Oprah and burnout
I happened to hear Oprah today, and she was interviewing women in their 40's, who had through suffering reached a level of transformation. The first was Ellen Burstyn, followed by Sheryl Crow and then Dana Buchanan. Ellen, an actress, had faced poverty, and abusive relationships, patterns she kept repeating until she meditated and with the help of therapy changed her mindset. Sheryl Crow, a musician, was about to get married to Lance Armstrong (a cycling champion), but things did not work out, and they broke up and two weeks later, she realized she had breast cancer. She saw this as an opportunity to wake up. Dana Buchanan a fashion designer, had she thought a perfect life, until she had a daughter who was learning disabled. She kept up the facade of being a perfect career woman, perfect mother, perfect wife, until she suffered a panic attack, that made her feel that she was dying. This was her opportunity to find her true self.
All the women spoke about the roles that society imposed on them, and they had come to believe that, this was who they truly were. They had spent their childhood hating themselves, and giving all they had to the men in their lives. In their 40's things had changed, life happened, and they realized they had to take action to change their reactive patterns and learn to love and honor themselves. They had to empower themselves and realize, as Oprah said, she was more her true self than anytime before.
I also read the article on burnout in the New York Magazine This article was quite a contrast to the Oprah show, which emphasized self transformation, to working till you have no more to give and often can no longer function. Or maybe it was connected, maybe burn out was a cry for help, that life had to be changed to be able to live and function in this world. The author said that people like Bill Clinton do not suffer from burn out, because they love what they are doing.
People who are suffering from burnout tend to describe the sensation in metaphors of emptiness—they’re a dry teapot over a high flame, a drained battery that can no longer hold its charge.
Sometimes people in New York work, because I think they do not know what else to do with their time. The concept of hobbies or leisure to recharge does not exist. Bankers and Lawyers, work 60 hours a week, while their children are taken care of by nannies. I guess once you get into the rat race it is hard to get out, you need to pay the mortgage, the insurance, the kid's school fees, clothes, shoes...... But I wonder what sustains this constant busyness, I doubt its fantastically satisfying to be dealing with other people’s money or suing people. What about happiness, contentment and satisfaction.
All the women spoke about the roles that society imposed on them, and they had come to believe that, this was who they truly were. They had spent their childhood hating themselves, and giving all they had to the men in their lives. In their 40's things had changed, life happened, and they realized they had to take action to change their reactive patterns and learn to love and honor themselves. They had to empower themselves and realize, as Oprah said, she was more her true self than anytime before.
I also read the article on burnout in the New York Magazine This article was quite a contrast to the Oprah show, which emphasized self transformation, to working till you have no more to give and often can no longer function. Or maybe it was connected, maybe burn out was a cry for help, that life had to be changed to be able to live and function in this world. The author said that people like Bill Clinton do not suffer from burn out, because they love what they are doing.
People who are suffering from burnout tend to describe the sensation in metaphors of emptiness—they’re a dry teapot over a high flame, a drained battery that can no longer hold its charge.
Sometimes people in New York work, because I think they do not know what else to do with their time. The concept of hobbies or leisure to recharge does not exist. Bankers and Lawyers, work 60 hours a week, while their children are taken care of by nannies. I guess once you get into the rat race it is hard to get out, you need to pay the mortgage, the insurance, the kid's school fees, clothes, shoes...... But I wonder what sustains this constant busyness, I doubt its fantastically satisfying to be dealing with other people’s money or suing people. What about happiness, contentment and satisfaction.
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