• Burn-Out.

    Did you know that burn-out is classified as an “occupational phenomenon” in the International Classification of Diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO)?  It’s in a section describing factors that influence a person’s health without being an illness or injury.   Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life. It’s a syndrome (associated symptoms of opinions, emotions, and behavior) essentially brought to fruition from the unsuccessful management of chronic workplace stress.  It is characterized by three dimensions: Feelings 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…

  • Happiness.

    Philosophers caution against focusing on happiness as the ultimate good in life, and I tend to agree.  Happiness is subjective; it’s not a constant.  I think we’ve put happiness on this unobtainable pedestal. It’s something that we haven’t actually defined for ourselves as individuals, and we strive for an unrealistic, curated ideal (however it is we perceive that ideal).  Basically, we really don’t even know what we are searching for.  What we talk about in our culture as happiness is really kind of a revved-up version of happiness. It’s a high-energy [state] — scientists call it a high-arousal positive affect. It’s a feeling, it’s transient, it’s not quality of life, it’s not so…