What Happened Here!?
Oh. My. Word….
I haven’t written here in weeks. It’s been a trip, folks. A messy, wild trip. About three weeks ago, I was sideswiped by all kinds of craziness in my life. Nothing earth-shattering or devastating, just a million little distractions and “situations” that made things, well, complicated. Before I go any further, let me just say that I’m fine. No worries. But for the past few weeks, I have been swept away in the busyness. And in the process I achieved some record high burnout. Seriously, I haven’t felt this level of burnout in years.
During what I will now lovingly refer to as “the great meltdown of 2010,” I needed to focus all the energy on had on family, work, and some speaking gigs that I have on the calender. That meant that Twitter, Facebook, most of my personal email, and the blog (my baby) had to go. I thought about posting that I was going on sabbatical, but I didn’t want the temptation to write more. I needed to keep first things first.
I am finally starting to feel like myself again. Most of the life stressors that had built up have been addressed, sorted through, and reordered, and for the most part life is back to normal. Praise God! Several of you have been praying for me. If that’s you, thank you so much! God is good. And faithful. So, after a few weeks off and a lot of time spent in prayer and meditation, I’m back. It feels good… I’ve missed you all!
Even though I haven’t been blogging I have been taking notes on all kinds of newsworthy things that I’ve wanted to write about over the last week or two so there will be some good stuff coming up this week. :) Also, I’ll post Your Best Blog Now over the weekend because I haven’t visited your blogs in the last few weeks either.
Now for good news…
As I pushed myself to refocus, I spent a lot of time praying, listening to worship music, singing, and thinking about the things of God. During one of those times I was reminded of an old Hallmark gift book called God is Everywhere that my Aunt Peg had when I was a little girl. I loved that book. I loved the mustard yellow, textured cover. I loved the Precious Moments-like illustrations. I loved the subtle reminders that God lives everywhere that we live. You can find him in churches, in fields of flowers, in soft breezes, and in sunny afternoons. Over the past few weeks I found God living in the quiet moments, lovingly reminding me that I need to slow down, take rest, breathe deep, and enjoy him.
For a moment I thought that God was being silent. Then I remembered that God is everywhere and that when I am being still, when I acknowledge that He is God, he will reveal himself in the quiet spaces of my life.
God is Everywhere was published in 1968 and has been out of print for years. My Aunt Peg let me have her copy when I was about six years old, and I cherished it. I lost is somewhere along the way. I was so excited when I googled it today and found it on Amazon for $0.02! Yay me!!!
Have you experienced burnout? How do you deal with burnout?
P.S. If you emailed me in the past three weeks I got it and will get back to you soon. Promise!
I'm pretty crafty. When I'm “experiencing burnout” I create something. There's some small victorious feeling that overcomes you when you create something from nothing.
I love that you described it as a “small victorious feeling”. I like that :)
I love it when I find great books that I remember from my childhood…..especially for $.02 – That is just awesome!
It is good to have you back, and to have that reminder that God is everywhere. I needed that one today.
Oh. My. Goodness. I have that exact same book from my childhood!! Unfortunately, my brother got to it one day when he was really small (2 or 3) and wrote inside it and poked holes in the pages with red pencil. But, still, I can't believe that we had the exact same book as children!
Catherine
I'm glad you're back! I missed you. :)
Yes, I've experienced burnout. When it happened, it was so bad I ended up quitting my job. Of course, the story is more complicated than that, but it was that extreme.
The less extreme kind of burnout, though, happens, too. And in those cases, I need a day (or afternoon or hour – depending on the situation) to just veg out. Do nothing. Read a book. Watch crappy TV. And sleep. Sleep usually helps. But when that doesn't work? I know things are a little more serious and I need a break. Not necessarily a quit-my-job break, but a couple days off and away from the real world.
I'm glad you're feeling better!!!
I know when I'm in burnout mode when I can feel my nerves throughout my body. Stress/anxiety/restlessness/sleepless nights and so forth.
For me, it's hard to unwind, but I have to go to a place where I can detox from the work-based challenges I face.
I was off of work for nearly 11 months (medical leave the first 3 months, 9 months of “unenjoyment”.) I used part of that time to rest and reflect, but having been back to work for a few months now, I haven't yet learned how to manage stress.
I think with today's constant connections (iPhones/BlackBerry phones, Facebook/Twitter, etc..) we don't ever really disconnect anymore.
From time to time, we need to Reboot (See a post from Godly Sheep: http://godlysheep.com/2010/08/10/reboot/)
Other times, we need to find the power button and just turn things off for a while.
Glad you did that.
Blessings!
i am big time burning out. or maybe is it just stressing out. either way, i am feeling more insane than usual.
Welcome back! I have experienced burnout… it was the reason I moved from urban DC to rural (and I mean rural) Georgia for five years. It took me two solid years to even start building a new, more balanced routine, and then another year to make it stick. Then the healing began…
After five years, God moved me back up to DC, but this time I've learned a bit better how to pace myself and know some of the signs. Something about being stuck in rural Georgia with only Jerry's Bait and Tackle nearby has the ability to refine you :)
How crazy though… I've now had this “finding God in the everyday moments” convo twice in the last 2 hours ;)
I love the DC area! I didn't realize that's where you live :)
Still praying, my friend. Love you!
So true about never being disconnected anymore! I ended up needing one more week after I posted this. It's been nice :)
Watching crappy TV is a cure all! I've watched a lot of it this month for sure.
I love that book! It just came in the mail this weekend. I'm so happy :)