Christian Codependency: How to Recognize Burnout

Are you looking for Christian codependency help that will enable you to recognize burnout? "Burnout" occurs when you have pushed yourself too far for too long (usually because you believe you have no other choice and God wants you to), and as a result you find yourself emotionally, physically, spiritually, and/or relationally spent. It is important to know how to recognize burnout so you can make adjustments before there are long-term negative consequences to your ministry, job, business, body, or relationships. Here are the signs:

• Resentment toward others for not helping. When you notice an increase in your feelings of resentment toward others and find yourself frequently irritated that they aren't doing more, it is because you are doing too much. You need to do less or ask for more help.


• "Doing" out of compulsion. The healthiest motive for doing anything is because you choose to. You can take control of your life by paying attention to the things you feel you have to do and evaluating them to see which are truly necessary. You can then choose to do the things that you want to do either because you like them or know you truly have to.


• Loss of passion and enthusiasm. This is a sign of exhaustion because it tells you that something has changed. This is especially true if you loved what you were doing before and now you actually dislike it. The cure for loss of passion and enthusiasm is to rest to recoup so you will be re-energized to experience enjoyment.


• Emotional fallout: depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and feeling overwhelmed. Overworking and overdoing will eventually affect your emotional state. Insomnia is directly related to being overly stressed and the loss of sleep will make you even more tired and moody. If you are struggling this much emotionally, something has to change or things will only get worse.


• Complaining. When you find yourself frequently complaining aloud or in your head, there is a reason. It could be related to resentment, fatigue, wrong choices, over commitment, bad attitude, or too much stress and pressure. Chronic complaining tells you that you are unhappy and you need to find out why so you can address the issues.


• Health problems. Your body can only take so much before it is physically affected by stress and fatigue. Pay attention to the types of health problems you have especially when your doctor indicates a relationship to stress. Pushing too hard is never good for your body. Rest is absolutely necessary.


• Feeling disappointed with the outcome of your efforts. It should be no surprise that being exhausted can actually make you perform less well but it is also true that it tends to make you focus on your imperfections more and make your expectations unreasonable. If you are disappointed, spend some time figuring out the cause.


• Stress-related family problems. Burnout affects your relationships. You will be more irritable, short-tempered, and difficult to deal with. When you take out your exhaustion on your family, there will be problems at home. If this is happening, you need to make some changes in your life.

There are many things that God expects us to do; but there are many other things we do because we believe we have to when we really don't or we need to learn to do them differently. When you are experiencing burnout, you need to figure out how to take better care of yourself by asking for help, learning to say no, and resting to recoup. Jesus told us that we can learn to take on his yoke to bring us rest in the midst of life's stressors (Matthew 11:28). Recognizing that your Christian codependency has contributed to your burnout is the first step.