A writer shares some biblical principles that helped her in her recovery from work burnout.

Eliza Tan

It started with just one colleague leaving. It made sense when my supervisor told me to take over her work.

Then another teammate resigned. They passed me her portfolio too, believing that I could handle it.

And I could—at least for a while. I enjoyed my expanded portfolio at first. The outcomes I delivered even received external recognition, and my boss duly rewarded me.

As a dutiful and diligent worker, I tried to juggle all that was on my plate. But over time, I found myself fretting over deadlines and losing interest in work.

Telling my supervisor about my ballooning workload changed nothing. Reluctant to take medical leave lest I lose productive time, I went to work even when I felt sick.

For all of six months, I clocked overtime every weekday, staying in the office till 9 in the evening.

But my work performance suffered. Physically and mentally exhausted, my creativity and drive to innovate dried up. What’s wrong with me? I wondered.

All this came to a head when I received my worst performance appraisal ever. In the office, at that very moment, I experienced what I believe was an anxiety attack: shortness of breath, racing heart, and tingling fingers.

That was when I knew I had to quit. I was completely burned out.

Burnout is such a common modern malady that you may know someone who’s suffered from it. Perhaps you have experienced it too.

It seems more prevalent among those in their 20s to their 40s, according to author Anne Helen Petersen in her book Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. There, she lists some reasons for this:

I also wonder if Christians are especially susceptible to burnout, with our Scriptures encouraging a strong work ethic.

We are exhorted to work heartily out of reverence for God (Colossians 3:22–24; Ephesians 6:7–8). We are called to emulate the hardworking ant that works all year round (Proverbs 6:6–8). What’s more, we are instructed to work “with all [our] might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

On further thought, however, I don’t think that the biblical injunctions to work hard can be blamed.

In time, I realised that they had to be held in tension with other spiritual truths, truths that helped me to recover from burnout.

In fact, these truths became avenues through which I received God’s healing gifts of faith, hope, and love.

Experiencing burnout forced me to accept that I was a finite creature. As much as I tried to keep being productive, there was only so much I could do. I had to rest to recover.

God made us this way. His command to the Israelites to observe the Sabbath was designed as a healthy boundary, for them to meet their physical needs.

When we choose to let go of the desire to constantly strive by our own strength, we acknowledge that our lives and achievements are upheld by God, not by our own labour.

After switching to a job with a lighter workload, I could leave work on the dot. Without overtime, the first few evenings felt strangely restless, boring, and uncomfortable. I began to question my identity and worth when I wasn’t clocking extra hours in the office.

Over time, however, I began to accept and enjoy the gift of free time. It enabled me to care for my chronically-ill mother. Even simple things that I could have taken for granted—seeing daylight when I left the office, regular exercise after work, and a quiet read as I wound down before bed—I recognised as pleasures to thank God for.

Through this change, I discovered that my identity wasn’t in what I did or did not do. Instead my identity was based on who I am in Christ. The Bible tells us that our worth lies in the fact that God made us in His image (Genesis 1:27)—not in us making our mark through the work of our hands.

We can have faith in God’s power to restore us to who He wants us to be, as we recognise our physical boundaries and rest as He designed us to.

One debilitating effect of burnout is the loss of confidence in our competence at work. At my lowest point, the only thing I could do was to turn my anxieties into prayer, as encouraged by Paul in Philippians 4:6–7.

As this trial crushed my self-reliance, it turned me into a prayerful worker. Romans 12:12—which calls us to “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”—also inspired me to be patient and persistent in my prayers, while waiting with hope for God’s healing. And He did heal, in time.

His Word comforted and encouraged me even when His promises defied worldly logic. How could we possibly rejoice in our suffering, which Romans 5:3–4 says will produce perseverance, character, and hope? I’d sooner numb myself against the suffering.

But believing in God’s promises demanded a hope that looked beyond the desire for comfort and immediate relief.

Rejoicing in suffering is possible because of the hope we have in the Lord. The Holy Spirit reminds us of His love, which assures us that our hope in God and His promise of transformation will not be disappointed (v.5).

Besides physical and mental recovery, emotional healing is also necessary in the wake of burnout.

Even though I had told my supervisor and department head that I was struggling under my increased workload, they did nothing to alleviate my situation. After I left, I resented the fact that they had ignored my feedback.

As part of God’s process of restoration after I burned out, I felt prompted to forgive my bosses for their inaction. As I asked God to help me forgive them as He forgave me (Matthew 6:14), He released me from my bitterness.

When I met my former supervisor several months after my resignation, I found that I could speak to him as a friend, and even gave him some books to pass to his child.

God also hastened my healing through friends who lent me a listening ear, especially the believers among them.

Two of my friends, who were trained in counselling, helped me to make sense of what I was experiencing. They encouraged me to seek professional help, which I found in a therapist. As I’ve learnt, wisdom can be found in listening to advisors (Proverbs 11:14).

I’m especially thankful for a friend who met me for dinner on my last day. She sat with me as I grieved my departure and reminded me of God’s faithfulness at work.

She told me to think of one thing to thank God for in each year I spent at that workplace. To my surprise, I had no difficulty doing this. In her, I found a friend who “sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

By seeking forgiveness and fellowship, we can experience the love and support we need in order to heal holistically.

Recovering from burnout doesn’t mean denouncing the virtues of diligence and dedication. They have to be balanced with a recognition of our need for rest, a release of our cares to God as we prayerfully hope in His promises, and a reliance on the God-given relationships around us.

Most importantly, recovering from burnout requires us to grow in patience as we wait on God, surrender our burdens to Him, and allow Him to renew our strength. As Isaiah 40:31 promises: