Using Humor to Overcome Burnout
Do you feel hopeless? All stressed out? Are you fatigued? Don’t want to get out of bed to go to work? If so, you might be suffering from burnout.
Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams describes burnout in the medical industry as “a state in which people are unfulfilled by their work and are insufficiently rejuvenated. They find themselves giving too much for too long; then something snuffs out the joy and thrill of helping others.”
Dr. Beverly Potter say’s, “Burnout is a malaise of the spirit in which motivation, that mysterious force that gets us moving, is damaged or even destroyed. Job burnout could be called job depression.”
So how do we overcome burnout?
I believe that you have to acknowledge the fact that you have to make some changes. When you feel burned out you are in rut. In order to get out of a rut you have to make a conscious effort. Do something different. Don’t try to make big changes at first that may fail. Quite often when we are down we try to do too much, making us feel even more hopeless. Start with small changes where you can have some success. Celebrate your success. When something doesn’t work don’t get discouraged look at it as a learning process.
Incorporate humor and laughter into your life. When we are suffering from burnout we tend to take everything too seriously. This is when you need to find more and more humor in your life. Not only will the laughter help reduce your stress, but humor can give you a different perspective. Make a game out of your work. Look up jokes that apply to what you are trying to do. Think how your favorite sit-com would handle this project. Remember those old “I love Lucy” shows where Lucy and Ethel would work in a chocolate factory and couldn’t keep up with the assembly line. How would they respond to what you are trying to do?
I find myself getting into a rut when I start trying too hard and taking myself too seriously. Putting a little fun and humor into the task at hand helps to alleviate the tension that stifles my creativity and the ability to accomplish my goal.