The Joy of Burnout: How the End of the World Can Be a New Beginning [Paperback]

Dr. Dina Glouberman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2003

Is burnout really as bad as its reputation suggests? Dr. Dina Glouberman says no. While other books tend to focus on managing burnout and restoring pre-burnout status, this lively, personal guide radically redefines the condition: Burnout is not the end-of-tether phase this side of breakdown, but a trigger for profound change and self-renewal. Glouberman explains, "Burnout is, or can be, a door to walk through into a life with space, love, and joy — indeed a sense of being able to be one’s true self." For those who are at burnout, or in danger of becoming so, this practical guide provides a companion to help readers rise from the ashes of their former selves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Glouberman (Life Choices, Life Changes), a founder of the Skyos Holistic Holiday Center, believes that burnout on the job is both destructive and positive. From her own experience, she knows that physical ailments and even serious illnesses can be symptoms of burnout that are too often ignored. However, Glouberman argues that burnout can be the first step to a new and happier life. "Burnout is, or rather can be, a door to walk through into a life with space, love and joy-indeed, a sense of being able to be one's true self.... Burnout is the result of having become better able to hear our soul but not yet daring to listen. Burnout demands that we listen." The author knew she had to change her life after publishing her first book and leaving her longtime job when she became ill and fatigued but unsure what to do next. Interspersed with Glouberman's advice and views on burnout are real-life anecdotes from the famous-e.g., the author Sue Townsend-to the ordinary who have coped with burnout. Contemplative exercises such as looking back at the end of a day or looking inside one's "House of Truth" may be helpful to imaginative readers. People eager for an explanation of why they're unhappy despite the exterior trappings of success may find the book comforting. However, it will be best appreciated by those already comfortable with a more spiritual and less practical approach. Readers uneasy with such phrases as "Give your soul a good home" or "Open up to a soul community" may prefer a more pragmatic approach, like Reclaiming the Fire, by Dr. Steven Berglas.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Psychotherapist and founder of the self-help island Skyros, Dr Dina Glouberman helps us turn our lives around with her radical approach to burnout. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Inner Ocean Publishing (August 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930722206
• ISBN-13: 978-1930722200
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,156,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartening and helpful, November 10, 2003

By 

P. Lozar "plozar" (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Joy of Burnout: How the End of the World Can Be a New Beginning (Paperback)

This book caught my eye in a bookstore in London last fall, and I found it very timely and helpful, so I'm delighted that it's now available in the U.S.

Most books on burnout are written from the perspective that burnout is a negative condition that results from our failure to handle life's demands effectively, so it's up to us to cure the personal problems that caused the burnout and restore our pre-burnout frame of mind. By contrast, Dr. Glouberman sees burnout as a wake-up call, an invitation to stop and re-evaluate what led to our burnout, and an opportunity to reinvent our lives.

In my experience, burnout often occurs because (as happened to the author herself) we're putting too much of our energy into activities that are peripheral or antithetical to what we do best -- e.g., the technical expert who's thrust into a management job, or the teacher who becomes an administrator. Rather than struggling frantically to recapture the enthusiasm that may not have been there in the first place, it's better to step back, evaluate what's right and wrong for us in the present situation, and consciously choose which path forward is best for us.

The author's exercises are helpful, but what I found most encouraging was her attitude. Most people with a strong work ethic find burnout shameful -- an admission that they "failed" to meet the demands of a presumably desirable situation. Dr. Glouberman's positive, optimistic approach to burnout is heartening: once you're able to get past the negative emotions associated with burnout, you're free to look at the situation with detachment, and to learn from it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Working With, Rather Than Just Trying to Conquer Burnout, February 16, 2006

By 

Dr. Richard G. Petty (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Joy of Burnout: How the End of the World Can Be a New Beginning (Paperback)

The question: "What is burnout?" may seem obvious, since the term "burnout" has become part of everyday language, but it is still the topic of a great deal of empirical research.

Perhaps the best definition is that burnout is a prolonged response to chronic physical, emotional and interpersonal stressors at work. It is defined by three primary dimensions:
Exhaustion
Cynicism
Inefficacy

Burnout is more than just an individual experience of stress: it has to be seen in the larger organizational context of people's relationship with their work, and it has to be seen as a meaningful process that is trying to tell us something.

It is often the case that individuals miss all the signs in themselves. Some of the main symptoms are: Trouble sleeping; Worrying, particularly at night; Feeling unappreciated or "used" at work; Feeling less effective or competent than you used to; Easily becoming angry or irritated; A dread of going to work; A feeling of being overwhelmed; Recurrent stress-related physical symptoms like headaches, fatigue or back pain; Watching the clock and counting down toward the end of the work day; Rigidly applying rules without considering more creative solutions; Automatically expressing negative attitudes; Finding excuses to be absent from work. This is not the whole list, but just some of the most important symptoms. It is distressing that some people with burnout begin to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, as can happen with many life changing events, if people are not shown a way out of the maze.

There has been a lot of work on strategies to help individuals and organizations deal with this problem. Most have focused on ways to abolish the problem: to make it go away. Though that is a worthy objective, it is also important to understand the context, meaning and purpose of events in our lives, or otherwise we simply keep putting psychological bandaids on ever larger problems. So the best approach is to use work with physical, psychological and social difficulties to come up with solutions, but not to neglect the broader context of burnout: what does it mean for us personally and spiritualy?

This book is a superb example of how to approach that final piece. Pain, suffering and struggle are so often life's way of helping us to advance, to break out of the cocoons that restrain us. The trick is to know how to use these "negative" events to our advantage. Dina Glouberman's book is well written and full of wise and practical advice.

If you have any of the symptoms that I mentioned, then I would heartily recommend that you investigate what Dina has to say.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Settle for Burnout! There's more to life..., October 2, 2003

By 

"karenbn" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Joy of Burnout: How the End of the World Can Be a New Beginning (Paperback)

I attended one of Dr. Glouberman's seminars, and I found her book even more helpful--because I can practice the exercises and read the book for advice and inspiration as I need it. She has an insightful, poignant writing style with the wisdom of an expert who knows her audience and how to help them. Burnout is so commonplace that we accept it as normal, and Glouberman reminds us that life is about living with our whole hearts and finding our true selves.