Understanding Burnout: Signs and Spiritual Solutions

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Ever feeling like your walk is all uphill with a heavy pack on your back?

Beatitudes for the Burned Out, Medium Article description of burn-out

“Burnout is not a sin.

Burnout is not a moral collapse.

Burnout is the natural, holy ache of a soul that was asked to bear too much for too long.

It is your spirit, rising up like a prophet, crying out, “This load is too heavy.”

It is your body, honest and brave, refusing to keep sprinting down a road paved with impossible expectations.

Burnout is what happens when sacred things — your time, your trust, your tenderness — are spent like pocket change in a marketplace that never stops ringing the bell for more.”

Bri-anne Swan

The purpose of this post is to provide insightful and practical video resources for burn out. Have you experienced a major traumatic event in your life? Perhaps you’ve walked through several complex trauma events from negative childhood events. Complex trauma increases the chances of experiencing severe burnout. The purpose of Words of Grace and Hope is to integrate emotional health and spiritual well being. Tim Fletcher gives an excellent explanation of burn-out in this video he released

One aspect that really spoke to me in this explanation was the impact of bad teaching! I address this from a theological stand-point later in this post.

Common Threads

The following threads have emerged in my dealings with burn-out. First, weak personal boundaries and allowing others to take advantage or manipulate situations (people pleasing). I was foolish in trying to navigate ministry and full time employment while trying to “settle in” both situations. I had too many responsibilities and demands–many of which I placed on myself. Often we are harder on ourselves than others. Perfectionism and other maladaptive thought patterns leads to increasing stress. Insightful resource on perfectionism:

https://www.robyntamanahatherapy.com/blog/born-or-made-the-root-cause-of-perfectionism-and-how-to-overcome-it

Negative, toxic people impact feeling of well-being: boundaries are absolutely necessary. Second, employment situations with inconsistent &poor communication and consistently changing expectations from superiors leads to chaos. Gaslighting, lack of support, and other forms of manipulation from management leads to conflict and issues.

The Life after Layoff Youtube Channel has helpful resources for job related issues.

Third, superiors (or coworkers) who consistently disrespect others will continue the behaviors after being confronted. In a right to work state, it’s difficult to hold these low quality employers legally responsible for their negative impacts on people. The best strategy is to identify these environments and develop an exit strategy. If you confront the issue(s) and nothing is done then it’s time to move forward. The longer a person remains in toxic situations the more damage. Jennifer Brick explains the long term impacts:

Toxic workplace environments will lead to burn out! Tim Fletcher identifies 21 Signs of Burn-out.

Signs of Burn-out

Tim’s videos are helpful as he relates the issues of complex trauma to burn-out. It’s important to understand the link between previous traumas and present difficulties. Knowing the root of the issue is one of the first steps to beginning the recovery journey!

Overcoming and Recovery

Spiritual Aspects of Burnout

Reference Article

https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-burnout.html

God provides rest for His people! Often people will feel guilty for seeking self-care when the truth is that God desires for us to find rest in Him. If Jesus invested time in prayer and communion with His Heavenly Father, then how can anyone get by without time in His presence?

Two Spiritual Causes of Burn-out

Burnout is often the result of self-reliance. The self-reliant take upon themselves the role of savior rather than trusting God to accomplish His own will. They begin to see every need as their call, rather than asking for God’s wisdom and direction. . .

Another cause of burnout is a lack of self-care. Those who do not take care of themselves fail to understand how much God values them. They fail to accept His rest and His love for them, instead martyring themselves on the altar of pleasing others. They may sacrifice sleep, nourish their bodies poorly, over-extend their schedules, or neglect their needs in other ways. Whether it’s a lack of self-care or an insistence on self-reliance, burnout stems from a lack of understanding of the character of God and His expectations for our lives.

Past traumatic events will often distort how we view ourselves, others, and ultimately God. Do we view God as a loving, perfect Heavenly Father or an angry, wrathful judge waiting to punish every transgression? God describes Himself as being Holy, Righteous, and opposed to all forms of evil in His Word. He also reveals Himself to be Kind, Compassionate, and Forgiving for those who trust in Him and seek to walk in His ways.

The statement “burn out stems from a lack of understanding of the character of God and His expectations for our lives” is the fundamental root of spiritual issues. When our perceptions of God become tarnished, we need to realign ourselves. Burn out reveals that we are seeking to do more than what we are capable!

Personal experience-learned in ministry and education: I couldn’t fix people or straighten out situations on my own. It wasn’t my role to save every young person or solve every problem that came my way. The call of Christ is to follow Him and point others in His direction: not save the world!

Experiencing burn-out is a warning that something is seriously wrong in our lives. As Tim Fletcher states in his video “The Basics of Burnout and Complex Trauma”, burn out is our body and mind’s way of keeping us safe. When we start to feel numb, indifferent, or overly cynical then it’s time to start asking ourselves what is happening, what actions do we need to take, and seek professional treatment.

Burn-out and Personal Identity

Our identity is not drawn from the tasks we accomplish but from our relationship with Jesus.

We do the work He calls us to, and we do it with all our hearts, but we do not go beyond the limits He has set. We accept help from others because God has called us to community.

Source: Got Questions article referenced previously

The solution to burn-out: entering God’s rest

We recover from burnout by entering God’s rest. . .We avoid burnout the next time by staying in tune with God’s specific direction for our lives.

That means we consult Him about our schedules, we take time to care for ourselves, and we learn to depend on His strength to carry out our duties. . .

We accept His rest because it is the gracious gift of a loving and wise Father.

What does it mean to enter God’s rest?

Entering Into God’s Rest

Summary

Tim explains how that once a person experiences burn-out, then the likelihood of future burn-out episodes increases. If you can discern the early stages and take corrective measures, you can avoid the emotional, spiritual, and financial costs of burn-out.

There are consequences for burning out! Consider that burn out typically leads to depression and a host of other serious emotional and physical conditions. It’s important to seek professional assistance and begin to recover.

Image caption: Entering a place of refuge to reflect and refresh after a period of stress and frustration. Take a moment to daily reflect and renew yourself in God’s presence.