Are You Burning Out?

 

10.23.2020 ARE YOU BURNING OUT? The end of 2020 is nearing, and you’ve likely withstood a lot. In the past eight months, you may have experienced high levels of stress and financial anxiety caused by the pandemic. In the United States, you’ve endured an ugly presidential campaign. If you live out West, maybe you’ve experienced the threat of wildfires. In the Midwest, hurricane-force winds tore through the plains, leveling farming structures. Those living in major cities have seen mass protests and civil unrest. Around the world, you’ve dealt with the looming danger of climate change. If you’re a parent or caretaker, the candle you’ve been burning at both ends is now mightily reduced.  Check in with yourself: Are you experiencing lowered energy or feelings of being overwhelmed? Have your negative thoughts increased, making it difficult to initiate new efforts? You may be suffering from burnout. “Is it possible for us, as disciples of the Buddha, to engage with systemic change, grow and deepen our spiritual practice, and, if we’re laypeople, also care for our families? How can we do all of this without collapsing?” asks Mushim Ikeda in her piece “I Vow Not to Burn Out.” “In my world, there always seems to be way too much to do, along with too much suffering and societal corruption and not enough spaces of deep rest and regeneration.” Take heart, though. There are ways to face your burnout, methods to help you renew your bravery in sustainable ways, and different approaches to carving out some space — however small — for deep rest and regeneration.  If you need more inspiration and insight as you enter the final months of this tumultuous and strange year, try the advice within these three selections from the Lion’s Roar archives. —Ross Nervig, audience engagement editor, LionsRoar.com

I Vow Not to Burn Out Mushim Ikeda says it’s not enough to help others. You have to take care of yourself too. At the end of January, one of my close spiritual friends died. A queer Black man, a Sufi imam “scholartivist” (scholar–artist–activist) and professor of ministry students, Baba Ibrahim Farajajé died of a massive heart attack. He was sixty-three, and I’m guessing he had been carrying too much. It was only six months earlier that Baba and I had sat together on a stage in downtown Oakland, California, under a large hand-painted banner that read #BlackLivesMatter. A brilliant, transgressive bodhisattva, Baba had been targeted for multiple forms of oppression throughout his life and had not been silent about it. When he died, I was sad and angry. I took to staying up all night, chanting and meditating; during my daytime work, I was exhausted.

The Joy of Self-Caring We’ve been sold on the idea that self-care means chocolates and bubble baths (not that there’s anything wrong with them). But Cyndi Lee says real self-caring is a practice, not a treat. It’s how you show yourself the love and compassion you deserve. Illustrations by Pascal Lemaître. How can we shift from the band-aid approach to a practice of self-caring? Even asking the question is a good start. The Tibetan word for practice is gom, which means “getting familiar.” The practice of self-caring is about getting familiar with the part of us that is naturally caring and getting familiar with what it feels like to apply that tenderness to ourselves.

How to Be an Ecosattva How do bodhisattvas respond to the greatest crisis of our time? Appropriately, says Buddhist teacher and activist David Loy. Acknowledging the importance of social engagement is a big step for many Buddhists, since we have usually been taught to focus on what is happening in our own minds. On the other side, those committed to social action tend to suffer from frustration, anger, and burnout. The engaged bodhisattva path provides what each needs because it involves a double practice, inner and outer, each reinforcing the other. Combining meditation and activism enables deep engagement without burnout. Activism also helps meditators avoid self-stultifying preoccupation with their own mental condition and spiritual progress. Insofar as a sense of separate self is the basic problem, compassionate commitment to the well-being of others is an important part of the solution.

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