Feeling Burned Out? Find Your Sabbath. Deep Rest—and Renewal—is Possible.

Michie · Jul 12, 2024

Our motivation for working and resting is more important than we think.

Do you feel burned out?

It’s that feeling of lethargy. A tiredness that is deep in the bones.

It is different from physical tiredness. A good night’s sleep will not cure it. It is a sort of tiredness not only or primarily of the body and mind. It is a tiredness of the soul that defies simple explanation or solution. When we suffer the effects of burnout, we yearn for rest and recuperation, but it seems impossibly out of reach.

At some point in our lives, most of us feel this way. If we do not feel burned out at the moment, it’s likely that we have felt so in the recent past. Or we will feel so again in the future. Or we will at least be in contact with those who do.

Exhaustion: The New Status Symbol

Burnout is a fairly novel term that has become more popular in our day. In part, I think, because we live in a world where exhaustion is the new status symbol.

If you feel exhausted, it must mean that you are accomplishing a lot. And if you are accomplishing a lot, that must make you a more impressive and “better” person. And who doesn’t want to feel more impressive, better, and special?

We can measure this sort of busy-ness in different ways. An attorney can measure it in the number of hours billed per week. A financier can measure it in the number of deals closed or clients acquired. A student can measure it in the number of extracurriculars attended or the quality of grades earned.

All of these objectives can be good so long as they exist in proper proportion to the other goods of life. But often the busy work of life can exceed its due proportion and become an end in itself. Where does this drive come from?

External Validation as a Driver of Burnout

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