Operation Mental Health™: Stop Waiting for Permission : Career Burnout Recovery
- Glennae Davis, RN, Workforce Care Specialist™
- Jun 24
- 2 min read
Operation Mental Health™: Stop Waiting for Permission
Watch today's reading from Operation Mental Health™: Practical Lessons on Career Burnout and Recovery.What if you're waiting for something God has already given you?
Today's reading from Operation Mental Health™: Practical Lessons on Career Burnout and Recovery centered around a single word:
Empowered.
The word means to be given rights.
That definition led me to a question that many Black career women never stop to ask:
If you already possess certain rights under the law, what are you waiting for?
Far too many people spend years waiting.
Waiting to be chosen.
Waiting to be recognized.
Waiting to be heard.
Waiting to be promoted.
Waiting to be accommodated.
Waiting to be empowered.
But no one can empower you where you already have rights.
As a Workforce Care Nurse, I often meet people who feel trapped.
They know something is wrong.
They know a workplace situation is affecting their health, peace, or career.
Yet they hesitate to act because they are waiting for someone else to acknowledge what they already know.
The manager.
The organization.
The doctor.
Human resources.
The system.
Meanwhile, valuable time passes.
What if the issue is not a lack of rights?
What if the issue is a lack of understanding?
We encourage people to pursue workplace, state, and federal protections because those protections exist for a reason.
They provide guidance.
They establish responsibilities.
They create pathways.
Most importantly, they create options.
The first step is often much simpler than people imagine.
Ask.
Ask the question.
Ask for clarification.
Ask for the policy.
Ask for the accommodation.
Ask for the information.
Ask for the support.
Many people never reach the next stage of recovery because they never take the first step.
Not because they lack intelligence.
Not because they lack ability.
Because fear convinced them to wait.
But God has already given His people something powerful:
His Word.
A voice.
And the ability to act in faith.
Faith is not always loud.
Sometimes faith is simply asking.
Sometimes faith is seeking understanding.
Sometimes faith is refusing to remain silent when wisdom requires action.
Far too many Black women are waiting for permission to pursue what already belongs to them.
The question is not whether someone else will empower you.
The question is whether you are willing to pursue what has already been made available to you.
Operation Mental Health™ Lesson
Fear often causes people to wait for permission.
Wisdom encourages them to seek understanding.
When workplace challenges arise, don't assume you are powerless.
Learn your rights.
Understand your responsibilities.
Gather the facts.
Then move forward with courage.
Assessment before diagnosis.
Interpretation before intervention.
Discussion Question
Have you ever delayed taking action because you were waiting for someone else to validate what you already knew?
Next Step
Take the Work Fatigue Quiz™ and discover what level of work fatigue you may be experiencing.
