When the feet feel the sand...

'Sometimes in life we sprint so far and fast until we realise it is a marathon whose end is never in sight' 

              Marcus Trescothick, Shaun Tait, Michael Yardy are cases of stress related burnout fresh in cricketing memory but there are many of us who are flirting with the borderline everyday. Thankfully, we get breaks from work in the form of lunches and coffees and of course, weekends.The final straw which triggered this post was Jonathan Trott's pulling out from the Ashes midway owing to stress related illness. Given the passion these guys have for the game, given the time they have spent with the bat and ball and given the amount of patience and tranquility that a player like Trotters has shown in his batting, it is quite surprising that they get depressed and burnt out.

These are not the only gentlemen in the gentleman's game who have complained of stress. There are many others who talk about it everyday and many more who break down during farewell speeches confessing how hard it has been. However, there is simply no questioning their love for the game.

But the question is - Are stress related burnouts common in places where passion meets profession?

The adage 'Too much of a thing is never too good' holds some part of the answer to our question.

Passion or not,the same thing done over longer time leads to boredom while quite paradoxically, it is about handling boredom that passion is all about. Is it the only cause for a burnout? Hardly. Prolonged periods of time away from home, prolonged periods of under-performance, prolonged periods of sustaining the top ranking and prolonged periods of anything can lead to a burnout. The watchword here is 'prolonged'. Long enough to get bored.

Too early but I would like to challenge my line of thought. Stress does not need years to burn you out. It may take just weeks or sometimes days, to reach the threshold. In more ways than one, the inevitable burnout is a blessing in disguise. It is the first point of realisation that something has been wrong with us all the while. It's the time of revelation that we have been fighting our inner demons and struggling in the battle. This realisation might take its own time - a hard two weeks of work or years of miserable passion. I call it a blessing because it is the point where you take a deep breath and start to swim towards the shore. And when you reach it, you will be ready to dive in and swim again. The hope leading us to the shore will help the rehabilitation and get us ready again when the feet feel the sand.

But boredom may not be the only culprit. The added pressure of keeping one's place - in a sports team, in a tournament, in a business-makes things worse and only hastens the arrival of the eventuality. It will be simplistic to conclude because of the diverse factors that cause a burnout. But for now, the remedy seems to be a break - from all sweat and toil.

I would love your help to make a sequel to this post with your questions and views.