Renewal is key for people who are helping other people. Whatever the form of your service, when you care for others, you must renew yourself personally in order to deal with the stresses of your helping activities.

Each of us instinctively knows we need renewal and self-care in order to continue to serve well and joyfully. We may address these needs sporadically by spending time in nature to ground and reconnect ourselves or by taking a holiday to rest and rejuvenate our energies.

Although those kinds of rest are beneficial, if we don’t address the issues arising from our helping work, the accumulated stress can eventually sap our energy -- leaving us exhausted, uninspired, disillusioned, and burned out.

Staying Inspired and Preventing Burnout

An important, but often overlooked aspect of renewal is finding a middle ground between our work and our relaxation, a place where we consciously and mindfully

• Visit the issues that arise in the course of our work
  
  
• Reflect upon and learn from the experiences and
  
  
• Release the burdens we carry related to our helping activities

Our ability to “digest” our experiences is critical to maintaining the fluidity and health of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies and preventing burnout.

Find out if the basic Renewal seminar offered by Gauden University’s Institute of Professional Development is right for you.

See Welcome Letter from the Dean of the Institute for Professional Development