For the Sake of What?

This may be the most important question you can ask yourself.

Burnout is the condition of being chronically stressed. It doesn’t matter if you’re a busy executive or a parent trying to raise a family; if you feel like a drained battery that can no longer hold a charge, you may be experiencing burnout. 

Typical signs of a life out of balance include irritability, cynicism, depression, lethargy, and a lack of productivity and satisfaction in your achievements. If you’re wondering, “How did I get here?” it may help to consider our culture.

As James Flaherty, founder and senior faculty of New Ventures West, says: “Over and over again in human culture the tools that we invent start to invent us. Consider the invention of the plow that led farmers to schedule their lives around planting season. Once factories were in place, workers had to accommodate their eating and sleeping schedules to the activities of the machines.”

In our current culture, technology has given us the tools that have now invented us. Cell phones, email and texts are electronic leashes that can control our schedules and activities and contribute to feelings of overwhelm. 

Losing our ability to discern between what we have the capacity to do and what we want or like to do can also tip the work-life balance toward burnout. In reality, we have only so much capacity, no matter if we want or like to do something. As we become overloaded, symptoms of burnout appear. 

One way to create more balance in our lives is to ask ourselves the question, “For the sake of what?” Asking this question can help us to reconsider what is truly important. Becoming more intentional about creating balance will help recharge our depleted battery and see another way of living.