Empathy for You in Uncertain Times

We are living in an uncertain world especially now during this pandemic. This crisis impacts how we handle what we do and how we react to stress. Empathy for ourselves matters.

Stress is when you have multiple pressures that demand too much of you psychologically and physically. When you are stressed, you may believe that if you can just get everything under control, you will feel better. Stress involves “too much.” Stress can be perceived as negative if we don’t know how to react to that stress. There are signs that the stress you believe you cannot handle may be leading you toward burnout.

Being burned out means feeling empty, without any motivation, and beyond caring about what happens to you. When you experience burnout, you often don’t see any hope of positive change in your situation. Burnout means “not enough” or cannot cope anymore.

Table 7.1 Stress vs. Burnout (From page 116 in Define Your Why)

Serveyev, A. (2019). 16 Important Signs You Are Heading for Burnout

I know I’ve felt “too much” many days and “not enough” more than I would like. I’ve heard this from teachers, parents, and students. Yes, we lived…