My Burnout Story #4: Prevention is Our New Path
In the first three parts of this series, I opened up about my own journey through the fire of burnout.
EDUCATORS' BURN OUT
7/19/20262 min read
We walked through the moment someone finally saw the exhaustion I was hiding (#1), the difficult realization that the exhaustion didn't simply vanish overnight (#2), and the sobering truth that my burnout had been quietly building long before I even recognized the signs (#3).
The reality is that I am not alone in this; in fact, the teaching profession is currently ranked as the most stressful in the United States. This phenomenon does not bypass the Christian school—we feel it just as acutely. Research shows that this escalating stress and burnout not only takes a toll on us, but it also negatively impacts our students and diminishes our effectiveness in classroom management.
Looking at these statistics, I realized that most of the resources I found were focused on the "after"—on how to pick up the pieces once a teacher has already hit a wall. While healing is necessary, I found myself asking a different question: What if we didn't have to break in the first place?
We are far better at treating the symptoms of burnout than we are at preventing the condition itself. Especially in our Christian schools, we talk about the "shepherd’s heart"—the beautiful, heavy calling to guide our students—but we rarely have coaching programs that protect the shepherd’s own spirit before the crisis hits.
That is why I am shifting our focus. Prevention is more important than remedy.
To find a better way, I turned to the work of psychologist Albert Bandura and his concept of self-efficacy—the belief in our own capacity to handle the tasks before us. I wanted to see if we could bridge the gap between educational theory and the daily life of a Christian teacher. By applying Bandura’s second factor of self-efficacy—social role modeling—I have been developing a coaching program designed specifically for us.
This isn't just about surviving the school year; it’s about building the kind of resilience that honors our calling. I am no longer just writing about the burnout I endured; I am writing about the tools I am using to ensure we don't have to stay there.
We are not meant to lead from a place of depletion. It is time to learn how to keep the shepherd strong.
Here is also a song I want to suggest, "Before We Break"