Herman Melville once wrote a story called "Bartleby the Scrivener" about a man who reached the extreme of what we now call burn-out. Bartleby worked in an office as a scrivener, or a person who copied manuscripts. But, eventually, Bartleby would just stare at the wall by his desk all day, without doing anything. When asked to do something, Bartleby would answer, "I would prefer not to," and he would continue to just stare at the wall. Sometimes, when we are feeling burned-out in our jobs or our relationships, we may find ourselves, like Bartleby, preferring not to. But we really can't opt out of our life. We have chosen to be responsible and to fulfill our obligations even when, at times, we would prefer not to. We are each in this life to share ourselves with our world. Even in monasteries and ashrams, people live in relationship with each other. While we all do need times of solitude for rest and soul-searching, we also need to be connected with each other, fulfilling our roles and responsibilities in this life.