Page 8 - September 2017 Voices
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enthusiasm goes completely dark.                       see a debunking article until the day of the
       11. Science clues you in to the significance              event.)
          of effects which you might otherwise                       An example for burnout: the commonly
          have missed.  We loved the way the leaves              believed myth that you can’t burn out if you
          created a “pinhole camera effect” on the               love your job. People often firmly instruct
          ground—beautiful!                                      me this is true, as soon as I mention that I
              Not so beautiful—the severe stress                 am the co-author of a book about burnout.
          effects of burnout. We liken burnout to a              In fact, being obsessively passionate about
          repetitive use injury of the parts of the body         your job may put you more at risk of
          that deal with stress.                                 burnout.
       12. If you know enough about it, you can find         14. A lot more people are headed toward
          some ingenious ways to deal with it. This              burnout than you may realize. For good or
          last photo shows my engineer husband,                  ill, if you’re getting burned out, you have
          Chris, experimenting with  creating an
          “eclipse camera” using Kim’s shoe and a                company on your journey. Since recon-
          pad of notepaper. (It worked!)                         necting with your community is a powerful
              An example of creative use of resources            antidote to burnout, being able to discuss
          to help with burnout recovery is based in              burnout frankly and accurately may provide
          knowledge of how the science on hazing                 considerable relief.
          applies to burnout. A brain effect that is         15. At the moment of totality, you can see the
                                                                 colors of sunrise on the horizon all around
                                                                 you, if you remember to look. For burnout,
                                                                 these are the glimmers of new possibility,
                                                                 new directions, relief and recovery.
                                                                 How much of this list applies to your
                                                             experience of burnout? Did you think of any
                                                             similarites that I missed?
                                                                 A few hours after the eclipse was over, we
                                                             received a frantic text from one of our neigh-
                                                             bors. She had chosen to drive some distance
                                                             with her family, to be able to view it from the
                                                             zone of totality. “Can you walk our dog?  We
                                                             are stuck in post-eclipse traffic. We’ve moved
                                                             less than a mile in the last hour!”  We love our
      Chris creating an “eclipse camera”
                                                             neighbors—and their dog, Kobe—so we were
                                                             more than happy to stroll out with our dogs,
          very similar to the results of hazing can                               into the bright day.
          keep you trapped doing unnecessary,                                         If you want to learn more
          burnout-causing activities. My co-author,
          Marnie Loomis, used a superhero from a                                  about burnout and how to
          popular movie to help someone break out                                 avoid it, please check out
          of that trap.                                                           Save Yourself from Burnout: A
       13. There’s a lot of bad information out there                             System to Get Your Life Back
          about why burnout happens and what                                      available through Amazon.
          it means. It can be hard to sift the accu-                              com in October, 2017
          rate information out from the nonsense.                                 co-authored by Beth Genly
          (One example for the eclipse: I saw a                                   and Dr. Marnie Loomis, ND.
          lot of panicked warning posts on social                                     Beth Genly, ACB, ALB
          media: “You must keep your pets indoors!   joined Toastmasters in 2014. She is a member
          Especially dogs! Old Faithful Fido will look  of Toastmasters for Speaking Professionals, TV
          up when you point, and he will go blind!!!”  Toastmasters, and Feedbackers. She is serving as a
          While I had my doubts about this, I didn’t  club officer in all three of her clubs.



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