Overcoming Stress from Job Burnout: Use Wisdom from Above and Wisdom of this World

In this article learn how to take a closer look at job burnout, why you might have it and some tips of how to take action before it affects your health seriously and/or drastically.

Job burnout is the cumulative result of stress on the job. It will leave you feeling physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. People at risk for suffering from job burnout may be under some of the following categories:

• People who identify very strongly with work and lack a reasonable balance between work and their personal life
• People who try to be everything to everyone
• Your job is monotonous
• Your work involves helping professions, such as health care, counseling, teaching or the law enforcement
Signs of burnout - these signs can also be related to depression
• You find yourself being more cynical, critical and sarcastic at work
• You have lost the ability to experience joy
• You have to push yourself to get to work and/or you have trouble getting started once you arrive
• You feel you face insurmountable barriers at work
• You lack energy, motivation and/or ambition to be consistently productive
• You do not feel satisfaction from achievements
• You can no longer laugh at yourself or your mistakes at work
• You feel disillusioned about your job
• You have to use food, drugs or alcohol to feel better or to simply not feel
• Your sleep patterns have changed
• You have loss of appetite
• You have started to experience more headaches, neck pain or lower back pain
• If you use a keyboard, do your fingers feel as though they do not want to move over the keys (this is a personal experience of mine when I experienced job burnout)

If you can answer yes to many of the above questions you may be suffering from job burnout and/or depression. Job burnout can be overcome. You need to first try and understand what is causing your job burnout. Review the following situations in which job burnout can be a direct result of:

• Lack of control: If you are unable to influence decisions that affect your specific job, such as the hours you will work or which job tasks/assignments you get, or the amount of work that comes to you - these feelings may be feelings of being out of control. Stress accumulates when people feel out of control of their own situations sometimes to the point that you have no idea what it is that is stressing you. Being able to have some kind of control about those things that personally affect you in your daily job can help to alleviate this stress. If this is your case, you might start a careful plan of how you can gain some say so in what concerns you at your job.
• Unclear job expectations: Do you feel like you just don't know how much authority you have at your job or does your employer not provide you with the appropriate resources to perform your job adequately? If you do not have a specific job description, ask that one be created for you, and for regular meetings between you and your employer to review job goals and expectations of you.
• Dysfunctional workplace dynamics: Is there an "office bully" at your job, or are you undermined by colleagues or do you have a boss who micromanages your work? All these situations can create stress and an office environment very unprofessional.
• Mismatch in values: If you have different values from your company on how to handle business, employee grievances or whatever, it will take a toll on your emotional and mental health. In this situation, you may not be able to ever change things to suit you or to match your values, it may be best to just look for another job and try to determine beforehand if the employers values matches yours.
• Poor job fit: If you are working in a job that does not interest you, stress is a sure thing to occur.
• Extremes of activity: Jobs that are always monotonous or chaotic, which require constant energy to remain focused can over time lead to energy drain and job burnout.

In all the above situations, most people can stand it for a certain period of time; this still depends on your own personal will and needs to "have" to withstand adverse working conditions. You need to remember though that if you experience signs and symptoms of burnout they should never be ignored. It can have significant health consequences.

Working in environments that negatively affects your physical and mental health can also affect your personal life to the point that you cannot relax and enjoy your time away from the job either. This happened to me and I am still suffering from the consequences of this with the relationship with my daughter who says I was never there for her. When I was at work, and I had to work, I of course was not there for her, but because work was so stressful for me, when I was in her presence, I was still absent from her. I could not experience joy or think clearly about anything.

If you cannot solve the problem yourself, talk to your supervisor or other employer personnel such as the human resources department. If this does not work see your doctor or mental health professional. Some employers offer employee assistance programs that can help you assess your interests, skills and passions, which can help you decide if you should consider another job, one less demanding or one that better matches your interests.

Recovery from job burnout is possible, but it takes you to admit to yourself it is occurring, to determine the cause and take the appropriate action to solve your problems. The ball is more in your court, than you may realize. You have more control over your work life than you may realize.

And.....there is no problem ever too big that "prayer" cannot help you. Sometimes just simply believing enough in prayer and talking aloud (in a secret place of course) to the Lord is a stress reliever in itself. Just remember how God told us to "cast all our cares upon him because he cares for us." God understands we all have to make a living, and he is able to help guide us to the right resources to help us make good decisions for our work life. Bible scripture says to us that will seek him in secret with an honest heart, he will reward us openly.

