Work-life balance

Burnout describes the state of emotional exhaustion often accompanied by physical exhaustion when someone is so worn out by stress that they are unable to function in everyday living. It is accompanied by an underlying disillusionment that threatens to take hold as cynicism, dissatisfaction and loss of meaning increase. It mainly strikes highly-committed, hard working and successful people. It can therefore hold a special fear for clergy who have a sense of vocation and care passionately about their work.

When people talk about being stressed they usually mean they feel that things are getting on top of them. The ordinary pressures of life accumulate and there may be some extra demands on top which make it impossible to keep up, and harder and harder to cope.