Burnout

Burnout is a beast that knocks on the hearts of all displaced persons – at one time or another.

It entices with sugary lies that things are better back home, easier and more comfortable. That this work we are fervently doing is not getting us any closer to accomplishing our lofty goals we now begin to call naïve.

Burnout feels like a pair of shoes that never fit in the first place, but you have worn with optimism and perseverance and have rubbed your feet raw.

Remedies for Burnout:

1. Moderation

2. Treats

3. A healthy dose of reality (that's you're most likely not the ultimate answer to the issues that consume your day)

I will be the first one to say that I am swayed by the romanticism of the notion of sacrificing everything for a just cause.

⁶ "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

…..

9a "If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

I am equal parts challenged & encouraged by this verse. Part of me feels overwhelmed: "spending" myself on behave of the poor, "satisfying" the needs of the oppressed, "breaking" every yoke; that is a tall order. My view of myself inflates with the daunting-ness of the task at hand – and I rise to the occasion. However, I know the outcome of this tale – I will end up somewhere, exhausted and D-O-N-E. I will be spent and no one will be satisfied.

Now I know the logical flannelgraph progression of this – of course I have to rely on the Lord, there's no way by my power alone I can do all this. But have you ever found yourself in a position where the need is overwhelming? Where the hunger, the homelessness, the oppression and injustice is thick in the air and around every corner? Where even at your front door and on weekend getaways – the sharp edges of this broken world seem to prick you. Where you could work tirelessly for the rest of your life and still see hungry and oppressed individuals. Lord, how does burnout NOT occur there?

Thankfully – that has not been my case, but like every expat – I have had brushes, seen glimpses of burnout, and I guess I'm still learning. I assume that's where the "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" comes in, maybe I'm just not there yet.

Clock Time and Patience

Clock time is outer time, time that has a hard, merciless objectivity to it…clock time always makes us depart. p.95

Patience is the discipline of compassion because through patience we live in the fullness of time and invite others to share in it…When we live by the clock we have no time for each other…[we] perceive human suffering as a disturbing interruption of our plans; we are constantly preoccupied with our free evening, free weekend, or free month and lose the capacity to enjoy the people we live and work with day in and day out. P.99

I have learned to live outside of clock time (for better or worse as an employee) thanks to the pace of life in the Dominican. People are not in a rush and know how to value a visitor and take time to invest in a person. I love how people linger. The art of conversation is one practiced and perfected the DR as you lament over the lack of sunny days and mounting laundry, share about family and stun with your knowledge and appreciation of Dominican words, food and music. No one never has enough time for someone else, people come first and that is refreshing.

And as I start my transition away from this green island – I begin to think of souvenirs that I can start taking back – as a memory of my time here. I hope that an attitude of peace, coge lo suave and patience radiate from my life. That I may mimic my fellow Dominicans as you receive their full, undisturbed attention. That I may continue, even in a culture obsessed with clock time, to live outside of it – to live deep.

Patience means to enter actively into the thick of life and to fully bear the suffering within and around us. Patience is the capacity to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell as fully as possible the inner and outer events of our lives. It is to enter our lives with open eyes, ears, and hands so that we really know what is happening. Pg.91

[Excerpts taken from "Compassion" by Henri Nouwen - READ IT!]