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I'm so burnt out...... - JH

Posted: Jan 12, 2011

I can't even force myself to work now for two days. I'm so sick of this work but of course have bills so will have to work 14 hours the rest of the week. How do you keep from getting to where you just can't force yourself to work? I've only been an MT for four years.

Burned out - TT MT

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I have been in this profession now for over 25 years, and from time to time it is not uncommon for all MTs to feel like they are burned out. Sometimes you have to just take a breath, regroup and find out what you can do to make things a little less hectic. Is your work environment tiring you out, or are you pushing too much. Stress is definitely part of this job too. You feel sometimes like you are spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. I don't know who you work for, or how much you are making, but if you have a family and are the main breadwinner, or helping your husband with your income, those are also factors to make you feel this way. Some women are working because their husbands have been laid off. This field right now does not guarantee a great income, especially with VR being used by most companies. Also, insurance takes up a good part of your pay too and paying rent or a house payment. If you are losing sleep because you are worried, this also makes your job unbearable. I know I burned the midnight oil many nights working as an MT, and sometimes had 2 jobs at the same time, but had to do it because I had 4 children to raise. You need to take breaks, get up, move around. You may need to evaluate if this field is the right one for you. Talk to other MTs, sometimes that helps to know that others out there feel the same way that you do, and this is pretty much the norm a lot of the time. I still get frustrated, feeling exhausted from working all the time and not making the pay I used to make, and I don't see a change in the forseeable future with regard to this. I have shed tears over this and just felt some days that I didn't want to go to work. We have all felt this way. If you feel like venting, just contact me. You are not alone!

Since all work has its good and bad points, - it might help a lot to make

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ourselves newly aware of the good points with our own.
We experience the worst one--the actual working--all the time. Perspective. Seriously.

If you don't already drive kids to school each morning, how about getting up at 6 or so tomorrow, putting on makeup, dressing in office clothes, and driving to an alternative place you might work? Maybe include stops at a dry cleaner and grocery store at rush hour, gas station too. Just getting out at an unusual hour might make you feel better.

I don't know how to simulate a supervisor continually, but you could try apologizing winningly into a mirror before running out to the store, or heading out to refill the bird feeder, then again for not hurrying fast enough when you come back. Go ahead and spit in the mirror if you want. Make up and deliver what you hope will be an acceptable excuse for being caught in yet another personal call during work hours.

I'm guessing just a day or two of this would restore at least a bit of gratitude to yourself for this choice, even if the work is always waiting.

These days I'm doing some ER work after years away, and I'm always struck by the people suffering extreme stress from problems at work, so bad they end up in the ER shaking and crying, insomniac, etc. Significant as our own set of problems is, we just don't have to get up day after day and head in to endure what these people do.

I'm nearing 60, have worked since I was 15, and - have no plan for retirement.

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But I'm doing okay anyway. You're probably not in a mood for this right now, but I strongly recommend you remove the term "burnt out" from your vocabulary. Stop thinking about it. The daily grind is just a fact of life for everyone but a few. The simple truth is you are fortunate that your big problem is that you do have to work as an MT every day.

Check out the attached picture. These women have been paid so little for so long their growth is stunted from chronic malnutrition and fainting at work is common. They work from dark to dark, and death comes very early. If they were allowed to chat, think it'd be about how burned out they are...?

I think you just described our profession. ("Working - dark to dark, malnutrition,etc.") nm

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Actually......... - JH

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I really think it's due to menopause. I have days where I'm just exhausted and I could win the lottery and probably need a nap before going to collect my millions. lol. I work from home and am not real good about sitting down and getting it done, I take many breaks. As for the one who attached the picture of a person who is starving, that wasn't necessary at all. Everyone has it bad at times, we're lucky to have jobs and I know that. I'm human, it gets old hearing the same voices in your ears day after day. I really would love a vacation just to have a week away from this but who can afford that.......ugh

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