I want teachers to feel better. I want teachers to learn the concepts that helped me grow up and into the person I am today. A person who believes that burnout has nothing on me. I laugh in the face of burnout. Burnout has no face. Burnout is only a figment of my imagination. I can obliterate burnout with a firehose or blow it out in a single breath. That’s the story I tell myself, which helps me feel empowered. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
You see, I have a very specific view on teacher burnout and, to sum it all up, my stance is that burnout is not something that falls out of the sky and hits you or knocks on our door unexpectedly only to invite itself in. Burnout is not something that is required or “getting worse every year.” Burnout has only recently been identified as diagnosable by the American Institute of Stress.
“The new diagnosis is defined as a “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions: 1) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; 2) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and 3) reduced professional efficacy. Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.”
Link to article: https://www.stress.org/burnout-is-now-an-official-medical-condition
Another online definition of burnout included the word “disengagement” as it described burned out employees not having an interest or motivation in their work anymore. It seems very definitive, very final. And disengagement, in my view, is a decision. Its not something that just happens to us without our permission.
Now, if anyone listening is experiencing something that you feel needs the attention of a professional, I encourage you to make those powerful decisions for yourself. Talk to your school’s counselor, your district crisis team or your doctor. I’m a life coach, not a medical professional or therapist.
So in this episode, you won’t find me retelling a story of how burnout is so awful and only getting worse. Instead, you’ll probably hear more about how you are the one in charge here. You are the one who can change your story. You are the one who creates burnout with the way you choose to think and believe about your current situation.
There, I said it.
What we may experience are the symptoms of burnout but no one has one universal definition of what burnout actually is, which is why it’s just a story at the end of the day. This may sound like I’m belittling or minimizing burnout itself. Well, actually, that’s my intention.
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