MOMENTS OF CLARITY:

REFLECTIONS ON BURNOUT and RESILIENCE IN HIGHER ED 

 


My First Lesson in Resilience

C. Jenise Williamson

Once a student let me know that I had made a mistake in publishing his poems in the campus literary magazine. He said he had retracted the submissions and submitted something else to take their place. I couldn’t recall having had that conversation. The presumption of the student that his work should be immediately accepted was something I didn’t want to get into, so I did as he asked.

I pondered the convenience of electronic documents making it an easy fix and thanked a generous colleague who made the edits for me. But afterward, when thinking of it all and the flurry of emails that transpired around it, I told myself over and over that I was unprofessional. But was I really?

We all make mistakes on the job. For some reason, though, making mistakes in academia seems worse than making them anywhere else. Here’s why.

As academics, we are used to marking incorrect answers to assignments to reflect students’ content knowledge. When we practice this traditional grading—that is, marking down ourselves (and perhaps others in and outside of academia), we see just how punitive it can feel to students.

You’re guessing correctly that I’m all for the more equitable practice of “un-grading” to track student learning. By applying the practice of “un-grading” to ourselves, we can follow our own progress, personally and professionally, without the threat of reprisal or shame.

If we berate ourselves, it’s usually that we were expecting to have reached a golden bough but missed. In missing many golden boughs over the years, I’ve compared myself with colleagues and found myself wanting. I have an MFA; they have Ph.D.’s. I’m older now; they’re coming in younger than ever. I’ve done a lot of service work; they’re publishing more and have gotten more grants, even though they also do a lot of service.

Instead of worrying about these smaller mistakes that can be easily corrected, I’ve also made some bigger ones. In her article “3 Dangerous Mistakes Women Make That Lead to Burnout,” Jen Butler calls out the very same mistakes I’ve made over the years: I tolerated too much, I ignored the warning signs, and I tried too hard to do it all myself.

 After a few good minutes of self-flagellation over the literary magazine, I deepened my resolve to be okay with being human. I will consider without judgement the mistakes I make as I go, making the learning from it the most important goal, and saving the grading of my teaching career and the final portfolio of my accomplishments for when I move toward retirement.

If you’re wondering what the warning signs are and whether or not you are experiencing burnout, you might want to check out the article “8 Warning Signs of Burnout (and How to Reverse Them).” 

Another inventory is the Maslach Burnout Inventory which we'll read about in a future post. To take the inventory, click here: https://www.mindgarden.com/117-maslach-burnout-inventory-mbi . There you will see a list of inventories with one designed specifically for educators.

References

“8 Warning Signs of Burnout (and How to Reverse Them).” The Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness. https://cmoe.com/blog/warning-signs-of-burnout/

Butler, Jen. “3 Dangerous Mistakes Women Make That Lead to Burnout.” The American Institute of Stress, 11 Mar. 2021, https://www.stress.org/3-dangerous-mistakes-women-make-that-lead-to-burnout

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