We recently had a presentation covering burnout and strategies to overcome it.
It was sort of hilarious.
They correctly identified that burnout is rooted in excess responsibilities, but neglected to mention that feeling a lack of control plays an huge part. They also covered that people can feel unrecognized for their efforts but weirdly seemed to skip over any mention of how an insufficient reward for efforts plays a part, too.
Their suggestions to address it were all employee-focused: Stay away from negative people. (What, so you all can’t talk about how much the job sucks?) Mediate. Practice gratitude. Set boundaries in your home life, so you’re not so stretched thin. (But not your work life?)
They clumsily and quite obviously avoided the question of what role the employer plays in workplace burnout.
It was a bit sad to watch the poor trainer in action. I know they’re just trying to make sure the gleaming maw of capitalism remains unblemished by the flesh of those it consumes, but woof.
I actually walked away from the presentation with a less positive outlook on my employer than I had before I attended.
When up is down, and left is right, and black is white, and in is out, and rich is - well we don't talk about that - it's no wonder that people feel all twisted inside. It's like everyone in a position of authority is trying to lie to them!? (probably b/c everyone in a position of authority is trying to lie to them)
Which causes people to turn towards religion. Which causes them to vote for Donald Trump. Which causes the downturn of society, which causes... dayum, can this ever end in anything but death?
Sadly, I think not. The golden era of 50s & 60s are gone, and they are NEVER coming back. Plan to have a roommate, I guess, for the rest of your life...
Absolutely, and I think it gets skewed even further by e.g. many TV shows and movies not even showing the presence of minorities at all. It's a collective blanket that gets pulled over people's heads.
But also, certain parts were legit better too (even as other parts were much worse), like there was an extremely brief period where the USA was not in one of the variety of forever wars, and supposedly a minimum wage really was a living wage somehow, at some point? (I'm not sure how many people got paid the *minimum" though, certainly fruit pickers would not be).
As I listen to people like the comedian George Carlin, who was talking about it before it happened and yet managed to lay it all out for us in advance, I realize that things were always going to head in this direction, and it was never going to be any different.
Therefore, for the sake of our own sanity, I think we need to let that go: it's never going to happen. The USA might not even survive the decade (imagine Trump winning, but even if he doesn't, is there any doubt that a GQP member will take the one after that? historically speaking, Dems never win successive elections), and if it does then the Dems will just cite how Congress blocked them at every turn, blaming the other side for why even with a majority they won't pass any laws related to e.g. school shootings.