Some days, simply avoiding stupid is a win. The first two are still part of my long term plan, but one day I think it would be fun to have a sports car. I told myself, Carey, don’t:īy the grace of God, I did none of the three. So I had this daily conversation with myself that boiled down to five words: Just don’t do anything stupid.įor me, that meant not doing three things. My emotions made me think I would always be this bad. I remember having read enough and listened to enough about mid-life crises and burnout to know that people make stupid decisions when they’re burnt out. When you’re burning out, your heart messes with your head you lose the ability to think straight. That’s a sign of depression, and it’s also a sign you’re burnt out. One of the hardest aspects of burnout for me was that nothing seemed to satisfy me. I hope they can help you see the edge before you careen past it. Here are 11 things I personally experienced as I burned out. So how do you know if you’re more than just tired? How do you know if you’re burning out? Maybe you’re right on the edge of the cliff right now. I’m writing this because burnout seems to be an epidemic among leaders and, increasingly, among people in general. The good new is, there is life after burnout (my next post will be on ways to recover from burnout). The last 10% took two or three more years.
#Msi burn recovery taking too long full#
It took, honestly, a few years to really feel full stride again, but I recovered to 80-90% of full strength in the first year. Then with the love and assistance of a great wife, board, leadership team, close friends, a counselor, and a very gracious God, I slowly began to recover. I spiralled down for about 3 months before I hit bottom.
In caring for others I had not adequately cared for my heart or soul, or let others who wanted to care for it do so.
Who really knows what corrodes the soul to the point where it deflates?īut I’d say the most likely candidate for what derailed me is what I’d call emotional burnout. Looking back, the diagnosis is still a little elusive and mysterious. That was the last thing I wanted to happen to me. And sometimes, tragically, they were done – hope never fully returned and they didn’t ever become the person they were before. What terrified me is that I knew many in ministry and life had gone down this road before me and some of them never made it back.įor them, ministry was done. It was so disorienting I didn’t know what to do. I had been tired before, but I had never truly been burned out. Like most people who experience burnout, it felt like a strange land. My motivation and passion dropped to zero.
#Msi burn recovery taking too long how to#
People who weren’t that close to me didn’t realize it was happening.īut I knew something inside me had broken, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I never lost my faith (I just couldn’t feel it). I could get out of bed every day, and I did.Īs a Christian, I kept praying and reading my bible. Perhaps it wasn’t a stereotypical depression. In that fateful summer eleven years ago, I found the edge, and as I was falling, I knew this time I realized I couldn’t pull myself back.Īlthough I’m not a person who suffers from depression, I’m sure I would have gone to the doctor and received a diagnosis of clinical depression that summer when I fell off the edge. That approach worked just fine until the summer of 2006, when it didn’t. I would get tired – out of balance – but when I saw the edge, I could always pull myself back.
People had always warned me I would burn out. The challenge is, once you cross the line, it’s so difficult to get back.Įleven years ago, I entered into the darkest period of my life. There’s a fine line between being tired and actually burning out. Ever wonder if you’re burning out? I know a lot of leaders and people who wonder that.
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