“Some days simply lay on you like stones.”

Patrick Rothfuss

Yesterday was one of those days when, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t seem to pull myself up out of the quagmire of negativity that has been trying to reel me in for weeks.

I was exhausted, so I skipped the gym. I was starving, so I ate junk food. I was feeling down, so I stayed at my desk most of the day. I gave in to the vices I normally resist and then hated myself for it.

Ugh. It just wasn’t a good day.

I’ve been fighting burnout for a while. My last attempt at a vacation was over a month ago but instead of a relaxing few days off around my husband’s birthday, I ended up with the stomach flu and spent the entire time feeling like garbage that had been run over by a semi truck. Before that, I had a week off over the holiday in December…but my father unexpectedly passed away on Christmas Eve and I spent the days planning his funeral with my mother and brother and eating my feelings.

Since coming back to work in the new year its been busy busy busy. Social work is not a profession that ever has a “slow season” but it definitely has a busy season. Summer time is always a hellish brutal time of year for my coworkers and I and this year has been no different. I’ve been feeling completely and totally BURNT OUT since about early March.

This morning on, The Marc & Kim Show, (my local radio show, which I LOVE listening too, btw!) the hosts were discussing a news release about how burnout has now officially been classified as a disease by the World Health Organization.

Let me just tell you…. I 100% BELIEVE THIS IS TRUE. I feel it all the time. As a career field, social work has a super high burnout rate. The only effective way I’ve personally found to combat this (and NO way is 100% effective, FYI), is to take time away, travel, and engage in some deliberate self-care. This is not something I’ve been able to do lately and I can feel it in my *bones* that I’m burnt out.

According to the article linked above from USA Today, burnout is “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”  Symptoms include: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.

I am SO there.

Which is why I am extremely grateful that my husband and I have a vacation coming up soon! We are returning to the island country of Jamaica this year and I can not wait. I need it. He needs it. Burn out is real and its strong.

If I want to continue this wonderful career that I love, I need some self-care time along the shores of the Caribbean Sea.

Last year, we went to Negril. This year its Montego Bay, baby!

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