The topic of burn out is one that is not often spoken about but it is so real. I have experienced burnout (a few times) and it is not pleasant. Burnout is more than just tiredness. With tiredness you rest and you are ok. We burnout you are constantly exhausted, you lose interest in the things you do, you become easily angry with the people around you and when you don’t deal with it, you can get to the point when you even lose interest in life altogether. So in this blog I give you some 5 tips on how to overcome burnout.

The story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42 is a great picture of burnout. The Bible says Jesus and his disciples visits Martha’s home. Back in the day there were no phones so I’m sure this was an impromptu visit. All the same Martha is excited, Jesus is in her home and she wants to give Jesus her best! She heads straight to the kitchen and she is cooking. I’m just picturing myself as Martha. Maybe she started off singing and happy to be cooking for Jesus, if she is anything like me she would go all out with a 3 course meal because how often do you get Jesus in your house? but very soon into it she realises the gravity of the work she has taken upon herself. She realises wait It’s not just Jesus I am making a full meal for at least 12 other grown men and it’s likely that there are more because Jesus always pulls a crowd. I’m sure she started complaining why am I the only person doing this, no one is helping they are just sitting them waiting for me to cater to them as If I’m their maid. At this point martha probably should have asked for help but she didn’t she had this saviour complex that she had to cater to everyone. I’m sure she started saying and mary who is my sister who should be here helping me is sat there with the men! And Jesus who should know better and tell her to come and help me is also allowing her to do that. So Martha has gone from a place of excitement joy in what she’s doing to complaining, frustrated, angry, bitter, loss of interest in the thing she was going she was burning out! In verse 40 we see that Martha takes this frustration and lashes out on the wrong person. She goes to Jesus and say does it seem fair to you that my sister is sat here whiles I am killing myself in the kitchen? Are you not going to say anything to her? Under normal circumstance martha would not have spoken to Jesus in that manner but this is what burnout can cause you to do.

So let’s look out 5 ways to deal with burn out. The first step when dealing with burnout is to recognise that you are burning out and the things that are causing you to burn out. There is an interesting passage in the Bible that I want us to look at. Exodus 18 verse 13 says the next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
So recognising the things that you are doing that is causing you to burn out either from the advise of the people around you or you yourself taking stock of all the things you are involved in.

2. Delegate: Moses’s response in verse 15 was the people need me to tell them what God’s will is so basically without me they wouldn’t know. Jethro told him to delegate some of the work verse 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Reminds me of Acts 6, the work was growing so the disciples were adviced to pick some deacons to help with other aspects of the work. Delegation is necessary. You will not know the capabilities of people unless you trust them with the work.

3. Set your prioritise. In business there is a time management matrix that can help you with organising. It is a table that has been divided into important not important, urgent not urgent. By using this you can organise your workload and put aside the tasks that are not important and urgent and prioritise the ones that are urgent and important.

4. Know your capacity: Know what you are good at and what you are not so good at and concentrate your efforts on the things that you are good at. For example I am a person who believes in our world today I can do everything with a bit of help from the university of youtube and google. But this mentality is causing me to take on too much. I started this youtube and I have been editing it myself. I soon realised that I am not consistent because it takes a lot of time to shoot the content , and then edit it to the standard I want so yes I can edit but there are people who are very good in that area and will probably take half the time that I take to edit so I am not allocating the editing part to them so I can focus on the content.

6.Take regular breaks. You have 2 options, you can continue carrying all the burden on your shoulder and burnout and not be able to do anything at all. Or you can do it in moderation, take breaks and be able to do the things you do for a longer period of time. One way I take breaks is through retreats. I will do a full video on how I retreat but To retreat means to remove myself from my day to day routine and go and hide. Don’t worry the world will not stop if you take a few days off to look after yourself. In a retreat I cut myself from everything and I get a lot of rest. I spend time with God, I go for walks in nature and do things that I enjoy and I come back refreshed. Take breaks and look after yourself. Go on holiday, practice self care and look after your general well being.

Finally, they say prevention is better than cure. So the best way to prevent burnout is to stay connected to Jesus. Often times burn out is as a result of you using your own energy and your own abilities and there is only so much you can do with your own strength. Back to the story of Martha and Mary Jesus told Martha that there is only one thing worth being concerned about and that is what Mary had chosen and It will not be taken away from her. That thing is staying at the feet of Jesus. Isaiah 40:31 says those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. When you spend time with God you receive constant renewal of your strength. Jesus says in John 15:5 that I am the branch and you are the branches if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. So your fruitfulness is not dependent on your own strength but in your connection to the branch. When you spend time with him he orders your steps, he helps you in your decision making, you know when to say no to certain jobs and you know which ones to say yes to. You are able to discern who can help you in a certain task and you are refreshed daily. If you are burning it he says cast your burdens unto me for I care for you. He says come to me all who are heavily laden and I will give you rest. True rest can only be found in Jesus.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed or having thoughts of ending it all please seek help get counselling. One book that is really helpful on the topic of burnout is “Leading on empty by Wayne Cordeiro if you follow me on instgram or tiktok it’s in my amazon storefront.