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It’s More than End-of-the-Year Exhaustion: Semester Rhythms and Recurring Burnout

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Higher Education By Beth Godbee April 25, 2019 Leave a Comment

Today Inside Higher Ed published my article, “Semester Rhythms and Recurring Burnout,” reflecting on the exhaustion that many educators and academics face at the end of each school year.

This screenshot shows the start of the Inside Higher Ed article “Semester Rhythms and Recurring Burnout,” including the byline, first four paragraphs, and image of seasonal change.

This article weaves together multiple threads of feeling, thinking, and doing (heart-head-hands) from my past few weeks, including:

  1. attention to my body’s fluctuating energy levels, seasonal changes, and continued recognition of semester rhythms;
  2. ongoing reflection on career discernment and my experience leaving higher ed; and
  3. development of the webinar and email series for educators and academics: “Where Do I Put My Energy? Navigating End-of-the-Year Exhaustion and Resetting for Summer.”

This image shows a field of tall green and brown grasses with even taller green buds and orange-red flowers: all pointing upward at the e-course information: "Where Do I Put My Energy? Navigating End-of-the-Year Exhaustion and Resetting for Summer"—webinar and weekly emails for educators.

To weave these threads together, I walk through four questions in the article:

  1. What are semester rhythms?
  2. Why do these rhythms matter?
  3. How do these rhythms relate to burnout?
  4. How do we work with semester rhythms and recurring burnout?

Here’s a bit of the conclusion, the answer to this fourth question:

“Now that I’ve left my faculty position, I’m working to rebuild trust in myself — trust that I’ll recognize what my body needs and act on those needs. I’ll rest when needed, play when needed, and work when needed. I’ll recognize internalized semester rhythms, but also question and counter them.

Trust feels important to countering burnout, as adrienne maree brown writes in Emergent Strategy that we can only “move with the speed of trust.” With this guidance in mind, I ask:

* How do we more consistently show up for ourselves, our responsibilities, and our commitments — not simply in bursts or to the point of exhaustion?

* How do we change departmental and institutional cultures that stack so much up — one thing on top of another — at the end of the year?

* How do we better recognize when semester rhythms are dehumanizing — treating us as machines rather than fully embodied humans?

* How do we shift discourses away from imagined “work-life balance” (and purely personal responsibilities to make change) toward the need for collective, widespread and structural change?”

I come to this conclusion and call to action after reflecting on how I’ve associated semester rhythms with recurring seasonal burnout. That burnout, in turn, has accumulated over time so that I’m still healing from it and needing to rebuild trust in and with myself.

I hope you’ll check out the piece and reach out with feedback.

May it help educators and academics with navigating these final weeks of the academic year. And may time be ever-expanding, especially for folks navigating end-of-year exams, celebrations, defenses, graduations, grading, and more.

—
This post is written by Beth Godbee for Heart-Head-Hands.com. For support at the end of the school year, check out “Where Do I Put My Energy? Navigating End-of-the-Year Exhaustion and Resetting for Summer.” You might also be interested in the self-paced e-course with coaching: “Career Discernment for Academics: Aligning Career with Commitments.”

If you appreciate this site, if you connect with the storytelling, or if you use any of the recipes or resources, consider making a one-time or sustaining donation. Please also consider subscribing to posts and liking this blog on FB. Thanks!

*****

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Tagged with: career discernment, community care, embodiment, equity in education, habits, healing, resilience, self-care, storytelling, teaching, writing

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Update: THANKS to everyone who alerted me to the a Update: THANKS to everyone who alerted me to the account and who reported it. It appears to be down. I’m really grateful. 💚

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So … apparently someone has cloned my account and started one at @bethgodbeee (with eee — 3 e’s at the end). 

If you’ve received a request from this account, will you report them?

And if you’ve had this happen or know more about this sort of copycatting/cloning, I’m so grateful for camaraderie and advice. I’m in a learning curve.

Thank you!!!
If you're currently on a journey with a writing pr If you're currently on a journey with a writing project, consider joining this Thursday's #writing retreat.

I think of retreats like this boardwalk: there's a pathway to follow with clear edges and a lot of spaciousness to work/walk throughout the day.

Learn more about one-day online retreats, sliding-scale registration, and upcoming dates here:

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It's fall! A few views from here: 1. My partner J It's fall! A few views from here:

1. My partner Jonathan and me hiking at Great Falls.
2. Crocheting in progress. I'm picking back up this project started early in the pandemic.
3. Pumpkin pancakes. Yum!
4. Weird leg-like mushrooms sticking out of a log.
5. Book display on whole food plant based (WFPB) eating.
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{Not pictured: Recovering from covid and flu vaccines. Send healing wishes! :-)}
Updates to the new offering “Pathways Through Bu Updates to the new offering “Pathways Through Burnout: A Cohort Experience”:

For the past year, Candace and I have been listening to requests for an offering around burnout (or, more precisely, being burned up), and we launched a new cohort experience August 1st. We are deeply grateful for the range of responses we’ve received since then, and we’ve been prioritizing time to listen and discern what people want and need.

Through a lot of conversation and reflection, we’ve decided to slow down further and to reshape the offering. 

We’ll continue offering interactive workshops on practices for navigating burnout—with new dates announced for November 3rd and December 15th (and more to come in 2024). 

Starting in January, we’ll hold a few one-day retreats with time for art, play, contemplative practice, conversation, and coaching. We hope the retreat will feel like something that’s possible now (with so many pushes and pulls on time and attention).

All of this is leading to a 12-week version of the cohort experience: a season of connection to match a season in life. We’ll reopen applications in the spring and hope that a small group forms well ahead of our start date in September 2024.

The details of all of these experiences—and an invitation to join the workshops in Nov and Dec—are shared online here: https://heart-head-hands.com/pathways-through-burnout/ 
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And we continue to appreciate all sorts of feedback (questions, suggestions, affirmations), so please reach out anytime. <3

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With @dr._candace_epps_robertson_ #burnout #update #practice #contemplative #meditation #writing #art #retreat
I am slow to edit and share photos, but I want to I am slow to edit and share photos, but I want to share these from the Beyond Granite public art exhibit that just left the National Mall here in DC. I wish this installation was staying long-term. How I struggle with visiting the Mall in the best of conditions. And how these pieces helped me appreciate what could instead be done in this space. 

Also, Jonathan and I got really lucky that the night we visited was the most spectacular sunset! Scroll through for photos of how "America's Playground" appears against an orange sky (no filter).
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About Beth Godbee

I'm an educator and former writing studies professor who believes our fully embodied selves matter in the world. We can’t just think our way out of the incredible injustices, dehumanization, violence, and wrongdoing that characterize everyday life. We must feel and act, too. [Pronouns: she/her.] Read more ...

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