Burnout: The Passion Killer

Feb 26th, 2022

When a person is passionate about a subject, they could talk endlessly about it. In college, that enthusiasm helps make learning difficult topics easier. However, there are some subjects that are difficult to understand. Most commonly mathematics is referred to by many people as a subject they just can’t wrap their head around, myself included. That doesn’t stop me from trying to complete my math homework.

Math is hard. Sometimes, it does get the best of me. When that happens, I get frustrated from trying to solve a problem repeatedly, wasting ink, paper, and time with nothing to show for it. This is where I must step away from the homework and do something else. I am certain anybody reading this can relate. Normally after a breather from homework, I return refreshed and better equipped to tackle the assignment that gave me trouble. What if I was unable to walk away from the assignment? What if I couldn’t escape that feeling of failure, disappointment, and frustration? What if the stakes were raised? Instead of math homework, the problem being tackled is a natural disaster like the COVID-19 pandemic?

What if I couldn't walk away?

Then, over days that turn to months, the frustrations, feelings of failure and disappointment build up, leading to burnout. What is burnout?

Burnout is the occupational phenomenon that results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed and is characterized by three aspects as described by the World Health Organization (WHO).

• · Feeling of energy depletion or exhaustion

• · Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job

• · Reduced professional efficacy

The WHO may not want the operational definition of burnout to be applied outside of a workplace setting, with stress from the workplace causing the burnout to be used in other contexts. In the persistent wake of the COVID pandemic (WHO, 2019). The word and meaning of burnout Is being used out of the WHO’s original context anyway. The situation imposed by lock-downs and quarantines coupled with the increasing ability of some workers to work from home is a brand-new situation.

Working from home brings the burnout home.

Everyone is affected by the pandemic, including me. As a student, I have a mixture of difficult classes that may stimy my good mood with difficult coursework. Except to complete requirements to graduate, I am required to take classes I have no interest in that often has me asking “Why did I come to a liberal arts college?” Combining classes with the pandemic gives a decent outline of the stress I am under.

Every organism needs to manage stress. How I manage stress is to start with a good lifestyle. I do my best to eat a healthy balanced diet and get a consistent 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Staying up late to do homework poorly when I am tired to get an A is not worth the resulting health effect later. The homework will still be there tomorrow. It is not the end of the world that it isn’t done. A large part of college is planning. Plan for when to start homework, plan to have a time to ask questions about the homework before it is due.

The best start to mitigating stress is a healthy lifestyle.

Okay, so planning can mitigate stress. But what about the long slog, the marathon of coursework to continually chug away at? How do I stay motivated? How do I keep my mind fresh and refreshed even near the end of the semester? When I can’t see the fruit of my labor, what do I do to vent the mounting feelings of disappointment from getting low marks on assignments, or for making mistakes in lab or other factors that lower my moral?

Spend time in nature. I like to go to the woods.

I do a variety of things. My favorite is to change environments. I like to go spend time in the woods. That is the biggest de-stressor for me. Sometimes, I still need to get homework done, so I take it with me. When I do my homework in the woods, it feels different. Like the study done by Godden and Baddeley in 1975 about context-dependent memory. The change of environment from one where I was dejected to one I am more relaxed in can turn frustrating coursework into a soothing massage for my grey matter.

The other activity I like to do is a craft. Schoolwork is rather abstract. Gaining knowledge isn’t always tangible. With how challenging it is to learn calculus concepts, physics, or even chemistry, sometimes I need to make something physical with my own hands to be able to show that I am capable of doing things besides thinking.

The current craft I have been engaging in is a seasonal one. I learned how to spin wool roving into string, and I plan to make the string into woven cloth using a backstrap loom.

My hand-spun yarn collection:

The wood wheels on sticks are drop spindles. The other wood object is a niddy-noddy used to measure hand-spun and turn it into hanks which are the long, twisty yarn donuts. The dark brown ball is natural red alpaca top. It is super soft. The grey is naturally colored shetland sheep wool. The rest of the wool is corridale breed sheep mixed with something else. The yellow is stinging nettle over-dyed with 'fox-and-cubs' flowers. The tan is random mushroom. Orange is left over RIT dye from a different project. The white wool is not dyed yet.

A backstrap loom:

A backstrap loom is a simple loom, consisting of a series of sticks. Not pictured: the backstrap, as I have yet to make it. Also, the biggest stick is the "sword" used to beat the weft tight and open the shed. It is a work in progress as well.

I can dye the string or cloth by using household kitchen tools and natural dye materials. Since I love being out in the woods and have a passion for learning about what grows in my local wooded areas. I collect my dye materials from the places I visit to de-stress. There are many flowers and mushrooms that give great dye colors and are renewable. I collect dyes in the warm months while spinning, dyeing, and weaving yarn in the cold months when I need a break for my mind between textbook readings.

A young specimen of Phaeolus schweinitzii, commonly called Dyer's Polypore. It is identifiable by the yellow ring of new growth on the circumference of the mushroom along with the light yellow green pore under surface. I always harvest wild forage legally, ethically, and sustainably.

Take a break from the weekly grind.

Dying natural fibers like wool with mushrooms is a very enjoyable intersection with chemistry and crafting. Mushroom dyes need the pH adjusted to help pigment molecules bind to wool. I also have to ‘scour’ the wool and degrease it. It is the same as opening the cuticle of hair to accept hair dye. The chemical that scours the wool is called the mordent. After I dye the wool and give a final wash with conditioner, it can be used in crochet, embroidery, weaving or anything else. Making tangible objects creates a balance with the knowledge I squish into my head.

Another way to help me destress and feel like I am progressing is by playing music. I have my guitar near my desktop at home. I can hear myself improving when I play the songs I am learning. It feels like a small win that allows me a sigh of relief when I get stymied by mental challenges.

Wool roving in a dye pot of stinging nettle

I do my best to keep my hobbies by integrating them together. I can take my guitar, homework, and my foraging basket out to the woods to enjoy my Saturdays, keeping my productivity and taking a much-needed break from the weekly grind. In the winter I can hear changes in my guitar playing, and see a change in my wool stash, as the white wool turns pretty colors. I enjoy being able to see where I came from as I journey in my interests. I won’t let the stress from my academic journey kill my passions and I hope that you can take away from this post a few ideas that help you fend off your own stressors.

References:

“Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases.” World Health Organization. 28 May, 2019. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases. Accessed 11 February 2022.

Godden. Baddeley. Context-dependent memory in two natural environments: on land and underwater. (Vol. 66, issue 3), British Journal of Psychology, 1975, (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1975.tb01468.x). Date Accessed 11 Feb 2021.

Links to learn about backstrap weaving:

https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/backstrap-basics-an-article-from-weavezine-by-laverne-waddington/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5nwM23519k

https://www.kimberlyhamill.com/blog/2019/5/22/how-to-make-your-own-backstrap-loom