I’ve just finished The Joy of Burnout: How the end of the world can be a new beginning by Dr Dina Glouberman. She’s worked with many high achieving people who have burned out – some spectacularly so. She argues that burnout – though terrible at the time – offers those who’ve suffered with it, a special opportunity to strip their lives back to the basics and reconstruct them in a way that offers great new opportunities for happiness, balance and satisfaction.
I didn’t agree with every word, but it was refreshing to get a positive take on something so debilitating, and becoming more common.
One of my favorite – and relatable – passages talks about the absolute need to be truthful with yourself. I love this quote from the I Ching, or Book of Changes, the ancient book of Chinese wisdom:
“It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are, without any sort of self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events by which the path to success may be recognized. This recognition must be followed by resolute and persevering action. For only the man who goes to meet his fate resolutely is equipped to deal with it adequately. Then he will be able to cross the great water – that is, he will be capable of making the necessary decision and of surmounting the danger.”