Sure have. It came to an end in April. I had a 2 month break from work and it refreshed me.
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I have an SCorp so I have to pay myself a reasonable wage as dictated by the IRS. Nothing is more reasonable than an hourly wage. Plus the separation of my personal finances from the business is beneficial for me. Perhaps just psychologically, but it’s what I need to do.

I also work for an accountant during tax season as an hourly and anything I do on dads farm is hourly. So yeah. I keep hours.

No OT.
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I’m going to go back and read the thread, more than I’ve barely skimmed parts of it so far. I’ve thought about reading more, and maybe even responding. But let’s go with sharing first


Yes. Yes. Yes. More than I would wish on anyone. Sometimes it feels like a burnout every other couple months. Started 6 years ago. Hands up don’t shoot. The fallout, the recovery. Another fallout another recovery. And that’s just society jumping up and down over all cops are nazis to understanding Kap in any way makes you unamerican.

But personally, feeling the divide tearing like pulling flesh, slowly and pain filled. Over 6 years. Loss of friends and family connections over just being a police officer. Nothing more specific than wearing a badge.

It’s feeling never ending right now. 6 years, everyday getting harder, more scrutiny, from friends and family. It’s not just random strangers.

They suck sometimes too. Had a stranger ask me not to be too mean to a stalking black teen ex of her white daughter. Because “i know how you cops are with black people”.

There is a gigantic gap between perceived injustices and actual injustices over the last 6 years. And too many vocal opinions, and actions; are burning out many in the law enforcement community. All. Over. The. Country.

I’m really surprised it’s gotten to this point. But then again, covid only kills less than 1% of positive cases, and covid is a big problem in america media stories. Similar to cops killing black people (not even taking into consideration if it’s justified or not) and that’s the bigger story than all other reasons for black deaths, any deaths, in the BLM movement.

Yet it’s those like me, the American devil (literally hitler) who is judged for the color of his/her uniform, that is the “real problem” through out america today, according to the vocal majority right now.

Simply speaking. Yes.

Yes

Yes, I understand burnout. I am burnt the fuck out. I don’t know how to go from this point in time right now.
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Thank you for serving your community, crazycoffee
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Burn out? Yes. Got 4 years to go and my kids will be off my payroll. Life will be easier.
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:-) Man are you in for a shock.
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Going out on a limb here--It will make me sound like a big fat marshmallow.

It has taken a lot of guts for us all (me included) to pour out our guts here. Publically.
I want the best for everyone here and hope you can overcome the challenges that are happening to you. None of us are alone. Either here or at home.

Get help. Talk to someone. Get it off your chest. Doctors understand. Xanax is not necessarily a bad thing.


Therapy helped me-but I may need to go back. As of now, I will be back into almost the same situation as I was in Feb. Although bitch that called me a racist is gone. She may be responding to a shooting in MPLS soon.

Done. It is getting foggy in here.
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I've never received mental therapy but the stigma is stupid. Your not weak because you get mental help. That some idiots think that pisses me off.

I've seen it help so many people. Made a big difference in their life. I've always saw therapy as a legit health option as any other part of your healthcare.

I'd like to see the acceptance of mental therapy accepted as legit by everyone soon. Thanks for sharing.
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:-)

Self-pride is real literal killer at times. Worst case I ever dealt with in reference to self-pride however, didn't come from a man but from a woman. I was counseling this teenage kid 16(male) who was dealing with depression. His parents forced him to go. I started digging as to how he was self-medicating for that and he said, "I like alcohol". Started digging deeper as to how much and often and it was tremendous. He was hiding the hard stuff in the toilet tank from his parents and killing at least a quart almost everyday. His parents had no idea he even drank or they just chose to ignore the signs. At that time the movie "Clean and Sober" with Michael Keaton had just come out. I told him go watch that movie and then come back and let's talk about it. To say the least, he came back and was even more brutally honest in his drinking and said, "I am Keaton but with alcohol". He loved the movie because he saw hope and a way out. I told him now we need to bring your parents in and have a family discussion about not only your drinking issue but what makes you drink. His main issue was his mother who was southern born mind you and made John Wayne look like a pussy.

To say the least, the father and the kid were all on board to getting inpatient tx. And their insurance covered treatment mind you. But the mother ? She said, " No son of mine has a drinking problem and this is just a phase and we will get through it". The son at that point begged his mother over and over and said, "I'm sick Mom, I'm sick and I need serious help"(with tears in his eyes). I then intervened, so as to show the mother how sick he was and said to the son, "Tell your mom how much you drink and where you have all the hard stuff hid all over the house right now." After the son told her, the look she gave me across the table was as though she briefly turned into Satan and wanted to obliterate me right then and there on the spot. But she turned back to her son and said, "You have no drinking problem and we will get through this". The father was just quietly passive through all of this which said volumes about who wore the pants in the family. Even though the son was close to his father you could also see the son was severely disappointed let down again by his father's passivity to intervene and take charge regardless of the mother's selfish pride. Understand this was just only the 3rd session.

This kid was a hardcore drinker and no outpatient was going to work and I knew that and so did he and his father. But his mom would have none of it. Just sad.
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:-)
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The only time I've experienced true burnout, is during my 2+ year stint as a truck driver

12-13 hour days on the road are a genuine grind and they dont take long to add up... over the road guys are limited to 11 hour days, but grain haulers in this state have an exemption

In bed at 9, up at 3 for a 12-13 hour day?

Piss off
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Yeah, I might have killed myself by now in these situations, heh... where it's either maximizing profit of my own business or $$ per mile or whatever.
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When I left the Army when I turned 40, I told myself my days of working "for free" were over. When I joined my current company, if I'm supposed to work 176 hours that month, that's what I work. Now, does that mean I necessarily clock out right at 5? Nope, but if I'm 4 hours ahead come end of the time card, then I'm taking a half-day off on time-card day. Also, they allow us to work ahead so if I know I'm going to be out of town on a three-day weekend, I'll try to put in an hour here/hour there to minimize the amount of PTO I have to take.

The way I've avoided burn-out is my company is big enough and has enough projects that I've always been able to move to a new contract after 3+ years on an assignment. So, about the time I start going "I really don't want to go in to work today", that's when I start checking the internal help-wanted web pages and applying for a new assignment. That's helped a lot by being able to shift to a new assignment, new co-workers and keep me interested and fresh.

Have I maybe missed a few promotions? Yes, on-purpose. When I was hired 21 years ago, I told them I had no interest in management. I'd been a senior NCO and learned quickly the two things I hated the most were meetings and paperwork. Just give me interesting work, give me the occasional COL raise and Mrs. White's boy is a happy person. And I'm still with the company 21 years later while most of the "hard-chargers" have burnt themselves out and quit after 3-7 years.

I guess those higher paychecks were worth it to them. Me? I'd rather do my 40 and go home and spend time with my family.
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3 years ago my wife and I were on top of the world financially. No mortgage, very little debt, disposable income to do whatever the fuck we wanted. And at the same time I was going through the worst work experience of my life. Went through several phases of burnout and depression. Ended up making major changes in our lives, and as a result, all that financial security is gone now. We'll probably never be back where we were, and I couldn't care any less, we're much happier now. You can't buy your sanity back for any amount of money.
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I had a job from 2010 to 2017 that was like family. We hung out together regularly, went to each other's weddings, etc. Most days it didn't even feel like going to work. It just felt like going to hang out with your friends and work on cool projects.

That is everything imo. I was part of a village that worked together and looked out for each other. There was even plenty of room for village weirdos like me. If I could have a situation like that my whole life, I don't think I would need much else to be content.
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