Beyond Burnout: Being and Doing

Read:  Matthew 11:28-30

 

“I just can’t take on anymore!  I am overwhelmed, over extended, at my wit’s end!”  In the busyness and complexities of modern life, I have heard so many people proclaim some variation of this statement.   Have you ever expressed, or at least felt, this sentiment in your life?  I have at different times.  I suppose we all have known “burnout” at some point.  It is when we are tired, frustrated, and just need to step aside for a time if we are going to maintain some level of sanity.

 

Sometimes burnout comes because we are physically tired.   We have been working, “doing”, for long periods of time and our bodies and souls just need rest.  Sometimes, though, burnout comes for other reasons, deeper reasons.  Maybe we are doing things, even good things, for the wrong reasons:  to allay guilt, to live up to someone else’s expectations, to please others, to try and fit in with what seems relevant or popular.  This kind of doing will leave us exhausted.  It will suck the joy out of our lives and leave us with a feeling of emptiness and frustration, simply because it is not coming from a place of passion.  It is important to recognize what kind of burnout we are experiencing at any given time.

 

This past week in worship, we talked about “Being and Doing”.  “Doing” is the activity, the actions, that we carry out as part of life.  “Being” refers to the deepest parts of the soul, who we are, who God made us to be.  They are both important.  We are probably better at “doing”.  However, “doing” without any sense of “being”, recognizing who we are or why we do certain actions will leave us burned out, exhausted, and wanting to step away.

 

As people of faith, we believe that our “being” is a deep connection with God.  It is who God created us to be, our truest self.  It is that divine seed, the image of God, in every person.  While Jesus certainly calls his followers to be a people of action, “doers of the word”, he also asks for the “doing” to come not from a place of busyness, self-promotion, or even people pleasing, but from a close connection with God, our inner “being”.  

 

A prayer book that I often use, This Day:  A Wesleyan Way of Prayer, has a line in it that makes me pause every time I read it:  “Could it be that the lack of joy we call ‘burnout’ is related to our neglect…of contemplation and conversation with the Divine, as we seek to aid others through our own strength and wisdom alone?”  

 

Perhaps one of the reasons that we experience burnout in life is because we have a lot of “doing” that is outside of our “being”.  We just get busy with a lot of things because they seem good or because someone else wants us to do them.  We don’t ask if this is something I am doing as part of a God-given passion, part of my inner being, my ongoing dialogue with God.  God does not call us to do everything, even everything that is good, but to act from our inner “being” and to use our unique gifts and passions in a meaningful way.  

 

To do this well, though, we must slow down enough to allow our “being” to grow, to be in dialogue with God through things like prayer, worship, study, and silence.  We must listen in order to discern the unique “doing” God has for us.

 

When Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest…” (Matthew 11:28), he is speaking to those of us experiencing burnout.  He is inviting, us to turn to our “being”, to connect with him, to rest in him.  As we do this, we find balance between “being” and “doing”, and we find life beyond the burnout.  Then, we are better able to know the unique “doing” that God wants for us and in that doing we will find life and joy.  

 

Where are you experiencing burnout?  What type of burnout is it?  How can you stop “doing” long enough to attend to your “being”?