Prevent Burnout:  Are You At Risk?

Excerpted from of All Stressed Up and Everywhere to Go! Solutions to De-Stressing Your Life and Recovering Your Sanity

© Copyright 2011 by Relationship Resources. All Rights Reserved.

One of the most serious consequences of not adequately dealing with stress is burnout. It is caused by the accumulation of chronic stress that depletes energies. Those who are responsible to care for others and those who hold a strong commitment to serve God are in particular danger, although it can affect anyone.

What is burnout? It is extreme mental, spiritual and/or physical energy exhaustion caused by chronic, unrelieved stress.

We’ve heard people say, “I’d rather burn out than rust out.” Think about that saying. Either way you are out. Personally, we want to live our lives to the fullest to the very end. We don’t want to be out of the game of life—either by rusting out or burning out.

We can experience spiritual, emotional or physical burnout. Emotional and spiritual burnout often leads to physical burnout. Once a person gets to the state of burnout, it will take much longer to return to normal, than if the individual began working on it earlier.

Here are just a few of the causes of burnout (see All Stressed Up and Everywhere to Go! for an extended list):

1. High amounts of (or prolonged) stress

2. Too much work

3. Caring for others

4. Becoming overwhelmed by daily routine