105: A nail-biter realization about how we work

Here's a unique metaphor for HOW we work in our vocations. 

Join me, Margie Bryce, on a journey to harmonize the scattered shards of our personal and professional lives, just like crafting a stained glass masterpiece. 

The silent predator of burnout lurks in the shadows of our demanding roles, which is why this episode features a vital burnout questionnaire to help you self-assess and remain vigilant. Reflecting on my own decision to step back from pastoral ministry, I opened up about the path that led me to become a coach for others walking a similar journey. 

We'll discuss the importance of self-awareness and the implementation of healthy self-care practices, aimed at preserving the passion that fuels our service without being consumed by it. If you're a ministry leader seeking to keep your inner flame alive, this conversation is a beacon in the night, guiding you toward sustainable care for yourself as you care for others.

Chapters

• 0:01 Sustainable Self-Care for Ministry Leaders
• 12:02 Burnout Questionnaire for Ministry Leaders

Transcript

Margie: 0:01

Hey there, Margie Bryce here bringing you the Crabby Pastor podcast, and I don't think you're going to be too surprised to know that it's too easy today to become the Crabby Pastor. Our time together will give you food for thought to help you be the ministry leader, fully surrendered to God's purposes and living into whatever it takes to get you there and keep you there. So we're talking about sustainability in ministry. So how do the pieces of your life fit together? Do they fit together well and things are humming along just fine, or are there some pieces that are tight or absent or just not fitting the bill? This is your invitation to join me in my glass workshop for a video series, where I am going to do a stained glass project while I talk to you about sustainability and building sustainability into your heart and into your life. So I am going to be doing my art, which is a form of self-care, and I'm going to invite you into that space with me and I'm going to chat. I'm going to chat about self-care and I'm going to show you how I create, and there's a nifty, nifty analogy. Stained glass seems to be a very good metaphor for what I want to talk about, so I'd love for you to join me. To do that, opt in. I'll need you to email me at crabby pastor at gmail. That's crabby pastor at gmailcom. So you won't want to miss this. You definitely won't want to miss this. So make a plan to join me in the glass workshop.

Margie: 2:07

Hey there, friends, welcome to the Crabby Pastor Podcast, and I am here this day talking to you about something rather important. Now I have to start this out with kind of a disclaimer of sorts. I don't know, I've listened to a lot of illustrations for football and baseball and any kind of sport thing for a long time. So I am pressing the male people that are listening to this to hang in here with me, because I'm going to be talking about nails. We're talking about fingernails, we're talking about polish, we're talking about things like shellac, which, by the way, is one of the greatest inventions. I don't know why anybody's not talking about this. It's been a number of years where you can go get your nails done and they stay pristine, perfect, for like two weeks. So I want to talk about that because we're going to go to a rather interesting place here. So just hang with me as I do this and I think you'll be challenged.

Margie: 3:29

So I have been on the hunt for a new nail tech for a while and some of that had to do with this issue of shellac the pristine, perfect for two weeks nails thing and it's good, but the removal of it can be a little dastardly, let's say. In fact it is so dastardly that some of the nail techs I mean I get it I can't imagine doing that job, that task. It would be, I don't know, just challenging, I would think. And I do know some nail techs that actually have carpal tunnel at a pretty early age from doing everything that they do. But some of the nail techs will take a little drill and will just kind of drill or buff off your old nail polish before putting new on, which sort of sounds cool, except if you're on the receiving end and you realize that they've maybe gone a little too far with it and your nail bed feels a little tender. That is definitely definitely not cool. But the usual thing is that they take little pieces of paper towel or something, they soak it in acetone, which is like nail polish remover, and they put that on your nail and then they put a piece of tin foil wrap your finger at the end of your finger in tin foil and let it kind of soak for a while and then still in some instances there can be quite a bit of scraping going on, and that's just the way that that goes. That's just the way it is.

Margie: 5:09

So I don't know, I just was having some concern about a nail tech or two at the same spot, where you know I had tried a few, and I just, I don't know, it was bothering me. So I thought I got to find somebody new and I did. I went into this brand new salon and met with this gal and immediately she looked at my nails and she asked all about my prior experience with nail techs and what has gone on and what kind of a process I was using, what kind of polish brand that it was that I had on, I mean. And as she's doing this, she's kind of critiquing my nails and I felt a little, you know, intimidated by that. Frankly, I mean, I kind of had a sense that something was not right, but when people pointed out, you know, that's a whole different bulging.

Margie: 6:09

Now, I'm not the only one just for the sake of argument here that has had this issue. I just was walking, doing my trail walking with a friend and she she said let me look at your nails, look at that. She said I've had this issue with nail techs and I can't find anybody. I said, oh, you need to go to my new person because she's really great. So this is a thing All the ladies are saying yeah, the ladies that do this and the guys. Well, you're just going to have to go on this little journey, okay, for just a few moments here.

