How to cope with compassion fatigue
It’s defined as a sense of emotional exhaustion triggered by a widespread period of distress. It’s not callousness. And it’s not just you
For 10 years, Sufiya Khan had a comfortable job as a ground handler at the Delhi airport. “But it wasn’t the life I wanted for myself,” she says. What she wanted was a mission, and in 2017, she found one in running.
Where her job had left her feeling a bit like an overworked machine, the exhaustion from running gave her a high. It felt healthy. She got fitter. “It impacted my mind too. It gave me positivity,” says Khan, 35.
She eventually quit her job in 2019 to pursue running. She has since set two Guinness world records. The first, that same year, was for fastest time by a woman on the Kashmir to Kanyakumari route (4,000km in 87 days).
The second was set on April 6, 2021 — fastest time by a woman along the Golden Quadrilateral (about 6,000 km in 110 days and 23 hours). Along the way, she also set a new record for fastest time by a woman between India Gate in Delhi and the Gateway of India in Mumbai (29 days).
Khan ran about 55 km per day without a break, for 110 days. “It is all in the mind,” Khan explains. The more Khan ran, she says, the more she was able to run, and the further she wanted to go.
It became about exploring and marvelling at what her body was capable of. She became fascinated with the question: “How long can a human run?”
Khan says that one doesn’t need a big budget or big support crew. “It is manageable even with few resources.”
Her next mission? “To run around the world!” Technically, she would have to cover 30,000 km in under two years, to make the cut for a Guinness world record.
“We plan to start in 2023. We will need to apply for so many visas,” Khan says. “But I want to carry my message for unity and to run for hope, around the world.”