Burnout

What are the warning signs for burnout? I don't know. I probably am showing some of them too. I have been extremely busy this month. To be exact, 1 free night total. That's crazy busy. There are many days that I go to work in the morning and don't get home till after 10 pm. It is starting to wear on me. But if I can just get through this month it will get better. Will it though? I always seem to pack my schedule. I have a definite trouble saying 'no'. I am always willing to do what people want. So much so that I can't even return a phone call in a good amount of time.

I am trying my hardest not to get burned out. I try hard, but I never seem to get anywhere. Maybe it's because I am trying and not training. In small group, we are reading this book called "The Life You've Always Wanted" by John Ortberg. He is a fantastic applicational writer and I would recommend any of his books. Anyway, the chapter this week talks about training versus trying. There aer some things that we try to do that we never will accomplish by trying. The training is the necessary part. His example is a marathon. We have to train for that, we just can't try to do it. If we were to try, we would go out, start running and depending on how bad a shape your in, would drop after a few miles. Unless we get out and train we won't acomplish. Every day, running farther and farther and being dedicated to it, that is what will allow us to run the marathon. That is so true for so many things in life. We need to discipline ourselves.

So what things do you do that you try hard for but never really accomplish? Maybe it's not a lack of trying, but training. Maybe I have to practice and train myself to say no and be less busy. Then the next time I need to slow down I will be able to because I have trained myself too; not just try and fail.