I mention prayer here because this is exactly what I did to overcome a great burden of job burnout I had many years ago. It was in this job that stress had taken such a hold of me, my fingers refused to move over the keyboard.

I was in a situation in which that it seemed like no matter what I did to solve it, it still remained unsolved until I began to add many, many daily and nightly prayers to all else I did to get out of that situation.

In the end, the entire office was torn down. I was the only one left standing in that office. I watched all my enemies walk at the door. They all said, "Well things change, companies change and merge and re-organize." I agreed with that, but I also continued to testify that what happens in reality can be a direct result of something God has mysteriously worked out. God could have moved in the hearts of those able to make decisions about reorganization, etc.

The very same enemies who tormented me daily with words like: "since you are the youngest here, when lay-offs come, you will be the first to go." Each night when I got home from work, I bent down on my knees and cried out to the God I worshipped in heaven.

I became a borned against Christian as the result of that long battle. I received the gift of the Holy Ghost, speaking in other tongues, which by-passes Jesus and even the angels in heaven cannot understand the language of speaking in other tongues.

But you know what, God changed my situation, I do believe. I was the last one to go. I watched all of them leave long before I left. I felt a great wall of protection built around me, one in which no man or woman could penetrate. All I had to do was pray and when their evil deeds and words came to me, I returned them with good deeds and words. Good always overcome evil. When evil fights against evil, the greater of the two evils will win. When I fought with them using the same evil weapons they devised against me, I lost, because my enemies were stronger than me.

There is no power, however, greater than the power of God in heaven, and I am so glad I decided to worship that particular God, which is the father also of Jesus Christ. I might mention here also, each one of those people claimed a religious belief. Some were of the Catholic faith; some were of the Methodist faith. I was simply borned again of the spirit of God, chosen and answered that call to be one of the elect. I claim no other type of religious denomination. I am certain; however, there are elect of God in each of the religious denominations. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and we behave. It is through these words and behavior we each know each other of whether we are the elect or of another spirit. In bibilical terms this is called: "by their fruits, you shall know them."

It was a great, fiery battle that in the end I felt very much like Little David who went back to his own city dancing and praising the Lord when he was given power to kill the giant. I was indeed returned to the small town I grew up in, only 4 miles from my home I had to drive as opposed to 35 miles. All the office furniture ended up mine. All the typewriters and equipment ended up mine. After prayer, the battle continued on for about 5 years. I was in that job for a total of 12 years.

Instead of getting just whatever my enemies decided to give to me, I was presented with it all. In the end of that horrible battle, I chose which desk I wanted in my office. I chose the typewriter and file cabinets I wanted. Talk about rejoicing, I was rejoicing for about 3 years as I sat in a huge office space, just resting it seemed. My office overlooked a nice walking area around a lake. I felt like God had put a white robe on me and a ring on my finger as he did the prodical son.

I could go on and on here, but I won't at the moment. That was a great deliverance I believe eventually happened due to faith in prayer, obedience to God's commandments and surely it must have been his perfect will or none of it would have happened for me.
God's eyes and ears are always open to the humble that trust in him. His face is turned away from the wicked, and they are left to struggle about just however they can find to do so, and sometimes they will be taken in their own evil devices.

I finally determined the cause of my job burnout was probably "lack of control," and a direct result of the great wickedness of people's heart, which is envy, strife, jealousy, malice, all of which translated into behaviors that caused everyone pain.

Incidentally, through all that the "office bully" was killed in a car accident. I was not happy about this. I bowed down and cried as if she was my sister! I still have dreams about her.

The moral of the story here is job burnout can be solved one way or another it can be solved! Try using a combination of techniques for your particular situation.

Source: Mayo Clinic, personal knowledge, King James Version Bible

Disclaimer: The information in this article is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or health care provider. Please consult your health care provider for advice about a specific medical condition.

Author: Connie Limon. Please visit our collection of Nutrition and Health articles at http://nutritionandhealthhub.com Articles are available for FREE reprint to your newsletter, website or blog. Please sign up for our weekly nutrition and health tips.

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