"Burnout isn't just an occupational hazard limited to work. Whenever there's a gap between our ideal situation and the reality that we live in, the conditions are ripe for burnout." Joan Borysenko.
A dear friend sent me an article on "Compassion Fatigue". This is a topic I am familiar with because compassion fatigue is a hazard for mental health professionals, and I have attended several workshops on how to avoid it. But, her sending me the article caused me to think of an even more likely role in which to have compassion fatigue or burnout, and that is as a dementia caregiver. Another friend was relaying to me a story about a woman providing caregiving to her husband, along with an aide, and my friend related how bone tired the woman seemed. I saw a health practitioner today who is also providing caregiving to her mother, and she, too, appeared bone tired. Caregiver burnout. How do we avoid it?
Dr. Borysenko relates coming to terms with burnout (in her new book: Fried: Why you burn out and how to revive) and discovers it is pride which has caused her to become so task oriented that she was burned out. Whether it is pride or not, providing 24/7 caregiving to anyone is burnout waiting to happen.
Having too many things to do, and who doesn't as a dementia caregiver?, can cause us to let fall out of our life the very things that sustain us. For me that is prayer, exercise, fun, some unscheduled time, a sense I am contributing to something bigger than myself, human connections, quality sleep, massages, good nutrition, and creativity.
What sustains and replenishes you? It is critical that we take care of ourselves.
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