BURNOUT
Is it possible that the entire United States is suffering from burnout? The Planet?
Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.
As recently documented in past articles, I have been delving into my psyche to survive my own self-diagnosed burnout. Talking with my neighbors, in what would be considered less than a congenial atmosphere as the lone Democrat in my community, I am hearing statements and participating in conversations that support a hypothesis of total burnout.
This is happening in a predominantly Republican state. That says a lot. The burnout is assimilating all parties, genders, class-levels, and age groups, like the Borg. It cares not what you think or who you are, it wants to assimilate you.
The burnout is not about just one issue, either. There’s the Tool, unemployment, the attacks on Democracy, racism, children in cages, and the pandemic. You’ll notice there were several destructive actions that I left out. I had to because the list of transgressions would be the length of a full page. I’m just sayin’…
No one disagrees about the stress level hitting everyone on the planet right now. No one disagrees with the urgency in trying to remedy what is happening. No one disagrees that this will be the most important election in our history. No matter the side of the fence you fall on, there seems to be consensus on these stressors. Yes, burnout is a serious thing.
Can we agree that burnout is creating its own collective? Will burn out of the collective affect the election? Will everyone give up? Or will they show up in numbers never seen? Will casting a vote be the final hope and last-ditch effort to stave off complete apathy?
There are many articles on how to combat burnout, but they are written for smaller contingencies, no? Physicians and the medical sector suffer burnout, financial sectors suffer burnout, anyone with high-stress jobs suffer burnout. Who the hell knows how to combat burnout for an entire country? Planet? No one.
This is a first for all of us. Let’s just hope. Let’s rely on whatever God we pray to or don’t, to give us the strength to succeed and survive. Better yet, let’s learn a lesson at the same time. I know that sounds like I am adding more stress, but it might be a way to acknowledge and deal with what we are facing. Learning something new is usually a positive to combat stress.
Carbon units generally do not like change under regular circumstances. Forced change? Geez, hold the phone from your ear. For some reason, we feel that we should have the right to do anything we want. Nothing should impede our personal freedoms. I wonder where we got that idea?
Hmm…