Margie: 6:48

So my new nail tech is looking at my nails and she's telling me that they are layers of clear base coat that were never properly removed there and that there's ripples in my nails, and then she goes on to a lengthy diatrium about how she can make my nails be healthy again. Now I don't know that. I would have said, man, my nails are not healthy. I just had an uneasy feeling about how it was going. Okay and just, you know, some of the places will get you in and get you out in an hour, and that's the goal. If that's what you're looking for, that's fine, because this gal does take a little bit longer. But she she definitely, you know looked at my nails and put them in the category of unhealthy and she prescribed some oil for me to put on my cuticles and all this, and then I come back the next time and she is still going on and on.

Margie: 7:51

I mean, I have to be quite honest, I was like almost a little intimidated to show up because I was wondering what she was going to say, you know like, oh, am I doing a good job or what? I'm not sure what that's about, where I just felt like felt a little intimidated by her. But okay, I kept on with her and I can see. I can see that there is a drastic difference between someone who just does the task, just do the task, get this done, and someone who is really concerned about how it is done and whether it's done in a way that health remains, health flourishes, because, you know, healthy things grow right and someone who wants to be sure that the process that they're doing for you is going to nurture and even be sustainable long term. So I have to say this new gal has this is a mindset, and I've done this for often on for oh, probably more years, and I wanna confess to you you know I'll get tired of it and just stop doing it. And then there's a special event and I'll start doing it again. But out of all of the nail techs that I have had over the years, she is the first, the first one that has talked about nail health, what it is, what it needs to be and what she is going to do. So my nails are looking better for all of you that really wanted to know that.

Margie: 9:37

But what I wanna challenge us with as ministry leaders is we can do the tasks, we can get it done. We can write a sermon, we can visit people, we can do our sermon, planning for the next, whatever. We can do all of the tasks, but are we doing them in a way that health remains and this is our personal health, our sanity, our ability to keep on, keeping on? Are we doing our task in a way that our soul is nurtured and that we can sustain this long term? Or are we just limping through the next holy season barely and we just might collapse for who knows how long after we are done? So this is my challenge, I think.

Margie: 10:36

Right now we're still in a lentish kind of season, and so Easter is upon us, and it was a quick jump this year between Christmas and Easter. Easter came early this year, so I just have had concern about how well pastors are making sure that the tasks that they are called to do are done at a pace that is nurturing and sustainable and that our load is not beyond what is going to be healthy for us to sustain long term. So don't just blow through all the tasks going at warp speed just to get it done, but slow down and make sure that you're working at a pace that is long term sustainable. So that's your, that is your nail tech challenge for today and for the guys that are listening, you get high marks. If you made it this far, I would give you a gold star, but I would challenge you to say I need to make sure that I'm doing my tasks as a ministry leader in a healthy way.

Margie: 12:02

Are you wondering whether your fatigue, your lack of motivation, your lack of interest is burnout Maybe? I just wanted to let you know that I have a resource on the website, margie bryce dot com that's b-r-y-c-e margie bryce dot com, and it is a burnout questionnaire, free for you to download, and kind of self-assess and get a sense of where you're at. There are questions that not only ask about what you're going through, but maybe how often you're experiencing it, and that's that's kind of a key to where you might be, because you have to know where you are in order to chart a course forward. And most pastors who experience pastors and ministry leaders who experience burnout rarely know that that's where they're at until they're well into it. And if you're unsure about that little statistic, so far, everybody that I've interviewed on this podcast who has experienced burnout when I asked that kind of question, they're like, yeah, I didn't know that's where I was at. So again, go to margiebricecom. It's on the homepage of the website and you can get your burnout questionnaire and kind of see where you're at.

Margie: 13:40

Hey friends, the Crabby Pastor podcast is sponsored by Bryce Art Glass and you can find that on Facebook.

Margie: 13:49

I make stained glass, that's part of my self-care and also by Bryce Coaching, where I coach ministry leaders and business leaders, and so the funds that I generate from coaching and from making stained glass is what is supporting this podcast and I will have opportunities for you to be a part of sponsoring me and, as always, you can do the buy me a cup of coffee thing in the in the show notes.

Margie: 14:23

But I will have some other ways that you can be a part of getting the word out about the importance of healthy self-care for ministry leaders. Hey, thanks for listening. It is my deep desire and passion to champion issues of sustainability in ministry and for your life, so I'm here to help. I stepped back from pastoral ministry and I feel called to help ministry leaders create and cultivate sustainability in their lives so that they can go the distance with God and whatever plans that God has for you. I would would love to help, I would consider it an honor and, in all things, make sure you connect to these sustainability practices you know, so that you don't become the Crabby pastor.