How to Not Burn Out in Crazy, Hard Times
A Conversation with Acclaimed Meditation Teacher and Author Sharon Salzberg
Having something to sustain us in these times is a non-negotiable if we want to avoid burnout, overwhelm, and despair.
My “something” has been a deepening reliance on insights from Buddhist teachers. I’m not the most consistent of meditators, but listening to talks has often pulled me back from the brink these days.
In that spirit, I’m pleased to have recently spoken with Sharon Salzberg, a world-renowned teacher, New York Times bestselling author, and among the first to bring mindfulness meditation to America.
A co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, Sharon is the author of thirteen books, including Real Happiness, Lovingkindness, and Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World.
We spoke about her insights into navigating the immensely challenging emotions of this moment in ways that can help us sustain ourselves so we can continue fighting for causes we believe in—climate action, equality, democracy, or so much more.
Highlights of our conversation follow. You can also watch the interview here.
LISA BENNETT: Many of the people I write for are deeply concerned about the state of the world—climate change, democracy, equality. And you are a foremost meditation teacher who believes this practice can help. Let’s start with why, especially now when many think urgent action is priority number-one. Why meditation?
SHARON SALZBERG: Well, I’ve been teaching meditation since 1974, and in the early days, our offerings were open to anyone who showed up. In recent years, I’ve focused more on caregivers—people on the front lines of suffering in their personal or professional lives.
I started seeing a rise in empathy training, which is important because we know the cost of a world without empathy. But I kept thinking about these people and realized they already have plenty of empathy. They’re burning out for other reasons: lack of balance, self-compassion, a realistic sense of limits, or the ability to take in joy alongside suffering.
Then one day, I thought, “Who does this remind me of?” And I realized—activists. It’s the same pattern. So, I see meditation as a set of tools that those doing incredible work—but burning out—can use to sustain themselves and their impact.
Sustaining Ourselves to Sustain the World
BENNETT: Your book, Real Change, came out during the pandemic. Yet it feels like we need it now more than ever because so many people are overwhelmed, burned out, and even demoralized. When someone is caught in those emotions, where do they even begin?
SALZBERG: The first step is recognizing that these emotions are understandable and natural. The issue isn’t having these feelings; it’s learning to work with them skillfully and not getting stuck in them. We go into those dark places, but we also return to resilience. We learn to begin again, regroup, and not feel so alone.
It reminds me of a story about Kate Braestrup, an author and chaplain with the forestry department in Maine. She was sent to sit with a couple whose six-year-old child was lost in the woods. Thankfully, the child was later found safe, but at that moment, the mother said, “How great that they sent you to keep me from freaking out.”
And Kate replied, “They sent me to be with you while you freak out.”
That’s what we do in meditation. We don’t avoid emotions—we hold them differently.
The Danger of Avoidance and the “Add-Ons” to Suffering
Avoidance doesn’t work. Those feelings will surface anyway, consuming us and impacting our nervous system.
What often adds to suffering is a sense of isolation (“I’m the only one feeling this”), permanence (“This is all I will ever feel”) or blame (“I should have been able to stop this.”)
Mindfulness helps us see these add-ons and not get lost in them. When we stop amplifying our suffering, we don’t feel as alone, we stop berating ourselves, and we gain the ability to hold pain differently. And feelings do shift—they don’t last forever.
Facing Powerlessness and Despair
BENNETT: If we take one of those emotions—say, powerlessness, and its cousin, despair—many people are bracing themselves, for tough times ahead. And many organizations that have fought hard for progress now feel like they’re back on their heels. How would you work with people who are feeling that way?
SALZBERG: First, I’d say, don’t add to those feelings with self-judgment. Instead, investigate: “What makes me feel more demoralized? What gives me energy?”
I’ve worked a lot with fear, which in mindfulness means shifting focus from “What I’m afraid of” to “Fear itself.” This is about looking at what fear feels like in the body. What is the “fear movie” I’m playing? How does it unfold?
I’ve realized that, unlike the common belief that we’re afraid of the unknown, I’m afraid when I think I know—and it will be really bad. But in reality, we don’t always know. And when I remind myself of that, I can breathe again.
Breaking Free from Future Dread
BENNETT: That’s a powerful shift—realizing that part of what’s in our control is how much suffering we add to what’s already difficult.
SALZBERG: Exactly. It’s like an old saying: “You don’t have to live it 3,000 times before it happens.”
There’s a difference between strategic planning and consuming pain in advance. When we live in constant dread, we weaken ourselves. So maybe the answer isn’t reading 80,000 articles—maybe it’s reading one. And always, we can bear things better together than alone.
From Anger to Courage
BENNETT: One of your chapters is titled “Anger to Courage.” Would you talk about that journey?
SALZBERG: Anger has its pros and cons. It gives us energy to take a stand. But if it becomes a chronic state, it’s debilitating. We need to modulate it—not suppress it, but not let it take over. Anger narrows our perspective. Think about the last time you were furious at yourself. Did you also remember five great things you did that day? Probably not.
BENNETT: So how do we transform it into courage?
SALZBERG: When we take the energy of anger but strip away the obsessive rumination—whether it’s self-flagellation or fixation on someone else’s wrongdoing. There’s a great saying in AA: “I let them live rent-free in my brain for too long.”
We need to reclaim that energy. Sometimes, the angriest person in the room is the one willing to say what others are avoiding. But it doesn’t have to come with heat and aggression. That’s how anger becomes courage.
Rethinking Resilience
BENNETT: You also write about “Grief to Resilience.” But resilience is a word a lot of people have pulled back from. Do you think there’s a misunderstanding of resilience, or do we need a different word?
SALZBERG: I don’t think we need a different word, but people got tired of it because it was overused. It was often framed as “bouncing back,” but people resisted that—why return to the same status quo?
So, the conversation shifted from “post-traumatic stress” to “post-traumatic growth.” Not in a “find the blessing in your pain” way but in the sense of not being crushed or defined by what we’ve been through.
The Power of Authentic Hope in Tough Times
BENNETT: Before I let you go, I want to ask about hope. Many people feel disconnected from it now, and there is little value in cultivating a false, Pollyannaish optimism. But I also believe hope is essential—not just for us, but for the younger generation. Would you share your thoughts on that?
SALZBERG: Hope isn’t about “I'm sure everything's going to work out just fine,” which we can't count on. But the other end is hopelessness. There is someplace right in the middle where we can have a vision and understand we can't get attached to things working out on our timetable, but we're not alone. And we can act out of that place of basic love for ourselves and love for others and find the energy step by step to do what we feel we need to do.
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