compliments of
FutureVisionsSM
creating sustainable results in growth and performance
What went right: When we are
burning out, it is easy to feel like a failure. Yet we are talking here of
success stories, in the sense that we have given, achieved, held together and
cared for the people and situations we have been involved with.
What went wrong?: It is what went
right that went wrong. As in the case of social evolution, our underlying
personal direction is positive, but working it out can lead us temporarily into
conflict, confusion and burnout. The process of evolution is always uneven, with
one part of us ahead of another. When our situation changes, it challenges these
stuck places and old attachments, and we can temporarily lose our way. If we
take a more long-term perspective, we will see that a wrong turning every now
and then is part of how we recognize the right path when we get back to it.
Burnout is one of those times when we take a wrong turning and stay on it too
long.
Burnout happens
because we don’t listen to ourselves. Or we tell ourselves we have “no choice”.
Notice what you feel. Notice how the thought that you may be burning out – or
already burnt out, makes you feel. Notice also all the other thoughts and
feelings that have been building up while you’ve been rushing around ignoring
them. Allow the feelings to come in and just listen. If they feel painful, just
keep breathing and keep listening. Don’t do anything about them, just listen.
These feelings have
been knocking at your door for a long time. In the words of the twelfth-century
poet Rumi: “Meet them at the door laughing… for each has been sent as a guide
from beyond.”
Are you willing to
stop this mad pace before you burn out completely? This doesn’t mean giving up
your job or your relationship. It means stopping the pressure to keep going in
the old way, just letting go of all the strings you are holding and resting in
yourself. Learning to say no gracefully, and saying it frequently, for at least
the next year.
Please do. You are
dangerous to others as well as to yourself. You need to stop hurtling towards
destruction.
Give yourself a
break.
Save your life.
