Jamon Abercrombie » Life

TIP: Indicator(s) of Burnout v. Stress

Jamon Abercrombie — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:00:01 +0000

On Tuesday afternoon the friendly neighborhood mailman delivered my copy of Anne‘s new book (Mad Church Disease) … I’m almost done – yeah, that’s how GOOD it is and how EASY it is to read.

About half way through, one of the sections hit me as one of those “Everyone needs to have this checklist” moments. It’s a table that gives some indicators of how to identify stress versus burnout.

We may all feel overstressed at times, no matter in what ministry capacity you serve. I would bet nearly all of us have been to the point where we’ve wanted to throw in the towel, but were (or are) we really at the burnout stage where we risk never to return?

Here is a table of indicators that Anne lays out in her book. Keep in mind this is just a snapshot of one page … GET THE BOOK – it’s worth it!!!!

STRESS	BURNOUT
Stress is characterized by overengagement	Burnout is a defense characterized by disengagement
The exhaustion of stress affects physical energy	The exhaustion of burnout affects motivation and drive
Stress produces disintegration	Burnout produces demoralization
Stress can best be understood as a loss of fuel and energy	Burnout can best be understood as a loss of ideals and hope
The depression of stress is produced by the body’s need to protect itself and conserve energy	The depression of burnout is caused by grief engendered by the loss of ideals and hope
Stress produces a sense of urgency and hyperactivity	Burnout produces a sense of helplessness and hopelessness

Maybe you feel you’re there, or maybe this book will be able to give you some key indicators and help you avoid coming anywhere near the brink of burnout. If you are burned out, maybe this book will give you some refreshing hope that others can empathize with you – having been in a situation similar to yours and have been restored.

This book is filled with such good stuff. It is written in a conversational language that makes it easy to read and understand quickly … not like some of those high-brow, intellectual, theoretical books that claim to have answers who were written by people who haven’t experienced their own book’s topic.

Buy Mad Church Disease »

So, where you from?

Jamon Abercrombie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:40:10 +0000

Los has a cool post the other day about where he (and all the other ragamuffins) grew up.

For me, though we lived in a couple of places (Memphis, Tulsa, Springfield) most of my growing up was spent at 5721 E Bennett in Springfield, Missouri

If you’re game, where did you grow up?

Mad Church Disease

Jamon Abercrombie — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:42:47 +0000

You’ll see it listed over in my “Noteworthy” section, but now it’s time to pimp it on the big side.

Ordered my official copy today … get your copy of Mad Church Disease. I’ve read a few sections and they are great!!!

Just go get it. Sure the title is Mad CHURCH Disease, but let me tell you, the burnout epidemic is rampant in all parts of life, and the biggest cause of burnout is (in my opinion) relational. We’ve all been through times like these whether we were on staff at a church or not.

Once you start reading this book, you will feel as though Anne is speaking directly to you. You’re going to start seeing, “hey, that same (similar) thing happened to me” … or to someone you know, who you should buy the book for or suggest they buy it and read it.

Just go get it.