Burnout in Your Church: Recognize the Signs
By Tiffany Henning, Chief People Person at HR Ministry Solutions
As someone who has been burned out, I know it’s not a question of if your staff is experiencing burnout, but how many of them are already burnt out.
Most people have no clue. I know I didn’t. It’s not that we are clueless. We think we don’t have time to look closely and deal with it, so we ignore warning signs, writing them off as “stress.” The past few years haven’t been easy. Most leaders were burned in one way or another and some walked into COVID already burnt. So how do we recognize it? And more importantly, how do we help?
Looking back to my own burnout, here are the warning signs I should have taken note of:
Being overly emotional. This includes a rollercoaster of emotions: I lost patience with everyone around me, my husband was walking on eggshells because he never knew what would set me off, I sobbed with no idea why I was crying, and once I even kicked a hole in our wall (not my proudest moment…).
Forgetfulness or difficulty concentrating. This may be increasingly hard to distinguish from “COVID-brain”, but it was a whole other level when I was burnt out. I would honestly forget entire conversations, arguing they had never even happened.
Losing joy in things you previously loved. This was especially true if I had to go anywhere, talk to anyone, or expend any energy. I didn’t even want to see my friends–it just took too much effort.
Trying to escape into vices (sinful or not). I became addicted to Super Big Gulps, donuts and reading mystery novels. The biggest red flag was when I started ignoring my husband, kids, friends even when I was in the same room with them in favor of my books.
Exhaustion. All the time. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. I just wanted to sleep yet, ironically, I had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep because my mind was always going.
I would bet you can identify with at least a few symptoms in that list. If you are wrestling with burnout, first off: reach out to your family, supervisor or community (or all three) and communicate what you’re feeling the best you can. You can’t do this alone. If that list of warning signs is foreign to you, read it again and then look around. There is bound to be at least one person in your life who is veering dangerously close to the edge and could use a lifeline. In part two of this series, I’ll talk about some common causes of burnout and deep-dive into the three toxic habits in my life that created this downward spiral.
Tiffany Henning, SPHR, CRPC is a veteran in church and ministry HR with over 20 years of combined experience. Tiffany is the founder of HR Ministry Solutions, a faith-based non-profit specifically created to simplify HR compliance and staff pain points for churches and ministries.