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The Pedagogy of Burnout
How We Learn the Hard Way After Burnout
When we burn out, we grow. We are like the eucalyptus tree, sprouting new leaves from a charred stump.
This isn’t to say we get stronger, or better at enduring. Rather, we get better at prioritizing our wellbeing. This requires major shifts both in how we think about life/work and in how we approach them. When this happens, we become new versions of ourselves.
Burnout is a very good word to describe how it feels to meet demands until you are nothing but a smoking match. It is not a good word for how it is done, which is through being overworked.
One way that I define burnout is as a mental health crisis caused by the practice of human resource extraction under capitalism. When people are overworked and not coping with the stresses of work, they can experience exhaustion, inefficacy, and cynicism. The WHO recognizes burnout as a global public health emergency. Burned-out folks also often experience depression and/or anxiety, and for people who have primary or secondary trauma exposure at work, they could have symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as well.
Unfortunately, making change often doesn’t happen in early stages of burnout. At best, as far as I’ve seen, folks attempt to get more rest while also trying to maintain their job…