> Burnout does not just come from overwork. It comes from overresponsibility.
I don't _think_ it is accurate. I think burnout comes from putting energy into things that don't have meaning. Case in point, this article: as you realize that fixing everything is a never-ending game with marginal ROI, you end up burning out.
If overresponsibility alone caused burn out, I think that every parent out there would be impacted. And yes, parental burnout is a _very_ real thing, yet some of us may dodge that bullet, probably by sheer luck of having just the right balance between effort and reward.
Throw this tradeoff off balance, and most parents just burn out in weeks.
> I think burnout comes from putting energy into things that don't have meaning.
That'd mean that people who are burned out all did so because they did stuff that didn't have meaning? Ultimately, I think you can get burned out regardless of how meaningful it is or isn't. People working at hospitals (just as one example) have probably some of the most meaningful jobs, yet burn out frequently regardless.
More likely that both different people burn out because of different things, and it's a mix of reasons, not just one "core" reason we can point at and say "That's why burnout happen, not the other things".
I'd argue it actually makes things worse. When you can have a higher-purpose job (an ICU or ER nurse who is saving patient's life everyday) and you're spending most of energy on administrative overhead, the effect is just magnified.
Meaning is a subjective thing. That's why some people thrive in some environments and some may burn out. If you put your average IRS auditor in a hospital, they might actually find more meaning in filling forms than exchanging with patients.
I think meaning can't be imposed externally. What society finds meaningful and what any individual finds meaningful can differ. And what an individual finds meaningful will vary over time. A meaningful activity, repeated often enough, can become routine and lose its meaning.
I suspect that if you dig deeper, the underlying cause of burnout being forced to spend a lot of effort over time and not being able to feel that you are living up to your values in return. You are running a marathon but never reach the finish line of the satisfaction of living according to your own moral code.
* That can come from overresponsibility if you have a value that says you should fix things that you see are broken.
* It can come from meaningless bullshit jobs if you have a value (which almost everyone does) that says your effort is meaningful.
* It can come from isolation if you have a value that it's important to be connected to others.
It can probably arise from any other value you might hold as long as you're forced to strive and yet can never reach it.
Honestly, I feel like values are deeply underconsidered in our current culture's thinking around psychology.
Doesn't often come from a lack of meaning though? Or maybe the meaning is more micro in this instance, and you wonder what the point is of telling them to pick up their dirty socks for the... 327th time.
the meaning of `overresponsibility` in this case, IMO is taking / considering the matters as something that we take responsibility of. That way of thinking itself (taking the responsibility) is causing a burden on the mental health of OP. Being ignorant or able to let go relieve the burden, thus preventing burnout
I don't _think_ it is accurate. I think burnout comes from putting energy into things that don't have meaning. Case in point, this article: as you realize that fixing everything is a never-ending game with marginal ROI, you end up burning out.
If overresponsibility alone caused burn out, I think that every parent out there would be impacted. And yes, parental burnout is a _very_ real thing, yet some of us may dodge that bullet, probably by sheer luck of having just the right balance between effort and reward.
Throw this tradeoff off balance, and most parents just burn out in weeks.