Dealing with burnout from work

[JJP]

Hi, I'm just looking for some advice with dealing with this at work.

Basically, I feel burnt out right now at work. If there's any official way to diagnose it, I haven't gone through it, but I'm not looking for an official diagnosis. All I know is that it's affecting my work where I'm starting to stop caring, and as much as I try to care more about work, I just can't get myself to do it. I'm feeling depressed about it, and I know something needs to change. Something I have decided to do is try to get a job back in the field that I went to college for, and I think that will help. However, in the meantime, I still need to deal with work here.

I have a meeting with my manager tomorrow about how to improve my work, and basically, as part of it, I want to try to ask for some time off just to deal with this. I haven't had a real vacation in the whole 3 1/2 years I've been here, beyond some mandated furloughs that I had to take last year. I've taken a day off here and there, but no extended time. The closest I had to that is when I took five days off earlier this year (not in a row, just a few at a time) to move from my parents' house to an apartment. That was over six months ago.

We're in our busy season right now, and because of my role, getting time off is extremely difficult because my boss is the only person I have to do my job when I'm out, and he's busy enough himself. When I tried to ask for a week off last year, it essentially kept getting reduced to the point that all it ended up being was an extra day off over the Labor Day weekend. I know I need some time off, but I just don't think I can get it.

What should I do here? If I were to mention to my boss that I'm feeling burned out, would he even listen or just brush it off as not working hard enough? I don't know how employers view the possibility of employees being burned out. Should I even try to ask for time off? Could that backfire and just make things worse?

I don't know what I should do, and could really use some advice.

Edit: I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I don't think it belongs in the mental health section necessarily, since that seems to be more for people dealing with established mental disorders, and I don't know if just feeling burned out falls into that. However, it's not necessarily Christian advice that I might be looking for, though I do want to keep it in a Christian perspective.

 

[Autumnleaf]

Tell your boss you need to take a week off in September or October. Ask boss which would be best for them and tell them you need it off.

 

[Pal Handy]

So you have time off coming but your boss won't give it to you?
Or is it at this time?

If he says not now, can you take it later?

If you can take it later, can you go on vacation? can you afford a nice trip?

Is a vacation enough at this stage?

You have the answers to these questions within yourself so all I can say
is pray and ask God for His help so that your life can have balance restored.

Do you go to church?

Do you have fellowship with other believers?

Can you enlist their help and advice?

You mentioned changing jobs, is that even possible in this economy?

Would the next job be willing to let you have a rest of extended vacation?

Pray and ask for God's help and direction as to what you
can do to change your situation and keep your sanity.

Would you be willing to make less money for a less stressful job?

You need to ask yourself these tough questions and to set a course
toward perhaps a more rewarding job that you love to do,
even if it means less pay, unless of course they are willing to pay more.

Whatever you do involve God in your decision making process,
ask Him to guide you and to bring peace back into your life.

Jesus was peacefully asleep in the boat when the storm came.
His disciple became alarmed and woke Him up.
Jesus arose and asked, "where is your faith"

Peace is not dependant on where we are or what we face but where our faith is placed.

Jesus was in the boat with them and so their faith should have been in Him all along.

Ask Jesus for His peace in the middle of your storms and have faith that
He is in the boat with you whenever you invite Him into your situation.

 

[eachallberg]

Think of it as not just your boss your working for, but G_d.
Stay strong and don't do anything wrong in their eyes.

If you don't like your job, you should quit and work for Christ.
There is no application to be sent out into the world to be an Apostle of the Lord.
Then you will be able to call him Lord and mean it.

G_d would be the greatest boss.

Peace.

 

[JJP]

Here's some answers to your questions.

I haven't requested any time off yet, but probably should soon. I don't have the money for a real vacation away from here and don't have anywhere I want to go, but I have an alternative that I like to do. I'm a big Milwaukee Brewers fan, and the last two years I've made plans to attend a complete series there. Two years ago, I just left work early two days and took one day off to attend the series. Last year, I just left work early one day and the other two games were on the weekend. I haven't made plans to do that this year, though. There's still time. A vacation wouldn't cure all of my problems at work, but it would at least help a bit.

I don't intend to quit my current job right now, but a change would be helpful. I went to college for a degree in Computer Science, specifically in programming. What I am doing right now is more database management and shipping coordination, which is not what I'm as good at. I can handle it, and I can do the work well, but I don't like it. I'm not a social person, but my job has me regularly talking to other companies, and I sometimes have to be mean to get things taken care of. I'm not that kind of person and I can't do it well. It may not be the best job market, but I have to try. There's one job I've had my eye on, a job that many of my friends have, and a job that would be ideal to utilize my skills. I can get a referral from one of them to try an apply, and even with that, my chances may not be good to actually get the job. However, I have to try.

I do regularly attend church, and regularly volunteer there one or two weekends a month. I'm involved with a small group Bible study there, as well as a medium size 20-something group. However, during the summer, both of these groups do not meet. It's generally because the church wants to give the leaders time off, but I have to admit that the resulting diminished time around other people does hurt. I have Christian friends that I hang around some of the time from these groups as well, even when the groups aren't meeting. My roommate is also a Christian, so I can talk to him about some things, but I don't often.

I have thought about a more God-centered job, but I don't think it would be for me. With my social problems, I'm best to find jobs in the background, where I'm not noticed much and can just do the background work that needs to be done. Programming is perfect for that. I will admit that my relationship with God hasn't been very strong lately, and it does need to get better. However, I can't ignore what's going on around me, and just trust that He will make it all better. What if this desire to change is from Him? There's a lot of questions going through my mind, and I still have a lot that I need to sort through.