Burnout

While chatting with my sister-in-law about work, we hit upon an interesting topic:  burnout.  So many of us experience it, and yet, we are so under-prepared for how to combat it.  In some fields, preventing burnout is built in, but for most, we are told to just "suck it up" and "work through it".  Of course these tidbits of advice do not work at all, b/c what we really need is a genuine break, a vacation, some time away from our jobs, or our kids, or our spouses, or sometimes all three.  Why is it that we are not taught to recognize early signs of burnout?  Why are we ashamed of not "cutting it" and admitting we need to take a few mental health days?

Our society of superheroes, of pushing ourselves to standards of perfection that are just unattainable, is killing us.  We are not super, we're just us, but damnit, we are magnificent anyway.  Perhaps some would use the excuse of burnout for laziness, but for the most part, combating burnout would improve efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity.  We could be better, so much better, if we just had the tools to take better care of ourselves, if we didn't push ourselves beyond our limits, if we maintained healthy boundaries, if we protected  ourselves.  

I have no ideas of how to actually fix this problem, but there are plenty of people smarter than me, who must already be thinking about it.  In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my vacation, take some time to do a few minutes of yoga, listen to some music, and just be.  I hope you make some time to do what you need to make yourself better.