What’s the Opposite of Burnout?

Excerpt

When considering the epidemic of burnout and physician discontent so well documented in most medical specialties, my colleagues frequently ask, “What is the opposite of burnout?” Even those who study burnout cannot agree whether outcome assessment should focus on wellbeing, resilience, work engagement, quality of care, attrition, or burnout itself. While it is tempting to think that all would be related, sometimes they are not. It is possible, for example, to be empathic and burned out when one takes on the suffering of others without sufficient self-other differentiation1 and to be both resilient and burned out—the walking wounded. “Work engagement” seems too limited. Perhaps the goal should be eudaimonia, Aristotle’s word for human flourishing.2 Aristotle considered eudaimonia a moral virtue and a pinnacle of human achievement because it frees us to work more effectively and effortlessly for the good of others. …