Appendix 3 - Are You Burning Out? [1]

Have you noticed changes in yourself over the past 6 months?

Assign a number from 1 (for no or little change) to 5 (for a great deal of change).

___ 1. Do you tire more easily? Feel fatigued rather than energetic?

___ 2. Are people annoying you by telling you, "You don't look so good lately"?

___ 3. Are you working harder and harder and accomplishing less and less?

___ 4. Are you increasingly cynical and disenchanted?

___ 5. Are you often invaded by a sadness you can't explain?

___ 6. Are you "forgetting" (appointments, deadlines, personal possessions)

___ 7. Are you increasingly irritable? More short-tempered? More disappointed in the people around you?

___ 8. Are you seeing close friends and family members less frequently?

___ 9. Are you too busy to do even routine things like make phone calls or read reports or send out Christmas cards?

___ 10. Are you suffering from physical complaints? (aches, pains, headaches, a lingering cold)

___ 11. Do you feel disoriented when the activity of the day comes to a halt?

___ 12. Is joy elusive?

___ 13. Are you unable to laugh at a joke about yourself?

___ 14. Does sex seem like more trouble than it's worth?

___ 15. Do you have very little to say to people?

_______ TOTAL

Don't let a high total alarm you, but pay attention to it. Burnout is reversible, no matter how far along it is. The sooner you start being kinder to yourself, the better.

0 - 25 fine

26 - 35 there are things you should be watching

36 - 50 you're a candidate

51 - 65 you are burning out

over 65 you're in a dangerous situation, threatening to your physical and mental well-being.

(See the next page for some recommended books. Burnout Busters is just 64 pages long, with some practical suggestions for change. Clergy Burnout is a longer read and more in depth if you prefer. )