truth is I probably had been awake for hours, especially in later years, because inability to sleep is one of the warning signs of burnout.
Yes, the immediate response was often appreciated, but a response a few hours later, such as would have been expected of most humans, would have been fine as well.
If I do just a few hours of work on Sunday evening it will make Monday easier
Well, yes, I didn’t have to then do those tasks on Monday, but Monday wasn’t easier. It was just filled with different tasks. And I missed out on Sunday evening.
It’s not a good time to be away from the office, so it’s ok if I lose some vacation days this year
The work went on while others took vacations. The work will go on while I take one. If the place falls apart while I’m gone, it will most likely be a sign that I’m not a very good manager, which isn’t true. I will not be losing any vacation this year and wish I had taken my own advice long ago.
It is really good to have a career about which you’re passionate. I’ve been fortunate to be doing something that I believe to be meaningful for all these years. But doing it, whatever it is, to the exclusion of other things in your life isn’t a good idea.
Sometimes we think: I’ll just do this for a brief period, get ahead, and then things will settle down. They won’t. There will just be more to do and you’ll be the one that everyone assumes will do it because, well, you’ve trained them (whoever “they” are) to think that way.
And even if no one else expects it from you, you expect it of yourself. Believe me, I know.
Sometimes we think: I’m the only one who can do it right. I’m not. I’m good at my job, but others are just as good. And even if someone else isn’t quite as good as you, there’s something to be said for being good enough.
I didn’t give up everything else completely. I have always sung in a choir and have continued to do so. But I was the only one arriving at rehearsal still in my work clothes and not having gone home first.
I was uncomfortable and, by the end, usually shaking with hunger. Then, of course, I’d go home and eat the wrong thing because I couldn’t wait long enough to prepare something appropriate. Are you seeing a pattern?
I am pleased to say that, for the last several weeks, I have gone home before going to rehearsal. I didn’t even realize what a difference that would make. I plan to make a habit of it.
In March of 2020, when we were hit with a worldwide pandemic, things got worse
I was the director of two large residential rehab programs, at four sites in two counties, and all the people that we served were medically fragile (i.e. exactly the people that COVID-19 was killing).
That was legitimately stressful (fortunately, everyone stayed healthy). But I didn’t recognize how stressed I was until I was having trouble controlling my anger at people who were being paid to shelter at home, and yet had some opinion about how we were to keep people safe.
Some of this anger was reasonable and warranted (check out Handling Anger at Work), but my own reactions were stronger than necessary and a definite sign that I might be on the way to real burnout.
I am now the director of only one of those programs, a full-time job in and of itself, but much more doable. I feel better and, oh, right, went back to blogging, which I had completely stopped for several months because I was so emotionally, as well as physically, drained.
I’m very good at what I do, and I don’t have to do the work of two people in order to prove it.
As noted above and in 5 Warning Signs of Burnout on the Job, burnout is serious. Having had a close call with it myself, I would like to offer a FREE WORKBOOK to help you assess your own situation. Please feel free to get your workbook below.
