Burnout

Fran McGreevy served as a guest speaker and conveyed some of the material he uses in presentations in the secular school environment. He wove in biblical principles to emphasize God's views on this widespread issue, Burnout. At the beginning of his message, Fran defined burnout as the dislocation between who people are and what they do. He mentioned that burnout could be caused by work overload and/or a lack of control, reward, and fairness. Another cause could be a breakdown of community. He also illustrated an example where he asked a teacher what they truly wanted. This teacher was so busy with her work, family obligations, and stress that she did not even know how to answer the question. Fran simplified the story into the basic wants that need to be fulfilled in order to avoid burnout: relatedness (we are hard-wired for relationships), competency (everyone wants to be good at something), and autonomy (people desire to make choices based on authentically who they are as people). He concluded his message by explaining the concept of vulnerability by debunking the notion that vulnerability is equivalent to weakness. He described vulnerability as emotional risk, exposure, uncertainty, and honesty. It is our most accurate measure of courage. He described Matthew 13:23 which states: "But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." He further emphasized Matthew 16:23-25, explaining that if we lose our lives for God's sake we are saving our lives rather than losing them.