"I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused." - Elvis Costello
They say attitude is everything, but as the world keeps getting crazier, can it really be that simple? Demands on everyone are growing - from figuring out how to meet career demands to raising well-adjusted kids to increasing political awareness and involvement; and of course, there is the issue of trying to live a halfway balanced life.
Where do you focus your efforts? If you do try to take on challenges and work for change, how can you protect yourself from burnout when it seems like new problems keep sprouting up every time you turn your head? It's the age old question for anyone feeling roused to participate in social change, regardless of whether the scope of change you seek is for your community as a whole, your workplace, or within the bounds of your own family.
How do you fight the good fight and not burn out?
What I am going to propose to you will appear simple, but it is actually quite difficult and will take practice to master. It may seem a bit idealistic at first, but bear with me. Like Elvis suggests, it does have a lot to do with how you look at situations. Ultimately, I believe the key to the whole puzzle is how you look at yourself. If you are sincere in wanting to answer this question of coping with burnout and are willing to be relentless in your quest, then making an honest study of yourself will serve you well.
Believe it or not, I will be calling upon Dr. Freud here. The deeper I get into advanced personal development work, the more respect I have for what I believe is the most useful concept Freud presented: psychological projection.
In short, projection is that process by which we use each other as screens upon which we play out our own inner issues. You may have heard variations on this theme such as "when you are angry at someone else, it is because they are displaying something you actually do not like in yourself."
Let me go on record saying that some people, many as a matter of fact, are certainly engaging in activities that deserve our outrage. Many atrocities are being committed in the world. In no way do I mean to imply the anger you feel about the appalling state of world and societal affairs is simply you being uncomfortable seeing your own wicked self reflected in others. That is overly simplistic and isn't the question on the table. The question is how do you see things that upset you in your family, workplace, community, and world? How do you cope with it without getting burned out and completely jaded by what you see?
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