Emotional Exhaustion
and It's Devastating Agony

People today are very susceptible to emotional exhaustion, with today's economy being what it is--and with the media utterly distending it according to their story-selling philosophy of "if it bleeds, it leads." Besides economic stress, exhaustion may be brought on by several different emotional root causes.

Consider the priest or minister who has to be able to switch between different roles quickly and easily, all the while dealing with the dynamics of different people's grief, despair, hope, wishful thinking, and demands of their personal beliefs.

A priest or minister must be wise, celebratory, or sympathetic as the situation demands. Is it a funeral? A wedding? A sermon? A one on one heart-to-heart with a church member? No mater what, he's expected to be all things to all people.

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• A strenuous and long-houred work week can leave you feeling emotionally exhausted, although it might not be obvious to you. This is especially true, and might be more obvious to you, if you are in a business or industry that makes you deal with the public a lot.
• If you are involved in an industry, profession, or role in which you mainly deal with "things" you won't feel this kind of stress that much, since things and objects don't have criticisms, demands, or expectations. But the opposite will be the situation if you have to handle people a lot.
• Think about what medical doctors have to go through: giving sympathy, empathy, or "cold" pronouncements to dying patients and their morose family members; sick children; pregnant mothers; the nurses, pharmacists, and insurance claims adjusters.
• People involved in high-powered sales positions know what emotional exhaustion is all about. They are expected to book appointments to please their managers, work largely at night while others are resting or enjoying recreation.
• They even call people who probably don't want to talk to them, not get paid for all the work they do unless they get bottom-line results, placate rude or obnoxious clients, take a lot of emotional abuse and rejection on a daily basis, sympathize with ignorant secretaries, and work weekends if that's what it takes. They may have to drive all over the place and have a hard time finding family time.

• It's a no-brainer that being a responsible parent can induce emotional exhaustion.

What can you do to make sure that you remain healthy while facing any of these factors?

• Get sufficient sleep. Too many people neglect this basic concept of human health.
• Take the time you need to be good to yourself and reflect in a personal way on your life and your desires.
• If you need to take more time for yourself, let nobody tell you you can't have it, as long as you have fulfilled any professional obligation you have toward someone who demands your time.
• Remember that you don't have to do anything that you don't want to do (apart from certain unpleasant professional obligations; but remember, you should have known about them before you signed on!). Nobody can bully you into doing something you don't want to do unless you let them.
• Whenever possible, pay other people to do work that you don't like or which impinges upon your personal time.

Emotional exhaustion can sneak into your life. Don't allow that to happen.

Questions about emotional exhaustion? Contact us.