Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Some Final Thoughts on Burnout There’s a point in many high-stakes professional systems where the questions quietly shift. Early on, they tend to be personal:Why does this feel so hard? What’s happening to me? How do I get through this without losing something I can’t get back? That’s...
Category Archives: Resilience
When Burnout Isn’t About Stress or Recovery
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Alignment, Identity, and the Limits of Fixing What Doesn’t Fit In the last installment, we followed burnout past the point where it could reasonably be treated as a private problem. Once responsibility for others enters the picture, the effects are no longer contained. They show up in judgment,...
Burnout’s Quiet Damage: Why It Matters Before Anyone Breaks
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Burnout rarely announces itself with collapse. Most of the time, it arrives quietly—through gradually diminishing impact. Patience thins, and time isn’t spent on the investment in curiosity and connection. Imagination contracts, and robust interactions to spur innovation are no longer sought. Fewer questions get asked. Fewer risks...
Burnout Is a Wastebasket Term — and That’s Why We Keep Treating It Wrong
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Simplicity Is Seductive — and Dangerous “I’m burned out.” That sentence has become professional shorthand—an all-purpose signal for exhaustion, frustration, disillusionment, or quiet despair. It lands with emotional force and usually earns immediate empathy. And because it sounds definitive, we tend to treat it that way: problem named, response deployed....
Time does not heal… it is what you do in time that heals.
“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” ~Khaled Hosseini “Don’t turn away. Keep your...
In Praise of Doing Hard Things (Badly)
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction I recently bought an online singing course. Yes — me. A guy who, in high school, was told (by his best friend no less) that his back-up vocals were so wildly off-key that it “actually worked as harmony.” Spoiler: it didn’t. That wasn’t a compliment. So why,...
The Resilience Rant: Reclaiming and Reframing
Part 6 – The Wrap-Up: What We’ve Learned, What Comes Next Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP The Rant Wasn’t Just a Rant Let’s face it—resilience needed a rebrand. Too many conversations about it either go Full Metal Jacket (“suck it up and drive on”), collapse into mushy platitudes (“just bounce back!”), or—on the...
The Resilience Rant: Reclaiming and Reframing
Part 5 – What Actually Builds Resilience: Pressure, Process, and Purpose Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Let’s step back. Up to now, this series has focused on you—the individual reader. Your internal dialogue. Your emotional load. Your capacity to fall apart and rebuild. That work matters. But if resilience is real, it doesn’t...
The Resilience Rant: Reclaiming and Reframing
Part 4 – Resilience Isn’t Just Bouncing Back (Eggs Break, Tennis Balls Bounce) Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction There’s something quietly seductive about the phrase “bouncing back.” It conjures images of recovery, strength, even speed: someone knocked down by life who springs right back to where they were, untouched and unchanged. It’s...
The Resilience Rant: Reclaiming and Reframing
Part 3 – Resilience Isn’t Pre-Determined Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction One of the more seductive critiques of resilience goes like this: “It’s all predetermined. You either have it or you don’t. It’s baked into your DNA, your childhood, your trauma history, your bank account, or your ZIP code.” Now, is there...