The Cure For Burnoutናሙና

Take mental vacations and diversions

An interesting tool to gain peace of mind is to take mental vacations. You would much rather go on a real one, and so do I, but if you cannot go on a real vacation holiday, take a mental one. Your mind cannot tell the difference between what you are currently experiencing and what you have experienced and relived in your imagination.

Periodically take 10 minutes and relive in your mind any relaxing experience you have had. Remember the weather, the food, the people you were with, and all the feelings and peace that you enjoyed. That is powerful because all those feelings and emotions will come back to you. 

Another way to renew your energy is through diversion. Diversion is doing a different activity from what you are currently doing, but which you totally enjoy. If we keep going through the same demands of life day in and day out, week after week, we are going to burn out.

During the height of World War 2, Winston Churchill, the “Lion of London,” was in the only bomb shelter in London where he conducted and met with his generals. They were under attack, and the Nazis were dropping bombs over England. France had fallen. The whole outcome of this war was on his shoulders. In the midst of this, he left the bomb shelter and went out to his house in the country. He loved roses, so he stripped down nearly naked, got in the dirt, and began to work in his rose garden. They said to him, “Mr. Churchill, why are you doing this? There is a war. We could lose it and lose the free world, and you are spending time in a rose garden.” He replied, “No, you do not understand. If I keep staying in that bomb shelter, giving orders and hearing about all the things that are happening, and keep using the same part of my mind all the time to make decisions to push this war effort forward, I am going to get empty. I have to remove myself from that arena and go to an opposite field, something I thoroughly enjoy. That restores the portion of my creativity and my decision-making ability. So when I come back to the war room, I am fresh, I am alert, and I make proper decisions.” That is what we call diversion. 

Every time Jesus conducted what we would call a major meeting, pouring His life into others, He always did a different activity afterward. He walked with his disciples or talked to them, had a meal, got on a boat to go on the other side of the Sea of Galilee—whatever the case might be. He would do something to create a diversion in His life, for restoration. If Jesus needed it, we need it more.