The 4 Commandments of Emotional Exhaustion
Remember what it was like to feel? To experience the full spectrum of human emotion in sensible proportion to the rhythms of daily life? To respond to good news with a rush of joy instead of just a sad, half-assed unclenching?
If you’re nodding knowingly as you read, from the emotional equivalent of a soundproofed closet, rest assured that you’re not alone. This numbness—and apathy, alienation, and unbridled irritation with everything and everyone—is emotional exhaustion. It’s one of the pillars of burnout as defined in the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and a byproduct of prolonged stress. And right now, it’s everywhere: in USA Today articles, in YouTube cartoons, and in the preponderance of “I feel nothing” memes bombarding your (okay, my) feeds.
You probably know how we got here. Consider the last 11 months, then zoom in on the final three. An election, a pandemic winter, thwarted holiday celebrations, and an attempted coup. A regime change (yay!) and a viral mutation (boo!). You’d be forgiven for feeling nothing, save for the involuntary quickening of your pulse.
