{"id":2112,"date":"2016-04-19T15:08:51","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T20:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=2112"},"modified":"2021-01-29T15:03:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T20:03:40","slug":"pastoral-counseling-avoiding-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/pastoral-counseling-avoiding-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastoral Advice on Avoiding Burn-out"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a prime candidate for burnout.<\/p>\n

I am a mother of a 5-month-old, a 6-year-old, a wife, a pastor planning several brand new programs and projects, a daughter, a granddaughter, a friend, a neighbor, an employer, the list goes on.\u00a0I am busy and I am tired.\u00a0But all of our lists go on and on, don\u2019t they?<\/p>\n

We are taught in seminary and by mentors that burnout is an apocalyptic event that all pastors are to avoid.\u00a0We are given many examples and strategies of how to avoid this all-consuming fire that is coming for all of us:\u00a0read the Bible, read the confessions, and pray. Find a group of pastors that you meet with each week\/month\/year.\u00a0Make sure you have a spiritual director.\u00a0Go to pastoral counseling<\/a>.\u00a0Spend time with your family.\u00a0Spend time alone.<\/p>\n

Just looking at all the strategies begins to make me feel anxious.\u00a0How can I possibly avoid burnout when I don\u2019t have the time or energy to employ the strategies that are proven to work?<\/p>\n

This is the tension where I spend my time, and where I suspect most pastors spend their time.\u00a0Right between “I am so busy and tired” and “this is the best job\/life possible.”\u00a0And right in the midst of it is the healthy place to be.<\/p>\n

Burnout by very definition is a fire that takes over and is uncontrollable\u2014a fire that burns everything down around it and eventually there is nothing left and the fire goes out.\u00a0For pastors and professionals personal, spiritual, psychological burnout is very much the same. Burnout is when we are overwhelmed by what we are doing and what is expected of us to the point that there is nothing left\u2014nothing left for us to give and nothing left for us to receive.<\/p>\n

So how do we avoid burnout?<\/h2>\n

For each individual it is different.\u00a0There is no prescribed strategy that will work for everyone.\u00a0But we have to find ways that keep us from becoming overwhelmed by what we are doing and what is expected of us.<\/p>\n

Personally, I know that the fire is burning uncontrollably around me, when I am no longer receiving.\u00a0When I cannot receive love from my family and friends, when I am unable to listen to others, when I am unable to see the good that is happening around me in ministry and at home\u2014that is when I am approaching burnout. At that point, I have to adjust my perspective. I have to take moments to myself.\u00a0And then I am ready to receive and to give all over again.<\/p>\n

So maybe there is not one strategy to defeating burnout.\u00a0Maybe there is a different strategy for each individual. Maybe there is a different strategy for different times in our lives.\u00a0The most important thing is recognizing your personal signs that burnout is approaching before the fire kills everything in sight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rev. Erin Davenport is a 2005 alumna of the MDiv program. Through the Seminary\u2019s <\/em>joint degree program<\/em><\/a>, she also earned her MSW from the University of Pittsburgh. A former chaplain, she now resides in Pittsburgh and serves as the Seminary\u2019s director of the <\/em>Miller Summer Youth Institute<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a prime candidate for burnout. I am a mother of a 5-month-old, a 6-year-old, a wife, a pastor planning several brand new programs and projects, a daughter, a granddaughter, a friend, a neighbor, an employer, the list goes on.\u00a0I am busy and I am tired.\u00a0But all of our lists go on and on,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[158],"tags":[247],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-counseling","tag-pastoral-counseling"],"yoast_head":"\r\nPastoral 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