We say that we are drained, washed out, drained, exhausted, overworked or out of breath. You feel tired, at the end of your rope, your tongue on the ground and your hard drive too full. We would drop everything to go into exile in the depths of the woods, and the sacrosanct eight-hour nights only look like mirages.
The richness of the lexicon and the nomenclature used to describe the different states of fatigue is enough to testify to the collective exhaustion that assails us, symptom or result of our overloaded daily lives, our desires for performance, the multiplication of individual roles and the phenomenal amount of more or less relevant information scrolling through our news feeds.
As the holiday season approaches, these fatigues are more evident than ever, as articles multiply that, on the one hand, remind us of the importance of taking care of ourselves, slowing down and spending time with family. and, on the other hand, we repeat not to forget the gift for our third nephew of the left buttock, to cook cookies for the hosts and to plan a little thought for the educator, the teacher or the trainer.
In the micro-test On the run. An exploration of our ordinary fatigues, author and philosophy professor Véronique Grenier dissects the reasons, symptoms and pitfalls of her own fatigue; an intimate fatigue that tends towards the collective, engendered by his relationship to work, time, family, commitment and social networks, which infiltrates daily life never to be dislodged again.
“I have been tired for 15 years. I wanted to analyze what my fatigue was, the way it unfolds, is superimposed like the layers of an onion, make a skeleton of it and confront it with reading and research. I also wanted to understand why I have no benevolence for my future self, and why I always promise myself that the overload will pass, that I can shovel tasks ahead because I will have [un jour] the energy to do them. »
In addition to deciphering its etymology, history and etiology, the author turns her attention to a fatigue that she says is ordinary: that of everyday life, of the sequence of days, weeks punctuated by a quantity actions to be performed; that of our digital lives, of the engagement and violence they underlie; that of information, which requires separating the true from the false, fighting against intellectual shortcuts and what this implies in terms of action and empathy; that of parenthood, lack of sleep, adaptation, worry; that of struggle, which sometimes leads to despair and withdrawal; finally, perhaps the most delicate, the fatigue of being oneself, which can be fruitful or destructive.
Fatigue is a thief
By taking the full measure of the complexity and the cyclical nature of her exhaustion, Véronique Grenier cannot help but wonder about the part of herself and of meaning that is lost in the fullness of our lives. “Fatigue is a thief. When we have energy, our presence in the world is more rooted, easier, less resistant. Exhaustion deprives us of a richer relationship with others, since we lose our temper more easily and are more prone to intolerance. We lose our ability to be fully attentive and available to ourselves and to others. »
Véronique Grenier is careful not to put forward possible solutions, firstly because rest, like considering the possibility of slowing down, is a privilege. “The exhaustion is for many a necessity. Some people have to work three jobs, juggle schedules, push their limits to keep their heads above water. The fatigue of precariousness is real and well documented. I think it’s important to mention it, to hammer it home. »
Reporting your fatigue out loud too often means submitting to a lot of advice that you don’t need, or that doesn’t correspond to your reality. “Often, we just need empathy. I hope the book can help put your feet in other people’s shoes, to understand that the roots of burnout are more complex than what the followers of the self help. »
A healthy porosity
Thinking about fatigue is also a way for the writer to have a little control over what she is experiencing and to see that her weariness is not limited to the physical and cognitive state in which it plunges her; that it is also a reflection of her relationship to her environment, to her loved ones, to herself.
“The themes that I address speak a lot of our commitment to the world and to our daily lives. If we feel fatigue related to current events, it is because we take to heart to be informed. If we’re affected by what our friends are going through, it’s because we care about them. If we are tired of our family commitments, it is because we take this responsibility to heart. It bears witness to a form of porosity in the world, to a desire to embrace it. It seems clear to me that if nothing shocks us, moves us or touches us, we are less drained. It would be wrong, therefore, to completely evacuate this fatigue. »
If the solution to our exhaustion is collective and would probably require a paradigm shift which is not about to happen, the most realistic recourse in the short term may simply lie in our solidarity. “The book has been circulating for a few weeks, and its reception makes me happy and saddens me at the same time. Many of us feel and experience the same thing. I think acknowledging that and empathizing with each other would be a good place to start. Sometimes, to make a loved one feel better, you just have to offer them support, ask them what would make them feel better, send them a video chat. Friendships, for me, are very promising. They do not alleviate exhaustion, but they distribute the weight. »