This resonated deeply with me, having experienced burnout while working for a homelessness charity before moving into EA.
On reflection, I came to realise that I had this assumption, something like “you only take a sick day if you are literally unable to work due to illness”. While taking a sick day won’t resolve the mounting issues of a march toward burnout, I do think this points at something significant in the attitude towards work that I held at the time. In the end, I didn’t take any time off work until I literally could not make myself work.
The part of your piece that most closely describes my personal experience with burnout is the following: ”And then one day I came into the office, tried to start working, and simply could not. The experience was like the strings of a puppet being cut, some connection between will and action had been severed. I could form the intention to work, but nothing happened. No movement. No engagement. Just stillness.”
While I knew I was struggling, I continued to ignore the signals. I kept working, not taking time off and, more importantly, not doing any of the kinds of preventative work you describe in your article. I kept on going, head down, until I could not make myself open my emails one morning. I then had a lot more work to do as a result. They say that prevention is better than the cure and I believe that to be especially true in cases of burnout.
This resonated deeply with me, having experienced burnout while working for a homelessness charity before moving into EA.
On reflection, I came to realise that I had this assumption, something like “you only take a sick day if you are literally unable to work due to illness”. While taking a sick day won’t resolve the mounting issues of a march toward burnout, I do think this points at something significant in the attitude towards work that I held at the time. In the end, I didn’t take any time off work until I literally could not make myself work.
The part of your piece that most closely describes my personal experience with burnout is the following:
”And then one day I came into the office, tried to start working, and simply could not. The experience was like the strings of a puppet being cut, some connection between will and action had been severed. I could form the intention to work, but nothing happened. No movement. No engagement. Just stillness.”
While I knew I was struggling, I continued to ignore the signals. I kept working, not taking time off and, more importantly, not doing any of the kinds of preventative work you describe in your article. I kept on going, head down, until I could not make myself open my emails one morning. I then had a lot more work to do as a result. They say that prevention is better than the cure and I believe that to be especially true in cases of burnout.