The Creative Path to Avoiding Burnout

For the first ten years of my professional life, I worked as a caseworker in supportive housing for older adults who had histories of homelessness and also lived with chronic mental illness. I found the work both challenging and profoundly meaningful. 

One year, I took a continuing education class on preventing burnout in high-stress jobs. The instructor asked us: What is your dream job? 

My initial response was that I was doing my dream job. I looked forward to going to work every day. I enjoyed being part of a community of healing. I was honored to bear witness to the incredible resilience of the human spirit, even when faced with overwhelming obstacles. 

The instructor asked the question another way: What job would you be doing if you weren’t doing this job? Well, I’d considered being an English teacher, a pastor, or a chaplain, but at the time, those career paths didn’t tempt me away from the work I was doing. I loved my job.

The instructor asked again: What is your DREAM JOB? 

I closed my eyes and let myself dream. I saw a desk by an open window with a view. Perhaps ocean waves, a clear blue lake, a secluded forest, a grassy lawn, rolling green hills, a flowing brook. Notebooks of blank paper lay on the desk and I sat there with a pen in my hand. My dream job, I realized, was to write stories.  

The instructor then gave me one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received: figure out a way to get your dream job into your life right now. I did. Sometimes five minutes a day, sometimes five minutes a week, but I kept my dream of writing fiction alive, in the midst of other busy, meaningful work. It has helped prevent me from burning out in my day jobs. And after many years, I’ve even acquired a desk by a window. I’m still working on the view, but one thing at a time. 

So, Reader, if you happen to find yourself in a stressful work environment, whatever that looks like (knowing that much stressful work, on the home front especially, remains unpaid), ask yourself, what is your DREAM JOB? And then try to find some way to get it into your life. Take it from me, even a few minutes of doing your dream job every few days will end up making a qualitative difference in your life.