How To Heal From Burnout

I wasn’t okay. A friend said, “I think you’re in burnout.”

I had always been an overcomer. I pushed through a heavy ministry workload and was applauded for my resilience. I forgave the worst offenses and carried on with a smile. I waited patiently and expected God’s redemption when I was wronged. I didn’t have the funds to hire an expert, so I learned it.

And I betrayed myself.

When we push down, ignore, or don’t take time to process our emotions, our nervous systems let us know. (Process = name it, feel it, talk about it, etc.) It will show up in your life as high inflammation on your bloodwork, high cortisol (the stress hormone), mental health issues, and weight gain.

When we do too much, we become our own god and stop trusting in God our Father. This refusal to rest or create a life with a healthy pace of activity is ignoring the way God created us. This will show up like endless scrolling for hits of dopamine, not taking time to have fun, and isolating yourself from others.

That is just the tip of the iceberg.

While studying trauma over the last decade, I’ve learned about the intersection of faith and brain science. I even had a brain scan by Dr. Amen. I wanted to know what decades of living in fight or flight did to my brain. I discovered that some of what was going on wasn’t a lack of faith, spiritual maturity, or discipline but physical changes to the brain that limited my ability to heal at the emotional and physical level.

The long-term effects of ongoing stress can literally change your brain (sources at the end of blog)

Prefrontal Cortex – Prolonged exposure to stress can lead to reductions in the volume of grey matter in areas responsible for self-control. This can impact decision-making, your mood, and your response to stress. You can’t think through what to say or how to say it. You can’t problem-solve or think through steps to complete things.

Hippocampus – Chronic stress can shrink the hippocampus which is responsible for learning and memory. You can’t learn new concepts or retain new information.

Amygdala – Your flight or flight center is damaged by ongoing stress that increases the size of the amygdala, which is involved in processing emotions, making the brain more sensitive to stress. That means you are overwhelmed, and even the smallest thing feels like a huge deal.

Why burnout happens

Like a slow fade, we make choices that seem okay at first. But combine them all together over a long period of time without relief, and you don’t feel the pain until it’s at a critical stage.

Lies You Believe – Somewhere in your past, you believed that you had to do certain things to be accepted, loved, valued, or seen. You started to listen to those voices and believed the lies they told you. They may sound like, “If I just finish this project with excellence, I can get that promotion.” “I’m not good enough, so this is the best I can get.” (Ephesians 6:11-12).

Destructive Emotions – Painful emotions can be hard to process, so we’d rather not deal with them. Or you may not have a safe place to process them. When they aren’t expressed in a healthy way, they can eat you up inside. This can be a pattern you’ve done your whole life because of how your family of origin processed emotions. Maybe on one extreme, it was lashing out, or on the other, the silent treatment. Both can damage your spirit and soul, make you live in stress, and damage your brain.

False Identity – When you mix the lies you believe and destructive emotions, they become like super glue and stick together to support each other. The result is a belief system that is rooted in a false identity instead of your identity in Christ. You create inner vows (“I will always” or “I will never”) or judgments against yourself, God, or others. You always act from what you believe so this leads to behaviors you don’t want to have.

God can heal you from burnout

The good news is that God made the brain’s neuroplasticity to change and rewire the connections, which allows the brain to heal itself. Like any habit, it takes time and applying the right modality to heal it. The combination of meditating on the Word of God, prayer, and making lifestyle changes can significantly impact your quality of life.

It requires you to rest and make space to be with the Lord. He wants you to think like Him, have tools to manage your emotions, and agree with who He says you are in Christ Jesus. This does require us to trust in God more than our own efforts, skill, talent, or determination.

It can be scary to do this … you could fail in a way that has consequences. But consider this. You may have made success (in your career, finances, relationships) an idol. Worse than failure is disconnection from God.

Don’t wait until you are so burned out that you don’t have another option than to rest.

God tells us how to do it in His word:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

“… to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Eph 4:22-24

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Col 3:2

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Phil 4:8

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Is 26:3

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. “Joshua 1:8

I just gave you a lot to think about. And if this felt overwhelming, then you may be headed toward burnout. If you automatically think of all the reasons why you can’t rest – then you are almost at the critical stage.

Please don’t wait any longer. It’s time for you to heal from burnout and enter the rest of God.

I have clients who come to me to help them process their thoughts, emotions, and beliefs so they can get back into God’s rest. I’d love to explore how I can help you, too. You can book a time with me on my calendar.

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Brain Science Sources: