5. You isolate yourself from others.
When in burnout, you start creating more and more emotional space from others because you lack the emotional and mental capacity to carry on extensive conversations and/or minister to another person’s needs.
6. You run from new challenges.
One of the main reasons a church needs to ensure their senior pastor takes regular sabbaticals is because unless the leader goes away for an extended time to renew and refresh themselves every few years, the vision of the church or organization will be limited because the leader will begin to shy away from new challenges, new vision and forward motion. An unrenewed leader will greatly limit the capacity of the church to expand and grow.
7. You don’t want to problem solve.
A person in burnout doesn’t want to strategize or problem solve because it takes too much mental energy.
8. You dream more about retirement than taking a mountain.
I knew I was starting to get too close to the edge because I kept on envisioning the scene in the movie Gladiator when the lead character Maximus is about to die and he keeps envisioning the next life in paradise when he would rest from war and enjoy life with his loved ones. When you are dreaming about laying down your weapons instead of going off to war to defeat your foes, then you know that it is time to get recharged!
Anyone who lives for retirement is a person who has already stopped living! For example, when senior pastors get to the place where they are looking at their own watch on Sunday because they cannot wait till the services end so they can go home and relax, then you know they need to be retrofit and recharged! God has called leaders to minister out of their abundance and overflow, not out of the fumes from an empty tank!
9. You lack patience for all things mundane.
Those in burnout lose their patience for all things petty when dealing with relationship challenges. (In the past they had grace for the immaturity of the saints but in this state they have no patience for it.) They also lack the patience to deal with the average things needed to maintain oversight of their staff and organizational business.
10. You view ministry as work rather than a calling.
The greatest privilege I will ever have in my life is to represent the Lord Jesus as the overseer of a local church. It is not a job but a calling. When in burnout, sometimes the only thing that stops a pastor or leader from leaving the ministry is economics (their paycheck). The moment I stay in a church for the salary is the moment I have gone from being a shepherd to a hireling. It is not a job but a holy vocation (1 Corinthians 4:1).
HOW TO RECOVER:
1. Honor the biblical sabbath .
Take time away to pray, study and refresh yourself, and take at least one day off a week. For pastors, they cannot count Sunday as a day off because it is a work day. What has worked for some pastors is to take a weekday off or from Friday night to Saturday night (but Saturday is often spent in sermon preparation so that may not work for some).
2. Spend time enjoying the Lord on a daily basis.
I believe that burnout comes the quickest when we stop spending adequate time with the Lord. Hebrews 4 teaches us that when we enter God’s rest we cease from our own labors; when we attempt to lead in our own strength God allows us to lose our energy because unless the Lord builds the house we labor in vain (Psalm 127).
3. Prioritize the things that are life-giving to you.
God has wired each of us in a way that certain things we do are life giving and other things deplete us. For example, being around people energizes extroverts and introverts are sapped of energy when with people. Introverts need to schedule regular time alone to recharge in order for them to meet the challenges they face daily.
