By Jenni Hammitt
August 24, 2008
My cabin is booked, I’m pretty sure I have a roommate, the only thing I have to do is raise the rest of my money and book my airfare and I will be headed to Cozumel in December on a cruise ship. This is the one thing I have to look forward to as we trudge through the last week a late registration. Merely saying I need this vacation is not adequate. Work burnout is in full force, and I need out of dodge.
It wasn’t until recently that I noticed my last full week off was over Thanksgiving week of last year. Yes so even 2 of those days were paid holidays. I only took 3 days off for Spring Break, and the most I’ve had is a long weekend here or there, and even those were usually to comp time for six day work weeks. It isn’t that my place of employment doesn’t give me TONS of time off to use. Really, I accrue over half a day per pay period. I actually max out my accrual every couple months.
The problem is, there is never a “good” time to take it. We can’t take time during peak registration periods, and other times. My office is understaffed, and I feel guilty taking time when I know we already have coverage issues. So, I rarely take time off. I know my part timer doesn’t like working Saturdays, and coverage during the day is always a challenge. Of course this place can run just fine without me. I do not think I am that all important. I just know how it can be rough if we are down a person.
I know I’m not alone. We all have different reasons for not using our vacation time. Things are too busy, I can’t afford to go anywhere, and the list goes on and on. Sadly we all discover (as I am right now) a painful side effect of this: BURNOUT. We work too hard. We rarely take a day off. “Me” time is something we kind of/sort of remember. The wear and tear is take a toll on our minds, bodies and spirits. Even if your job is decent, you can start resenting it and your co-workers. Stress manifests itself in weight gain, hives, weight loss, insomnia, headaches and other aliments. It can put a strain on your relationships. The backlash isn’t just work related, it seeps into every aspect of your life.
How did we get like this? I’m not sure. I blame my parents. You can blame mine too if you would like…no but seriously maybe it is a learned behavior. Maybe it is a result of our current job market, or our drive to get ahead. I’m at a loss there. The thing is I hate it. I mean I love to travel, and do not want to end up like my parents who put their careers first. This is where I took a clue from my boss. She takes time off regularly. If she doesn’t feel guilty about taking the time, why should I? She knows she needs the time off for her family and for herself. I need to change my behavior now. If I don’t, it will just follow me from job to job. Yes, a “better” job will not make this any less of a problem. It is mind set that needs amended. I need to stop being th victim in this situaiton, put my big girl panties on and just request the time I need.
A long weekend isn’t going to fix this. My upcoming week off will be nice, but I will be doing a “staycation.” I’m to the point where even a trip home for the holidays…or to help my parents clean up from their house fire won’t be enough. I need a trip where unless I want to pay hellacious roaming charges my Blackberry is a pretty paper weight and my laptop only works when I want it to.
© 2008, Jenni Hammitt. All rights reserved.
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You are confusing stress with burnout. Working a lot and not taking tme off can be stressful and impinge upon health. But it does not CAUSE burnout. Nor does taking a vacation relieve burnout.
Stress and burnout are not the same. Burnout is a kind of job depression and is caused by feeling of powerlessness; it is not caused by stress – tho it is stressful. Stress is a taxing of the body.
Burnout is a motivational problem. A person struggling with burnout is demotivated, dispirited, depressed – down. Whereas a highly stressed person may be highly enthusiastic – tho driving their body.
Stress is the “fever” of burnout. As with pneumonia. A high fever must be reduced or there is a risk of brain damage – BUT once reduced the pneumonia is still there. Similarly with burnout – the stress must be reduced but reducing stress does not deal with the job situations rendering the person helpless. The person must develop a feeling of controllability.
Burnout is caused by feelings of uncontrollability. Powerlessness, damed-if-you-do damed-if-you-don’t situations. It is prevented by developing feelings of control over the job – which is an on-going process.
For considerable information on job burnout, the symptoms, burnout quizzes, and what to do to prevent it or turn it around – go to my site at docpotter.com
Very well written blog, Jenni. I can completely relate, and thank you, Dr. Potter, for your helpful insight into burnout. I’m headed over to docpotter.com right now to do some of those quizzes.